When you heard him describe how damsons could best be preserved, you could make sure that there was a firm and healthy digestion; he was not one of the wretched creatures who prolong their depressed existence by means of Angostura bitters, and only wake up to an occasional flicker of life at the instigation of sour champagne.
"The Beautiful Wretch; The Pupil of Aurelius; and The Four Macnicols"
William Black
I suppose you mean a bitters, sir?
"A Poached Peerage"
William Magnay
I can only remember it was disagreeable; and as this epistle has its due share of bitters, my want of memory is perhaps a benefit; and so to release you at once, I 'll write myself, as I have never ceased to be for forty years, "Your attached friend, "Val.
"The Martins Of Cro' Martin, Vol. II (of II)"
Charles James Lever