"PUMPERNICKEL."
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."]
Sin,—Now that no political or party significance attaches to the subject, you may be interested to know the origin, as told me by a German officer, of the name " Pumpernickel," given to the black bread which cut in thin slices is the invariable accom- paniment of the hors d'couvrcs at German dinner-parties, and is regarded as such a delicacy. The story is that in the Napoleonic invasions of Germany a century ago a mounted French officer put up at a wayside inn, and the proprietor, wishing to give him of the best, placed before him some of this black bread. The French officer, however, thrust it from him exclaiming : " Ce n'est pas bon pour moi, mais c'est bon pour Nicol," that being the name of his horse. Hence in course of time arose the appellation "Pumpernickel" applied to this bread.—I am, Sir, &c.,
Malvern. KATHARINE RADCLIFFE COOKE,
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