Muffins and Crumpets, &c.

Not being quite satisfied with the etymology of "muffin," in p. 205., though brought by Urquhart from Phoenicia and the Pillars of Hercules, I am desirous of seeking additional illustration. Some fancy that "coffee" was known to Athenæus, and that he saw it *clearly* in the "black broth" of the Lacedæmonian youth. In the same agreeable manner we are referred to that instructive and entertaining writer for the corresponding luxury of "muffins." Maphula, we are told, was one of those kinds of bread named as such by Athenæus; that is to say, "a cake baked on a hearth or griddle." If we need go so…