Samuel Taylor Coleridge had in mind the composition of a great and
haunting poem and even had the title "The Ancient Mariner" but
couldn't decide on the opening lines.

One night, while at dinner with his old chum William Wordsworth, Sam
was intrigued by his host's tale of new archeological discoveries in
Egypt, including what amounted to a cook book from about the time of
Rameses II

"One of its recipes," said Wordsworth, "was for a liquor in which the
ancients would steep their meat before cooking. "Only last week, three
gentlemen reconstituted the outlandish brew."

"What was it like?" Coleridge asked.

"Well, the first two found it distinctly toothsome, but the third let
out a terrible shriek and dropped dead on the spot!"

Coleridge felt a strange, almost mystical tingle and reached for his
quill pen as Wordsworth went on to observe, . . . "It is an ancient
marinade and it stoppeth one in three."