HEATHER ALE. 



delectabile. Caeteru quia eius faciendi artem (ne ea 

 vulgata aut potus ipse minoris fieret, aut materia eius 

 pluris) celauerut, ipsis postea a Scotis deletis, usus 

 eius potus idem qui & gentis finis extitit." (Columella 

 was a Roman writer on husbandry, and the name 

 cytisus, according to old Latin dictionaries, signifies a 

 shrubby kind of clover; in modern botanies Cytisus 

 scoparius is known as Scotch broom. The old Latin 

 Erice signifies heath, broom, ling.) 



Hector Boethius, or Boece, was a Canon of Aber- 

 deen, and his "Latin Cosmography and History of 

 Scotland" was translated by his contemporary, John 

 Bellenden, Archdeacon of Moray and Canon of Ross. 

 Bellenden thus gives the passage relative to the Heather 

 in his chapter on "A Description of Albion:" 



"Attoure in all the desertis and muris of this 

 realme growis ane herbe, namit hadder, but ony seid, 

 richt nutritive baith to beistis and fowlis; specialie to 

 beis. This herbe, in the moneth of July has ane floure 

 of purpure hew, als sweit as huny. The Pichtis maid 

 of this herbe, sum time, ane richt delicius and hail- 

 sum drink. Noctheless, the maner of the making of 

 it is perist, be exterminioun of the said Pichtis out of 

 Scotland ; for they schew nevir the craft of the mak- 

 ing of this drink bot to thair awin blud." 



Hollinshed, in 1571, thus translates Bellenden into 

 the English of that period : 



"In like sorte in the deserted and wilde places 

 of this realm there groweth an hearbe of itself called 

 hadder or hather, very delicate, as Columella sayeth, 

 for goats and all kind of cattle to feed upon, and like- 

 wise for divers foules, but Bees especially. This herbe 



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