314 Notes on Sport and Travel w 



Still the drink of the Scotchman dififereth much 

 from that of the ancient Scot, who in olden times 

 was wont to content himself, when he wanted a 

 chirruping cup, with a chopine ^ of twopenny, a thin 

 beer in nowise to be compared with those stout and 

 sturdy ales which do so warm the cockles of the 

 hearts of all who visit North Britain nowadays. 

 Whisky, or usquebaugh, being a liquor distilled 

 or passed over in an alembic, must needs be modern, 

 the art of distillation being itself modern and dis- 

 covered by the Moors of Spain, to whom we owe 

 much, both spirituous and spiritual, much more, 

 indeed, than to those lazy rogues of monks who, in 

 our own days, be so much overthought of. 



It is said by some that the earlier whisky was 

 distilled from thyme, mint, anise, and other fragrant 

 herbs, but as Boethius {^De Moribus Scot.) says that it 

 was taken in moderation, there must be some mistake 

 somewhere, for this suiteth not to the modern 

 whisky. I read that in the olden time they 

 brewed a ' heather-ale,' by mixing two-thirds of the 

 tops of young heather with one of malt, which 

 remindeth one of that excellent drink brewed by 

 Captain Cook, in the new-found island of New 

 Zealand, for his sailors, — the ' tee-tree ' resembling 

 much the heather. Some say that the secret of the 

 heather-ale was lost when the Picts were conquered 

 by the Scots ; and there is a tale of one man per- 

 mitting his son to be slain, that he alone remaining 



1 Chopin, or choppe, French.— Ed. 



