THE HEATHEB 173 



Scotland, as related by Mr. R Chambers, in his 

 "Picture of Scotland/' or to those of the county 

 Clare, for which we are indebted to a correspondent 

 of " Notes and Queries ;" remarking, however, in 

 parenthesis, that though we may, as a matter of 

 course, consider it proper to hold by whatever an 

 old legend may 



" List to declare," 



yet that, in point of fact, the inhabitants of the 

 Isle of Skye still do brew an ale of two parts of 

 heather- tops to one part of malt. But it may be 

 that the malt is deemed so great an adulteration 

 as to render the liquor unworthy of the name of 

 heather-ale. To the uninvalidated legend, there- 

 fore, we turn, and learn that " once upon a time/' 

 i. e., when the Danes were building the Castle of 

 Ballyportree, in Western Clare, they compelled men 

 from every part of the country to render them as- 

 sistance, making them work without rest or re- 

 freshment by day and by night ; and that as each 

 overtasked frame gave way, the body was thrown 

 on the wall and built into the vast sepulchral edi- 

 fice. The feelings with which the castle, as well as 

 its after inhabitants were regarded, may be better 

 imagined than described ; and when the Danes were 

 nearly expelled from the country, this castle, the 

 last stronghold of which they retained possession, 

 made so fierce a resistance against the natives, that 

 when it at length surrendered, only three of the 

 garrison were found alive ; these were a father and 

 two sons, the last of their countrymen then remain- 



