16 MR ROBERT C. MACLAGAN OJN 



knew how to make. Some persons, wishing to find out the secret, bribed one of the 

 sons, and the father, to prevent disclosure, with the help of his other son, put him to 

 death. For this unnatural deed both the murderers were publicly hanged and their 

 bodies buried together in one grave, over which the flat stone was placed. 



Another local legend says that the time of the loss' of how to make heather ale in 

 Islay was, when the island was invaded by the Danes. This would make it appear that 

 it was to the Danes that the secret was refused, and not to the Scots. 



There are persons who still believe in the possibility of making a fermented drink 

 from heather, and even a President of the Royal Society has given the legend a fresh 

 lease of life. In the Monastery, Sir Walter Scott says : "Duriug the meal Prince 

 Charlie in vain attempted to engage his youthful companion in carousal, or, at least, in 

 conversation. Halbert Glendinning pleaded fatigue, and expressed himself unwilling 

 to take any liquor stronger than the heather ale, which was at that time frequently 

 used at meals." 



In Ireland, on the other hand, on the authority of a gardener from the vicinity of 

 Lough Neagh, the Danes get the credit of making the heather beer. It is said there, 

 that in cutting turf for peats, when they have stripped off the peat, they find heather 

 laid out as if to dry, and it is believed it had been laid out with the intention of using 

 it for making beer. 



Heather ale is still manufactured in the north of Scotland, and people tell you that 

 they have drank it. I had it on the authority of a lady that she had drank it in Banff- 

 shire and found it delicious ; that it sparkled like ginger beer. One writer on Highland 

 matters tells that he drank it as lately as 1840, but my lady friend's recollections 

 are much less ancient than that. Seeing; then, that it was still in use so short a time 

 ago, it seemed probable that some person would have a recollection of how it was made ; 

 and a diligent inquirer from a Gaelic source got the following, which seems to have all 

 the accuracy one could expect from a practical brewer of it : — 



" Take of the tops of heather as much as is required, put in a boiler, cover with 

 water, and boil for three-quarters of an hour. Strain the liquid off, and allow it to cool 

 to 70 degrees, add a teacupful and a quarter of yeast to the gallon of liquid, put in a 

 crock or cask, covered with a cloth, and in two days it may be bunged down." 



The quality of the heather, however, seemed to require a greater accuracy of descrip- 

 tion. The reciter was again interviewed, and said that the heather required to be gathered 

 when in bloom, that the boiling was continued according to the strength of infusion 

 required, but that there was no other test but that of the individual taste of the operator. 



Now, as Martin told us that in his day the heather was mixed with malt, the 

 question was put whether or no sugar was used, and he said " No," there was enough 

 sugar in the heather. This reads, according to subsequent knowledge, like a mere tissue 

 of falsehood, and yet I believe it was merely a repetition of a traditional story, though 

 where the 70 degrees came in is a little hard to diagnose. 



Heather honey is known to us all, and it seems quite natural that an infusion of 



