Ulster Archaeological Society

On the Early Use of Aqua-Vitæ in Ireland

Author(s): G. B.
Source: Ulster Journal of Archaeology, First Series, Vol. 6 (1858), pp. 283-293
Published by: Ulster Archaeological Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20608880
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 283

ON THE EARLY USE OF AQUA-YITE IN IRELAND.

Usewrnaraa is a compound term, from the first part of which ourm odern word, whksiky, has its
origin. The public, not always correct in its judgments, has given Ireland the credit or the dis
credit, as the casemay be, of being at present, and of having been from time immemorial, a country
famous for the production end consumption of this subtle fluid. The social questilons connected
with the latter point, as beaing upon the condition of the people, occupy the pages of publications
of a special class, and exercise the lungs of orators of note; and it only proves hoiv wide is the range of
Archeology, that a subject so apparent-lyunpromising-a subject however, certainly, not of so dry
a nature as persons who know no better declare Archeology in all its details and ramifications to
be-shouLld in any form find admission into this Journal. Yet it is quite in our way. , e would
wish to know something of the drinks of the ancient Irish, but more particularly of that forwhich
we have obtaiined so great a reputation. We would wish to inquire into the antiquity of the art of
distilation in Ireland, how it affected the progress of the people, its extent in early times,whether
Ireland was really more noted for skill in the practice of it than other nations, its domestic influ
ence, its connectionwith the labour and productions of the country, fromwhat materials this famous
old Irish usquebaugh was extracted, and'many other questions: the only matter for regret is that
to none of themn can any very precise or satisfactory solution be obtained. There seems in trth to
be a sort of blank in our ancient records "and among our cauly historians, in connection with this
subject; either because it was considered to be one altogether of minor importance, or was sowell
known that no one thought it necessary tomake a note about it. On the other hand, some persons
seem to deny that any proof could possibly exist in the places alluded to, for the vesufficient
reason that the knowledgeo distillation a gongthe native Irish population is in realitynot ancient,
but comparativelymoderm; andmaintain that the general opuinionregarding its antiquity among us
is a mere popular error. Thus, a learned inquirer, whose resacuhes into documentary evidence
have been most extensive, has expressed to us an opinion, as resulting from that source of proof, that
the "1
mere Iiish," (will our readers pardon the not ve-ry respectfal appellation) previously to the
seventeenth century, were entirely destitute both of the chemical and mechanical knowledge
necessary to practise distillation, which was, in reality, carried on by foreign traders only, in early
times, in the large towns. In this opinion, however, we cannot concur. The distilatory art is,
from every evidence, of the highest antiquity, and, when carried on in a rude way, requires a very
small amount of either mechanical or chemical knowledge. Its introduction into Europe,
in anything approaching to a perfect form, is ge-neraly attributed to those pioneers of
vOL. Ti. A

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 284

civilsation, the Arabs, when possessed of dominion in Spain; and that it might reach this
island from that quarter, if not before known in it, is a circumstance every way probable.
Besides, we must give our remote ancestors credit for some ingenuity; nor d we mean to
dispaage them when we say that they probably exhibited an inclination, which clings to a
few of their descendants to the present day, rather for those occupations in which there is some
novelty, which require aptitude, and, at the same time, irregularity of labour, than formore severe
aad sustained employment,-a disposition towhich the art of distillation would present attractions
not easily resisted. 13esides,has not the Irish native been of a joyous temperament in every age,
and is it not at least likely that any bewitching stimulant which would enable him to leave dull
eaxth still farther behind, if the slightest kno:wledge of it had once gained admittance into the land,
woull take root and spread? All this, no doubt, in the absence of direct evidence, is mere conjec
ture; but such notices as we have been enabled to glean, both of early and more recent date, we
shall proceed to lay before our readers, being well aware, at the same time, how few and imperfect
they are, and how entirely the subject of the antiquity and extent of the art of distillation in
Ireland stll remains an open question.
On inqulring from Dr. O'Donovan, we are infor-med that in that great Irish code, the Brehon

laws, no alusion whatever ismade to Aqna-vitoe, while firequent curious references are contained
therein to malt, and to ale or beer, We believe indeel, that so long ago as the sixth cenitury, proof
is extant of the knowledge of ale possessed by the inhabitants of Ireland, and expressed in such a
way as to indicate a perfectly familiar acquaintance with it." But the earliest notice of Aqua-vitm
which we have discove-red in any of our printed records dates no further back than 1405, undler
which year, in the Annals of R1e Four Mfasters, it is thus related :-. Richard MacRannall, heir to
the chieftainship of Xfuintir-Eolais, died of a surfeit in dinking; " towhich brief notice, the learned
editor has appended this note:-" The passage is given by Mageoghegan, in his version of the
Annals of Clonmacnoise, as follows: 'A.D 1405, Richard Magranell, chieftain ofMoyntyreolas, died
at Christmas by taking a surfeit of aqua vitro.' Mine author sayeth it was not aqua rit0 to him,
but aqua onortis. This is the first notice of uisge beatta, aqua vrit, usquebaugh, or whiskey, in the
Irish Annals." If it be realy the first notice, it is a pity that this old chief should exhibit so very
early an example of loving-not wisely, but toowell-the aqua-vitze of Ireland. It might also,
be almost supposed from its tenor-from the unconcerned way inwhich the fact is narrated-(thongh
there is nothing absolutely to verify such an opinion) that distilled spiritwas not uncommon at the
time, and that similar results from like causes may previously have happened. cBethat as it may,
however, we have it in our power to record, that some years before this untoward event occurred,
or some time in the foufreelnth centuxy, therewas compiled, perhapswritten, by no less a personage
than a Bishop of the Church, a very remarkable production, now existing in MS. called the Red

sMorewood, in his Treatise on Distillation, p. 602, gives an extract from the Life of St. Columba in proof of this fact.

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 285
Book1of Ossory,which contains, among amass of miseeHlaneous information connected with charters,
rentals, and, it is to be supposed, domestic matters, the following explicit account on the subject of
distllation?-" Aqua vite est alia simplex alia composita. Simplex est que sine alicujus rei
admixtione simpliciter de vi'o elicitur, et dicitur aqua vi; quo sicut simpliciter elicitur ita
simpliciter sine vi'i vel aque admixtione debet sunai. Aqua 'rite simplex hoc modo debet fLeri.
Acceperis vinum eleetuin vetus unius anni, et plus rubens (quam) grossum, potens non dulee, et
pone in olla, at claude os ole cuim bona clepsedra facta de ligno cum pauno lineo involuta, a qua
olla debet exire cavalis ad aliud vas cum serpente, et illud vas aqua frigida debet impleri et frequen
ter renovaxi cum calescans fierit et aqua discumente per eavalern. Collocata ante olla cum vio
super igne, distila igne lento quouqure medietatem viml impositi receperis deincde." [Aqua vit is
either simple or compound. The simple is that which, without any mixture, is drawn from wine,
and is called Aqua vini; and this, being drawn simply, should in like manner be used simply, with
out any mixture with wine or water. Simple Aqua-vitte is to be made in the following manner:
Take choice one-year-old wne, and rather of a red than of a thick sort strong and not sweet,
and place it in a pot, closing the mouth well with a clepsydra made of wood, and having a linen
cloth rolled rou-nd it ; out of which pot there is to issue a carral& leadinag to another
vessel having a worm. This latter vessel is to be kept filled with cold water, frequently renewed
when it grows warm and the water foams through the cavalis. The pot with the wine having
been placed previously on the fire, distil it with a slow fire until you have from it one-hal-f of the
quantity of wine that you put in.]
This is an accurate description of the distilling process in a tide and imperfect way. The man
ner inWhich the passage isworded would seem to imply that it describeswhat was easily understood
and tolerably well kown. But fiom itwe remain uninformed whether the produet which trickled
from the still of the fourteenth century entered into use as a general beverage, or was intended only
for medicinal puarposes. The unhappy end of IMacRannall, as just narrated, would appear to
prove that among persons of his rank at least, its use as an ordinay drink could not have been
unknown. It is to be observed, that the knowledge of the art of producing alcohol, so far as the
lRedBook throws light upon it, was confined in this case to ecelesiastics and that the passage
affords no information towhat extent it was known to the body of the people, or practised among
them. It is also obvious that this distillation was effected from foreign wine, already
fitted for the pwupose. No other meaning can be taken from the expressions used; and as the

b This extract was

given to the Editor of this Journal by
Dr. Wilde, but it was first copied from the original by the
Eev. James Graves of Kilkenny, to whose zeal in the cause
of Irish historical research is to be attributed the preserva
tion of the Red Book itself, from destruction. It was
lately rescued byMr. Graves from a heap of rubbish, among
which it had been lying since the occurrence of a fire in
Kilkenny Castle, in the year 1839, and has been made le
gible and perfect again by the skill of Sir Frederick
Madden, of the British Museum- For a further history of
this valuable book and its contents, see Transactions
of theKilkenny and South East of Ireland Archaeological
Society, No. IS, p. 9.

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 2%6

valuable document inwhich the passage has been found formed pat of the muniments of the
Ormondefamily, it maybe fairly presumed that ordinary aqua-vitu was obtained from the inferior or

rejected wine broui3ght from foreign parts for the -use of that princely household. The earlier name

seems indeed to have been agua vitis, orwater of the grape, as in this extract; afterwards corrupted
or improved, as it may be thought, into aua vitcv, orwater of life, either from its resemblance to
the ori0inal term, or its supposed virtues. It is unnecessary to say that neither this, nor any other
document of the period known to us, communicates information as to knowledge, having
been possessed of the extraction of alcohol from materials of native growth, or of the method
of preparing such for that purpose. In the Records of the Abbey ofWaltham, and doubtless in
those ofmany other religious houses both in England and Ireland, mention ismade of themalting
of oats. This was for making ale; but it is also possible that oats and other grain, prepared by the

malting process, may have been in use for distillation in monastic days, botlhwithin ad without
the walls. It is understood that theRed Book contains more information on the suLbjcot,at present
inaccessible to us, but likely to appear elsewhere, which is much to be desired. The meagre

tatement that vinum was distilled into alcohol, by a process known perhaps centuries before,
is unatisfactory Unsatisfactory, indeed, when we can now say, that from the cereals of
every clime and of every species-from the sugar cane of the Tropics, from the ripe fruits
which embelish the face of the e th and the cultivated roots which grow beneath its
suface, from sugat whereve-r found or fromwhat souLrcederived-modern art has obtained the
alcohol of commerce; and we are left to ask if the wise raen of the fourteenth century were
ignorant ofI all these nuumerous means of production, and were dependent for their aqua-vitoe
on the fermented and prepared juice of foreign grapes. Of all the materials named, grain, which
to this day, we suppose, forms the principal basis of the distilled spirit of all Europe, is the
only onie towhich they could have had recourse, and it would be strange if such were not the fact.
The brewing of ade at this early period. seems to have been perfectly well known,' as it was nany
cA "
proof of this fact, and which is worth making a note seeing Calvagh coming toAvardshim he said ; There is thy
of, occurs in the Annals of the Four Masters, in 1406, the cauldron with the kerns, ? Calvagh ! and I order it to be
very year after the death of theMacEannall from a surfeit of given to thee." "I accept of it where it is," said Calvagh.
Aqua-vitie. It is thus related:?"A great defeat was given The caiddron was at this time on the back of a young man
by Murrough O'Conor, Lord of Offaly, with his son, Cal one of the plunderers of the town ; and Calvagh O'Conor
vach, and the sons of O'Conor Roe, namely, Cathal Duv and flung a stone which he happened to have in his hand, and
Tiege {who had come to Oifaly with a troop of cavalry on which, striking against the cauldron, produced Buck a noise
a visit) to the English of Meath and to Owen the son of and sound as struck a sudden terror and panic in the hearts
the Abbot O'Conor who had the retained kemes of Con of all the plunderers, so that they instantly took to flight.
naught with him. Both of these armies repaired to the They" were swiftly pursued, slaughtered, and vanquished,
upper part of Geshill ; and Owen the son of the Abbot, &c. Such is the notice; and it is remarkable how similar little
with Ms own "bandof kernes, went to Cluam-iinmurrois, parallel passages of history turn up now and again. The
and to the town of Gillaboy Mae Maoilcorra, where Calvagh "brewing-pan" or cauldron of a vi?age, nearly within the
the son of Murrough O'Conor, and Cathal the son of memory of persons living, was almost common property, or
O'Conor Boe, attended by six horsemen came tip with Owen at least, was. very generally lent from house to house, as oc
and his people as they were collecting the spoils of the casion required; and an event somewhat similar to that
town. The proprietor of this town had a cauldron which just related from the Annals of theFour Masters (differing
he had borrowed from. Calvagh for breviing beer ; and on altogether, indeed, in its results), occurred, according to

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centuries before-as it was, indeed, by the nations of antiquity-and itwould have been remarkae
if a fluid so similar in its appearance and properties should not soon have been taken advantage of
in distillation, as a substitute for amaterial more expensive andmore difficult of attainment. The
transition or advance canot have been difficult. Afead was made :fom honey and beer frommalt;
lonagbefore ts time beer andmolt were among the exports of Ireland; the art of distillation was
known at least to some in the country, as is proved from the lied Book of Ossory; so that there
seems to be really no improbability that grain was used in distilation at this early period, and to
even a greater extent thanmiight be supposed.
From this period, down to the time of Henry TIIT. we have been unable to obtain any direct
evidence of the extent of the use of aqua-vite in Ireland, though there can be no doubt whatver
that dulring the interval its productionmust have regularly inereased. This is amply proved by a
recommendation contained in the Breviate of [BaronFinglass, published in that reign. [e proposes,
for the amenrdment of the coLmtTy " that there be but one maker of aqua-vite in every 3urrough
Towne, upon pain of six and eight pence, toties quoties, as many as do the contrary." In Scotland,

also, a country which consumes now, -inproportion to its population, a greater quantity of alcohol
than any other in Europe, with the exception, perhaps, of HoUand, (and in both caseswe make
no positive assertion, bu:tmerely a current statement, no means of proof either way being just at
hand,) some such restraining ordinance as that of Baron Finglass in Ireland seems about the same
time to have been required. From a recent work an extract has been copied into a well-known

periodical,d being a decree of the town council of Edinburgh, in the year 1505, declaring "that
nLa persou inan or woman, within this burgh mak nor sell oay aguavita;" and going on to bestow
the privilege of making such exclusively on the associated craft of SLugeonBarbers. It is suffi
cient proof that at this early time Irelandl was not alone in a k-nowledge of the distiUing art.
From an Act of Parliament, passed in 1556, and referred to in the following terms, by ".the
Commissioners appointed to report on the affairs of,Ireland to king James in 1620," further distinct
proof is given of the extent towhich the trafficmust have reached in the former year, during the
reign of Philip and Mary. The Commissioners cleclare, amng a great may other things, " that con
cerning Aqua-vitre, the price whereof your MaO" directs to be sett by act of state, we humbly offer
tb your MOat- consideracon that the statute 28 Eliz. c. 5, in Ireland, for setting the prices of wines
extends not to aqua-vitre, but there is a stattie made in the fouh yeare of Phillip andMary, here
in Ireland, cap. 7, that recites the consumpcion of graine in making of aqua-vite, and that it is not
proffitable to be dayly drunk; and enacts that noc man withoute the Lord Deputye's lycence,
sealled with the Great Seale of the Realmae, make aquavitre within this Realme, under paine of

tradition, ha Camckfergus, in 1760. In that memora the town brewing-pan was to be preserved from the plunder
ble year when the French were hourly expected to make ing enemy ; and it was, in consequence, hurriedly carried
good their descent, one of the greatest causes of alarm off, perhaps on. the back of a young man of the town, and
among the inhabitants of that ancient corporation was, how concealed in. a secure place till the danger had passed away.
dChambers's Journal for
August, 1858,. p. 96.

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Imprisonment at the Depu-tie's pleasure, and to forfeitt 4 lb. of Irish money; which statute, by
express proviso therein, extends not to any of the Peers, nor to any Gentleman that may dispend to
his owne use in Lands or Tenements for life or of Inheritance &c. 10 lb. steWIg by the yeroa. Nor
to any Preeman dweling in any Citty or Burrough charged ith B3urgesses to Parliament, buLtthat
theymay make it for their own expenses. And albeit this act was made purposely to restraine the
excesse of aqua-vite, yet by reason of this new Patente the abuse is continuled and multiplied. And
whereas the Law only pumished the maling of aqua-vitm, the Patentee, withoute warrant of that
Law, extends the Lyoense to Buyers and Sellers of the same, and hereby abuses the Country, and
extorts a p rvate gaime to the ptublique loss."
All these statements go to prove that themaking of aqua-vite in Ireland, in the reign of Henry
VIII. still more in that of Philip and IVary and their immediate successors, had assumed some

magnitude, and that grain was the material used in the manufacture. Our readerswill of course
be aware that a duty on aqua-vite, (that strong foundation onwhich modern Chancellors of the Ex
chequer somuch build their hopes,) was at this time, and, incleed, for about another century, amatter
quite unknown; and the abuses, noticed by the Comnmissionersas resulting from this "new Patento,"
referred to amethod adopted in the beginng of the reign of James I. empowering certain favoured
individuals,a by patent, on payment generally of some small sum, to grat licences for the making
and selling of aqua-vitme throughout the kingdlom: which project would also appear, from the
expryessionsuseG i the preceding extract, not to have been effectual in keeping either the sale or
themanufacture within due bounds. The statements altogether, however, are difficult to be recon
ciledwi the opinion that the native Irish before the 17th centurywere not far enough acvanced in
knowledge to take part in themanufacture. On the contra we find that abouLtthis period distil
lation from grain had become so extensive as to require restraint and regulation by the government;
the statute of 1556 actually affirming that aqua-vite was universally made thxoughout the " Reatle,
especially on the borders of the Irishry."' We find, also, that long before, any little chemical or
mechanical skill required for the process was, at least by some, so far acquired, as to make
alcohol, if not common, of sufficient notdriety to obtain a passing notice in our annals; and it is not
at all likely that this knowledge had remained confined to the Pale. At the same time, it is
to be supposecl that the chief seats of the trafficwere in the towns; anl it is quite possible that the
crude spirit mrayhave been made to some extent throughout the country, and brought into them for

eOne of these
individuals was Sir Thomas Phillips, who, and Henry Yelverton, Esq., to nominate and
for the small stun of 13s. 4d. yeai'ly, received the appoint, at
privilege, their pleasure, such persons as they think lit to keep
for seven years, of granting licenses of this kind within
" the a tavern in any part of Ireland, andmight
to buy and sell wines,
county of Colrane, otherwise O'Cahane's country, or within and to make and sell, in gross and
the territory called the Rowte in the county of Antrim." by retail, Aqua-vit? and
In 1609 a grant was made for the support of the usquebaugh.
Arabella Stuart (historic and romantic Lady For further information
name) for twenty respecting these licenses, see
one years, empowering^ on her behalf, Sir St. Poll Morewood's History of Distillation, p. 731.
George

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sale to more cunning dealers, to be purified, flavoured with aromantics and, in fact made up into
that compouLind, for which the kingdom had already obtained some fame, under the title of the
Ckguebauglhof Ireland."
The writers of Elizabeth's time aboundwith observations on the subject of aqua-rite, fromwhich
it will appearplainly enough that as a beverage or stimulant, it was nearly aswell known, and in as
much favour among a class, as inmore modem times, whether itwas manufactured by themere Irish,
or by merchants in the towns. The nurse inRomeo andlTuliet in her "griefs, woes, ard sorrows,"
exclaims, 11Give me some aqua-ritee." The illustrious author of the Fairy Quzeen,in his View of the
State of Ireland, among his various observations as towhat might be done for the improvement of
the kingdom, suggests the abolition of what he mentions as a practice of the time, IIthe cessing of
" I
souldiours upon the country; decaig that the souldiours during their lying at cesse will not
onely not content themselves with such victuals as their hostes, nor yet as the place affordes, but
they wil have other meate provided for them md aqua-vitxssent for &c." Fynes Aloryson, in his
History of Ireland, thus wites -"And the saidHumidity of Air and Land malding the Fruits for
Food more raw andmoist; hereupon the Inhabitats and Strangers are troubled with Looseness of
Body, the Contr Disease. Yet for the Rawness they have an excellent Remedy, by their Aqua
Vitme,vulgarly called Usquebagh, which binds the Belly and drieth up Moistuxe more than our
Aqua-rite, yet inflameth not somuch." Camrapionexpresses the same favourable opinion of the
country's produce, declaring' " that the inhabitants (especially newcome) are subject to distillations,
rhumes, and fluxes, for remedywhereof they use an ordinary drink of aqua-ritte so qualified in the
making that it dryeth more and inilameth less than other hote confections." Again,g the same
writer gives the following account of the feasts and festivals of our ancestors-what we might cal
the Irish soirees of the days of Elizabeth:-" Shamrotes,Water-cresses, Rootes, and other Ilearbes
they feed upon; Oatemeale and Butter they cramme together. They drinkWhey, Mike, and
Beef broth; Fleshe they devoure withoute Breade; Come such as they have they keepe for their
HTorses. In haste and hunger they squeese out the Blood of raw Flesh and aske no more dressing
thereto; the reste boyleth in their stomackeswith Aqua-rits which they swill in after ch a sur
feite by quaxts and pottles." Campion also writesb-1,C This Savage, having prepared an army
against the Irish, allowed to every souldiour, before he buckled with the enemy, a mighty draught
of A a-sites, wine or old ale." It is not necessary to remin& our readers that the statements of

writers of this class regarding the domestic manners of our ancestors are to be received with some

caution; and they are brought forward here only in proof of the fact that in Ireland, in the six
tee-nth century, alcohol was a common and well-known beverage.
F&Ather corroboration of the fact is at hand from sources less known, having reference however

fBistorie g 1 ,25. h.P 133.

of Irdand, p. 13.

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 290

to a period somewhat later than the era of Spenser and Campion. That most curious and tnique
production, "The Visit of Captain Bodley to tecale, in 1602," which first appeared, in this
Journal,'makes frequent and distinct reference to the extensive use of usguebawyglat that time.
William lithgow, that wanderer in all lands, thas describes the Irish in 1619 :-" Indeede for
entertainement of strangers they are freely disposed; and gentlemen of any good sort reserve ever
in their houses Spanish sack and Irish uscova, and will be as tipsie with their wives, their pliests,
and their friends, as though they were naturally enfeoft in the eleven Royal Taverns of Naples."
We hope this is a libel on the ladies and the learned clerics: as for the hosts and their friends the
report is not ofmuch consequence, and cannot in any sensible degree prejudice thiir memories, as
they were only following, we may safely suppose, the established cu:stomof the time. eow little
was that custom changed dolo to comparatively recent days! There may be persons still living,
even in the good town of Belfast, andmany other parts of the countriy as well, who can calU to
remembrance the triumphan:t looks of certain hospitable hosts when returningwith the key of the
outer door and clepositing it in a secure place to prevent the departure of their guests till a certain
quantity of aqua-vitm had been consumed by each; and till, as a natural result, those who were

not lyinguncder the table could only warble for-th, in a feeble and incoherent croak, how a "peek
o'manut' was brewed by o-ne "Willie," of jovial memory 1 ilappily, themanners and customs of
those days are now almost traditional.
Returning to the sixteenth century, however, and the beginning of the seventeenth, not only
does Irish aqua-vite appear to ha#e been in common use among all classes at home, but presents,
of itwere sent to persons of condition in England, either as rare cordials or as aomething better
than any they could procure in their own country,which latter factwould hardly be disputed fr'om
that day to the present. In the State Paper Office, there is a letter from theMayor ofWaterford
White, by name-to lord ]3urghley, dated 1585, wherein thewriter says that he has sent his lord
ship "two bed coverings, two green mantles, and a roundlel of aqws-vitcs." Perhaps at some of
the stately entertainments at which the- sagacious BlLurghleywas wont to preside, a portion of the
contents of this verTy" rdndell l" may have been suLbmittedto his nloble and courtly gueCsts one
of the few good things produced in this disturbed land; nor is it beyond the range of possi
bility that the imperial votress" herself may on some occasion have so far foregone her htibitual
abstemiousness as to taste (asmatter of curiosity merely) what we may perhaps call the "oldWater
ford malt" of the year 1585 !
There is another curious letter in the State raper Office, dated Dublin, October 14th, 1622, from
Lord Justice Cork to a Captain Price, at Durham House, Strand, London, inwhich the Lord JuLstice
says::-" This bearer,Mr. Edmund Runt, hath in chardg to present my honored Lord, the Lord
teeper, with an Irish HarDe. and the eoodladv Coventry with a rurnlctt ofmillde TristhTTzkha4
iVol.n.,.p. 73.

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 291
sent unto her Ladyship by my yongest daughter, Peggie, who was somuch bound toher Ladyship
for her great goodness. I pray help Mr. Hunt to deliver them with tender of my everlasting
thaunkes and services, :not only to my Lord & Lady, but alsoe to young Mr. Coventry and his virtu
ous bedfellow. And I doe assu-re you, yf yt please his LP nest his hart in the morning to drinke a
little of this Irish Uskebacl7, it wi.l help to disgest all raw humours, expeU wynde, & keep his
inwarde parte warme all the day after, without any offence to his stomacke." Let al t-he com
m-unity of water-drinkers ponder over this sage advice from a Lord Justice. The phrase " next

his hart" probably means, fasting, a method of imbibing Aqua-vite which stil finds favour with
certain hard-mouthed, " base mechanicaRls." The harp was, no doubt an appropriate and grace
ful tribute; but a runlet of "mild msquebaugli" from a young lady of rank in Ireland to another of
the highest station in England, would be though#trather a strange present in these latter days.
There is another letter in the State Paper Office also laudatory of the great virtue supposed to
reside in Irish usquebaug. It is from one Robert Lombard, datedWaterford, March 22nd, 1629,
toViscount Carleton, in which he says that he sends a rundell of Iskabahie agenst your Lord
ship's old enemic ye Strangullian."i
From all the preceding facts ad original docaments it is plain that Ireland, whatever may
have been the case since, had by this time obtained a high character for the excelence of
its TisquebauLgh. Its consumptionmust have been considerable, though the quantity made in the
kingdom could not have been very great, according to modem ideas. The example does not
appear to have been followed by the English people-no notices having beernmet with of distilled
spirits being nm common use as a beverage in that country in the sixteenth century. A poem of
Elizabeth's time, enumerating the taverns and drinks of London, and entitled .Niiwesfrom Bar
tiwlo?newv Pair, commences thus:
"T= h ath been great sale ad utterance of wime,
Beside ale and beer and Ipocras fine,
Th every country, region, and nation,

But mostly at Bilingsgate, at the Salutation, &c."

No mention is made of spirits in the poem; it being an error to eonfoind Ipocras with alcohol, as
some have done. It is merely wine with a strong infusion of spices. But even long after this
period, we may fairly conclude that Ireland was ecially the land of usquebaug7i. One of the
numerousworks of Taylor, theWater-poet, is entitled Brink and TFelcomne:or, the famous lie
tory of the most part of DrinZles, i7n use now in the Kingdoon of Great Britain and Ireland. This
was published in 1637, and there is no writer who can be named as a better authority for a per
fect acquaiatance with the usages of the time ia Engld, in this department, than Taylor.

iQuery, Strangury ??For all these extracts from the EsqM Hovmslow, London, formerly of Belfast, who has con
State Paper Office, and various other statements contained tributed many valuable papers to this Journal.
in this paper, the writer is indebted to "WilliamPinkerton,
v0. TT. 2 N

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 292

called the WVater-poet, on account of his vocationi as waterman io the Thames, he had nlo
Though
fondclness beyond this for the native element. He kept, in fact, a pLbli-houLse, was a royalist
special
-patronized by the rollick-ing cavaliers,-and yet in this work, entering minntely into the subject
and mentioning many kinds of wine, cider, beer, ale, &o., as in use in. Eingland, nio allusion is made

to spirits. A change, however, must have come over the sober-minded people of Elngland towards
the middlc or latter part; of the century, if a work published by a person called Tryon, in 1682, be

any indication of the true state of society. It is entitled "1?Tealth'sPreservation; or oMnan's

Best Doctor, sksewing ties nactureanzd operation of Brandy, -Rune,Rack, and ot7er distilled spirits,
and the ill consequencesof mnens', beet drin7zing
especially of womeon'8, suciepernicious Liquors, and
the writer " Rum, and Rack of late
smocking Tobacco;" and in the first chapter says, Brandy,

years xe become as common drinks among many as Beer & Ale." All this, however, is ratier
doubt
beside our subject, which was intended to refer especially to Ireland, tholugl there is no
thatwe kept pace with ouLrEnglish neighbours in the consumption of liquors of some kind, or
perhaps even outstLipped them. This must be so, if the statement of so sagacious a-nd able a man

as Sir William Fetty be at all correct, In his Politiceal Anatomy, to a computation of tho popu

lation of that day, their employments, the number of houses in tlhe kingdom, alndhow the people
memo
might be better andmore profitably employed, he appends tie following extraordinary
That in Dublin, -where are but 4000 families, there are at one time 1180 Ale-houses
randum :-.-I
and 91 puibliclkBrew-houses, viz. neer one-third of the wlhole. It seems that in Ireland, there
being 200,000 faihes, about 60,000 of them should use the same tnado, mid corseqllcrnkly, tnat

380,000, viz., 60,000 men, asmany women, and asmnany servants, do follow tic trade of Drink."
In a note he adds, I"hereas, it is manifest that two-thirds of tlhe Ale-houses may be spared, even

although the same quantity of Drink should be sold," leaving free, by this means, to follow occu.
pations more conducive to the general prosperity of the couantryi,no less then 120,9{00 persons,
"'sparehands," as he calls them. We have surely improved not a little since ihose days. The
calculation is altogether ineeclible, and we tlink incorrect; but it proves at least whiat was thle

impressionof the time, when no statistical accuracy was attainable, regarding tlhe excessive use of
intoxicating beverages. Reference is certainly made by Petty to alo-houses only, and no means
arc at reach from his evidence to come at the proportion of alcohol consumed, for qualifing tlhe
effects of this enormouLsflood of small beer.
Shortly after theRestorationi,when thlefalrmingof theRevenue ceased, the fiTstduLtyof four-pence
per g,allon was imposed onl ardent spirits in Ireland. We have not obtained ally accounlt of the

quantity made earlier than 1 19, in which year all the spirits distilied in Ireland amounteld only

to 173,000 gallons, while tlhe imported quantity was double that amount.k A disproportion nealy
as great continuLel for many years; the imported spirits in the year 1772 having been more than

k rFor a tabular view of te spirits maneoin tlle lkngdom, theo imports of spirits wine freon 1715, 5
dc XO^orewvood's
Treatis.e.

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 203
two-and-a-half millions of gallons, while the quantity produced in the kingdom did not reach one
third of that amount. During the last century, anid somewhat advanced into the present the
import of foreignwine exceeded considerably one million of gaons; in several yeaxs itwent beyond
twomillions; and in 1796 reached the great quantity of 3,209,000 millions. Efforts must have been
made during all this time to promote the consumption of home-mauLfacture of some description, to
the exclusion, or at least to the diminished use, of foreign produce. In the Dublin Society's
Meekly Observationsof 1736, not very far from a paper advocating the practicability and advnltage
of cultivating hops on the red bogs of Treland, (the progress and result of which most hopeful project,
by theway, we have never yet learned,) there are several letters describinugthe process of ale-brew
ing,with a view to its extension. The writer sadly laments the Ettle encouragement given by the
gentry to the manafacture of ale; describing with how muLch success it could be carried on, by rea
son of its suitableness to ouLr soil and climate, and saying that " for some time past wine is become
almost the general entertain-mentof our people, and the care and improvement of ourmalt liquor
almost totally neglectedc." He mates no alluIsion to spirits, of which the entire quantity made in
the kingdom in that year appears to have been ouly 195,000 gallons, while the imported was no
less than 627,000.
In any account of the antiquity of ale in Ireland, we are not aware that any attempt has been
made to explain the popular Irish tradition of the Danes and of the other old inhabitants of the
country havin- made beer from. Leather. The writer in the Dublin Society's Observations,who
so strongly advocated the extended use of malt liquor, would natur y have a very mean opinion
of such a sapless material, if he ha(d ever hea-rd it mentioned at all; and it would ccrtainly not
be practicable to make anything resembling modern beer where there existed neither saccharine
juice nor vinonis fermentation. Still, a tradition so universal had probably some fouidation; but
we have always been of opinion that the heather was used merely as the bitter or aromatie ingre
dient. It is quite possible, however, that a decovtion or infusion of heath was used in Ieland
in themost remote timcs, and that some such preparation was indeed an ancient drink; the tra
dition is velrymuch corroboratedby the ensuing quotation from a work published in.London in:
1596, entitled "Sundrie Zireweand Art,f/let Remedies against -Famiine,"in which the following
directions are given for making "A Cheape 'Liquor for :oore Men when Malt is extream Deare:
If a pooremana in the time of flowering doe gather the toppes of heath, with the flowers which
is usually called & knowne by the name of Ling in the northerlie parts of this Realme, & lay
up sufficient store thereof for his own provision, it being well dried a-d caexfully kept from
putriefying or moulding, he may at all times make, a very & cheape drink for himeelfe
pleasing
by boiling tlle same in fairwater with such proportion thereof asmay best content his own taste."
But lhere we must cease for the present. We trust we have so far kept within o-ur limits, and

opened up a suibject for ftur-ther inquiry of more interest than ordinarv readers mig,ht at first sight
consider it capable. G. B.

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