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BRANDY.
The
Invention
of
Brandy
—
Early
Alchemists
—
Aqua
Vitse
-Distilla-
tion—
The
Still-room
—
Ladies
Drinking
—
Nantes
and
Charente
—Johnson's
Idea
of
Brandy
—
The
Charente
District
—
Manu-
facture
of
Brandy
—
The
Cognac
Firms.
WHO
invented
Brandy
?
is
a
question
that
can-
not
be
authoritatively
answered
ofthand
;
but
the
good
people
of
some
parts
of
Germany
hold
that
it
was
the
Devil.
And
their
legend
is,
at
all
events,
circumstantial.
Every
one
who
is
at
all
acquainted
with
old
legends
is
fully
aware
that
the
Father
of
Evil
is
extremely
simple,^
and
has
allowed
himself,
many
times,
to
be
outwitted
by
man.
Once,
especially,
he
was
so
guile-
less,
as
to
put
trust
in
a
Steinbach
man,
who
cajoled
him
into
entering
an
old
beech
tree,
and
there
he
was
imprisoned
until
the
tree
was
cut
down.
His
first
step,
on
regaining
his
freedom,
was
to
revisit
his
own
particular
dominion,
which,
to
his
horror,
he
found
empty
!
This,
naturally,
would
not
do,
and
he
set
||bout
re-
peopling
hell
without
delay.
He
thought
the
qtiickest