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DRINKS.
I49>
The
manufacture
of
whiskey
was
encouraged
for
several
reasons
:
first,
that
it
gave
employment
secondly,
that
it
used
up
large
quantities
of
grain,
to
the
benefit
of
the
farmer
;
and
thirdly,
it
was
hoped
that
it
would,
in
many
cases,
supersede
the
French
brandy,
which
was
most
extensively
smuggled.
But
Government
imposed
so
high
a
duty,
that
illicit
stills
sprang
up
everywhere,
and
contraband
whiskey
was
universally
drank,
the
smugglers
openly
bringing
their
wares
down
south,
and
in
such
force
as
to
defy
the
Excise,
and
frequently
the
military.
A
wise
step
was
then
taken,
and
in
1823
the
excise
duty
was
lowered
from
6^.
2d,
to
2s.
^%d.
per
imperial
gallon,
a
proceed-
ing
which,
in
a
year,
doubled
the
output
of
exciseable
spirits
;
but,
by
degrees,
fiscal
exigencies
have
raised
it
to
10
J.
per
proof
gallon.
Now,
the
quantity
of
home-
made
spirits
on
which
duty
was
paid
for
the
year
ending
31st
March,
1890,
is
as
follows
:
England.
Scotland.
Ireland.
Galls.
Galls.
Galls.
12,636,060
...
9,463,012
...
7,521,998
or
in
all,
29,621,070
gallons,
yielding
a
revenue
of
;^i4,8io,522.
It
would
be
invidious
to
particularize
any
of
the
large
Scotch
distilleries,
which
mostly
owe
their
fame
to
the
excellence
of
their
malt
and
the
extreme
purity
of
their
water,
together
with
the
fact
that
peat
is
ex-
tensively
used
as
fuel,
even
to
the
drying
of
the
malt
but
"
Glenlivet
"
has
a
name
as
world-wide
as
*'
Fer-
rintosh."
Do
we
not
read
in
the
Bon
Gualtier
Ballads
that