For broth, £00 : 03 : 00 For rost mutton and cutlets, 01 : 16 : 00 For on dish of hens, 03 : 00 : 00 For harenes, 00 : 05 : 00 For allmonds and rasens, 01 : 06 : 00 For 3 lb. of confectiones, 07 : 16 : 00 For bread and ale, 01 : 00 : 00 For 3 pynts of clarite, 06 : 00 : 00 For sack, 02 : 16 : 00 For oysters fryed and raw, 03 : 16 : 00 For brandie and sugare, 00 : 06 : 00 For servants, 02 : 02 : 00 ————————————— £30 : 06 : 00 The sum in English money is equal to £2, 10_s._ 6½_d._ One remarkable fact is brought out by the document—namely, that claret was then charged at twenty pence sterling per quart in a public-house. This answers to a statement of Morer, in his _Short Account of Scotland_, 1702, that the Scots have ‘a thin-bodied claret at 10_d._ the mutchkin.’ Burt tells us that when he came to Scotland in 1725, this wine was to be had at one-and-fourpence a bottle, but it was soon after raised to two shillings, although no change had been made upon the duty.[214] It seems to have continued for some time at this latter price, as in an account of Mr James Hume to John Hoass, dated at Edinburgh in 1737 and 1739, there are several entries of claret at 2_s._ per bottle, while white wine is charged at one shilling per mutchkin (an English pint). An Edinburgh dealer advertises liquors in 1720 at the following prices: ‘Neat claret wine at 11_d._, strong at 15_d._; white wine at 12_d._; Rhenish at 16_d._; old Hock at 20_d._—all per bottle.’ Cherry [Sidenote: 1697.] sack was 28_d._ per pint. The same dealer had English ale at 4_d._ per bottle.[215] Burt, who, as an Englishman, could not have any general relish for a residence in the Scotland of that day, owns it to be one of the redeeming circumstances attending life in our northern region, that there was an abundance of ‘wholesome and agreeable drink’ in the form of French claret, which he found in every public-house of any note, ‘except in the heart of the Highlands, and sometimes even there.’ For what he here tells us, there is certainly abundance of support in the traditions of the country. The light wines of France for the gentlefolk, and twopenny ale for the commonalty, were the prevalent drinks of Scotland in the period we are now surveying, while sack, brandy, and punch for the one class, and usquebaugh for the other, were but little in use.