No matter in what country, wherever it was known, alcohol has been hailed as the Water of Life, even in the Gaelic. _Uisge-beatha_, or, as we term it, whiskey, bears literally that interpretation. This is “the wine of the country,” both in Ireland and Scotland, and the quantities drank, without any apparently hurtful effect, is astonishing to a southern Englishman. Northwards, on the border land, it is a question whether more whiskey is not drunk, _pro rata_, than in Scotland. Still, even there, every one is not gifted, as was the Irishman spoken of by John Wilson Croker. He tells the story of a lawsuit, in which a life insurance company disputed a claim, on the ground that the death was caused by excessive drinking. One witness for the plaintiff was called, who deposed that, for the last eighteen years of his life, he had been in the nightly habit of imbibing _twenty-four tumblers of whiskey punch_. The cross-examining counsel wished to know whether he would swear to that, or whether he ever overstepped that limit. The witness replied that he was upon his oath, and would swear no farther; “for I never kept count beyond the two dozen, though there is no saying how many beyond I might drink to make myself comfortable; but _that’s my stint_.” Good whiskey should be made solely from the finest barley malt, and is so made by the largest and best distillers; but the smaller ones, and those who are in a hurry to get rich by any means, use all kinds of refuse grain, and produce a spirit which, if drank new, is neither more nor less than rank poison. The fusel oil, which is present in all distillations from grain, requires time to resolve itself into those delicate ethers, which, while enhancing the flavour and bouquet of the spirit, are harmless. Good whiskey, properly matured, mixed with a sufficient quantity of water, and used in moderation, is a good and a wholesome drink, acting also in lieu of food. When this life-giving liquor was discovered is uncertain. Edward Campion, in his _History of Ireland_, 1633, speaking of a famine which happened in 1316, says that it was caused by the soldiers eating flesh and drinking _aqua vitæ_ in Lent; and, in another place, he states that a knight, called Savage, who lived in 1350, having prepared an army against the Irish, allowed to every soldier, before he buckled with the enemy, a mighty draught of _aqua vitæ_, wine, or old ale. Walter Harris, in his _Hibernica_, 1757, says that in the reign of Henry VIII. it was decreed that there be but one maker of _aqua vitæ_ in every borough town, upon pain of 6_s._ 8_d._; and that no _wheaten malt_ go to any Irishman’s country, upon pain of forfeiture of the same in value, except only bread, ale, or _aqua vitæ_. In a little book, _Delightes for Ladies_, etc., 1602, is the following recipe for _Usquebath, or Irish Aqua Vitæ_:—