"Blue ruin—gin!" cried the old man. "Ah! I can tell you something about that too. Oil of vitriol is the chief ingredient: it has the pungency and smell of gin. When you take the cork out of a bottle of _pure gin_, it will never make your eyes water: but the oil of vitriol _will_. Ha! ha! there's a test for you. Try it! Oil of turpentine, sulphuric æther, and oil of almonds are used to conceal the vitriol in the made-up gin. What is called _Fine Cordial Gin_ is the most adulterated of all: it is concocted expressly for dram-drinkers—ha! ha!" "Rum, I should think, is the best of all the spirits," said the Buffer. "Because you like it best, perhaps?" exclaimed the old man. "Ha! ha! you don't know that the _Fine Jamaica Rum_ is nothing else but the vile low-priced Leeward Island rum, which is in itself a stomach-burning fire-water of the deadliest quality, and which is mixed by the publican with cherry-laurel water and _devil_." "What's _devil_?" asked the Knacker. "Aye, what is it, indeed? It's nothing but chili pods infused in oil of vitriol—that's all! But now for _Best Cognac Brandy_," continued the old man. "Do you think the brandy sold under that name ever saw France—ever crossed the sea? Not it! Aqua ammonia, saffron, mace, extract of almond cake, cherry-laurel water, _devil_, terra japonica, and spirits of nitre, make up the brandy when the British spirit has been well deluged with water. That's your brandy! Ha! ha!" "What a precious old sinner you must be, Swiggs," said one of the company, "if you used to make up such poisons as you're now talking about." "Dare say I was—dare say I was," observed the old man, composedly. "Nearly every publican does the same, I tell you. Those who don't, go into the _Gazette_—that's all. Ha! ha! But if the poor are cheated and poisoned in that way, how do you think the middle classes and rich ones are served! Shall I tell you any thing about wine—eh?" "Yes—do," cried several voices. "Let's hear how the swell cove is served out."