Stockwell.
_Eisell--Wormwood--Scurvy Ale._--Such of your readers who have not yet
made up their minds whether "eisell" and "wormwood" are identical, will
not object to be reminded that Taylor, the Water Poet, in his _Pennyless
Pilgrimage_, describing his hospitable reception at Manchester, when
speaking of the liquid cheer supplied to him, says:--
"... Eight several sorts of ale we had
All able to make one stark drunk, or mad.
...
We had at one time set upon the table
Good ale of hyssop ('twas no Æsop fable);
Then had we ale of sage, and ale of malt
And ale of _wormwood_ that could make one halt
With ale of rosemary, and of bettony,
And two ales more, or else I needs must lie.
But to conclude this drinking aley tale
We had a sort of ale called scurvy ale."
It would seem that in most of these drinks, the chief object was to
impart an exciting but not disagreeable bitterness to the beverage,
groping as it were, by instinct, after that enduring and gratifying
bitter now universally derived from the hop. Wormwood, hyssop, rosemary,
sage, bettony, each furnished its peculiar temptation to the Manchester
drinkers, who some two centuries ago wanted an "excuse for the glass."
Can any of your correspondents state what were the components of the
_scurvy ale_ spoken of by Taylor? This was, perhaps, a really medicated
drink.
It may not be generally known, that even at this day, In some of the gin
shops and taverns of London, gin, in which the herb rue is infused, is a
constant article of sale; and many, who assume a most respectable
blueness of physiognomy at the bare mention of "old Tom" in his
undisguised state, scruple not to indulge in copious libations of the
same popular spirit, provided it be poured from a bottle in which a few
sprigs of rue are floating. But what was _scurvy ale_?