1892 Drinks of the world

DRINKS.

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should be called Old Tom by the publicans and lower orders of London has sometimes puzzled those who are inquisitive enough to consider the subject etymo- The answer may, perhaps, be found in a curious book, called "The Life and Uncommon Ad- ventures of Captain Dudley Bradstreet, Dublin, r755." Captain Dudley, a government spy of the Count Fathom species, after declaring that the selling of Geneva in a less quantity than two gallons had been prohibited, says: "Most of the gaols were full, on account of this Act, and it occurred to me to venture upon the trade. I got an acquaintance to rent a house I then got it well secured, and laid out in a bed and other furniture five pounds, in provision and drink that would keep, about two pounds, and purchased in Moorfields the sign of a cat and had it nailed to a street window. I then caused a leaden pipe, the small end out about an inch, to be placed under the paw of the cat, the end that was within had a funnel to it. " When my house was ready for business I inquired what distiller in London was most famous for good gin, and was assured by several that it was Mr. L dale, in Holborn.^ To him I went, and laid out thirteen pounds. . . . The cargo was sent to my house, at the back of which there was a way to go in or out. When the liquor was properly disposed, I got a person ^ Whose premises were burnt down during the Lord George Gordon riots. Dickens immortalized Langdale in Barnaby Rudge, The distillery ^s still in existence at the same place. logically. in Blue Anchor Alley, in St, Luke's parish, who privately conveyed his bargain to me :

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