Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1894-11-21
LAND or DRouTHIE cRoNIEs.
Convivsl CaIedonia's Curious Inns and
Hotels and Some Facts About Them.

COnvival Caiedonia's Curious Inns and
Hotels and Some Facts About Them.
Robert Kempt has gathered 81.
gether many interesting historic2;
items and quaint anecdotes about the
Caterer. 1t must be confessed the
historical side begins very late, for in
Olden days inns were practically uE.
known over the border, travellers be-
ing received in private houses as
guests. Consequently there is no
record of such ancient London hos.
tclries as the Tabard, in Southwark;
the Mermaid, in Bread Street, or the
Blue Boar, in Eastcheap When De-
foe went to Scotland he had di fculty
in finding an inn at Aberdeen, and
thus in spite o. royal edict issued
by James l. in l424, to the e ect
that in all borough towns where
there was considerable traffic, hostel.
ries should be established, but these
Institutions did not flourish till very
much later. Mr. Kempt gives some
amusing information as to the pains
and penalties enacted in the fifteenth
and seventeenth centuries regarding
the hours OF closing, drunkenness.
etc. The inns OF Aberdeen are ac-
corded a whole chapter, for there is
much 20 say about those Of the last
century. They practically formed
open clubs for the wits and learned
men o. the hOspitable city. over
very modest repaSts and potations,
grand symposia were held; the phil
osophers lived low. but thought and
spoke high.
DR.. johnson seems to have appre-
ciated the a berdeen inns; he found
them almost as cOngenial as his
haunts in Fleet Street, and certainly
far better than the Scottish houses
of entertainment Among other in.
tereStng items of information Mr..
keIpSt POINTS out that whisky is a
comparatively modern beverage, and
that in Olden days claret was almost
as much drank as ale. The Regent
Albany Is supposed to have made
claret popular. In l4o0 red Gascony
wine sold in Aberdeen at sixpence
pint, and later on claret and 20 t
wine could be had at eighteenpence
a bottle. Indeed, claret and port in
those early days could be procured
cheaper in Scotland than in most
parts Of England. In the cities and
country side are many inns with his.
torical interests attached to them.
IL the 1Evert aud Arms Hotel, Brae.
mar, is the stone on which The
standard OF Mar was raised in I745,
the beginning of Prince Charles
wild escape. Other inns are associa-
ted with names venerated in S OF.
tish history and literature. There
are many inns in the Highlands
closely connected with Burns, the Et.
trick Shepherd, Sir Walter Scott, and
other kindred giants of Old. Scott
mentions that it used to be the
fashion to eat oysters in the Covenant
has gathered together many details
as TO this once fashionable form OF
indulgence. During the eighteenth
century it seems that the best soci.
ETY. in tine Scottish capital, ladies
and gentlemen, used to make parties
at one of the taverns in '.Auld
.Reekie," there to partake of oysters
and porter, ending up with brandy
and rum punch, with songs and dane
ing. Some of these old Aberdenian
aud Edinburgh inns were the ancient
houses OF noble families, great ramb-
ling buildings, with many rooms,
some of remarkably fine proportions
Even a few of the country inns were
former mansions of The lairds of the
soil.