Cart of Claret

In the old days when a cargo of claret came to Leith, the
common way of proclaiming its arrival was by sending a hogshead of it through the town on a cart, with a horn; and that anybody who wanted a sample, or a drink under pretence of a sample, had only to go to the cart with a jug, which, without much nicety about its size, was filled for a sixpence. The Claret tax ended this mode of advertising; and, aided by the horror of everything
French, drove claret from all tables below the richest.

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