"DEOCH AN DORUIS."

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19759, 9 April 1926, Page 4

"DEOCH AN DORUIS."

A BURNS STIRRUP CUP. AN ANCIENT TRADITION. There was recently sold at Ayr a Bums relic, the stirrup cup used by, fa mo Shanter. which, being intended for the Burns Memorial, is. doubly interesting. It ♦nay have been a similar cup which the poet, refers to in his poem beginning •'Go fetch to me a pint o’ wine. And till it in a silver taasie.”. Tassio. says a writer in the Edinburgh Weekly Scotsman, was an old Scottish name for the French drinking cup, from the French tasse, a cup. This cup held auout a pint. The offer ot the stirrup cup was the parting rite of ancient Scottish hospitality, it was customary both in private houses and in inns or public-houses (or change-houses as they were designated). At the latter this parting cup was brought to the departing guest, generally mounted, by the landlord. There w;as ho charge tor it in the reckoning. In the family of Scott of' Thirlestane. in Roxburghshire an heirloom existed, a stirrup cup, shaped like a lack-boot. It was obligatory lor visitors to emptv it before departing If the name was Scott the obligation was double. Ihe stirrup cup was named the deoch and doruis, and its widespread use in ancient times had origin in the convivial habits then prevailing. It was distinctly understood that this parting cup must be drunk cether standing or when on horseback. An anecdote is told about the application of this custom by o of rorfai in a case in which an ale wife s “peck of malt,_ set. out to cool, was drunk by a neighbours cow Uic owner of which was sued-for the value of the "I,roust.” The pursuer m evidence said she supposed the cow would fake its draught while standing on its feet. The bailie, on this , admission, solemnly adjudged the cow’s drink to he deoch and doruis-a stirrup-cup, for which no charge could he made without violating the ancient hospitality of Scotland.