Dedicated

TO THE

Brewers of the United Kingdom

AND ALL WHO VALUE

Honest Malt Liquor.

PREFACE.

HAT the history and curiosities of Ale and Beer should fill a bulky volume, may be a sub­ject for surprise to the un­think­ing read­er; and that sur­prise will probably be intens­i­fied, on his learning that great dif­fi­cul­ty has been ex­perienced in keep­ing this book within reason­able limits, and at the same time doing any­thing like jus­tice to the subject. Since the dawn of our history Barley-wine has been the “naturall drinke” for an “Englysshe man,” and has had no un­im­por­tant in­flu­ence on English life and man­ners. It is, there­fore, somewhat curious that up to the present, among the thousands of books published annually, no comp­re­hen­sive work on the antiquities of ale and beer has found place.