The Curiosities of Ale & Beer: An Entertaining History / (Illustrated with over Fifty Quaint Cuts)

by John Bickerdyke

• CHAPTER I. Suppression of Beer-shops in Egypt 2,000 B.C. — Brewing in a Teapot. — Ale Songs. — Dis­tinc­tions be­tween Ale and Beer. — Ale-Knights’ ob­jec­tion to Sack. — Hogarth and Tem­per­ance. — Im­por­tance of Ale to the Ag­ri­cul­tu­ral La­bourer. — Sir John Bar­ley­corne in­tro­duced to the Reader . . . [1]
• CHAPTER II. Origin and An­ti­quity of Ale and Beer . . . [25]
• CHAPTER III. Home-brewed Ales. — Old Receipts. — His­to­ri­cal Facts. — Dean Swift on Home-brew. — Chris­to­pher North’s Brew-house . . . [45]
• CHAPTER IV. Use and Im­por­tance of Hops in Beer: Their In­tro­duc­tion and His­tory. — Hop-growers’ Trou­bles. — Me­di­cinal Qua­li­ties. — Eco­nom­ical Uses. — Hop-pickers . . . [65]
• CHAPTER V. Ancient and Curious Laws relating to the man­u­fac­ture and sale of Ale and Beer . . . [96]
• CHAPTER VI. Brewing and Malting in Early Times. — The Ale-wives. — The Brew­ers of Old London and the Brewers’ Company. — Anecdotes. — Quaint Epitaphs . . . [120]
• CHAPTER VII. Various Kinds of Ales and Beers. — Some For­eign Beers. — Re­ceipts. — Songs. — An­ec­dotes . . . [151]
• CHAPTER VIII. Ale houses: Their Origin. — Hos­pi­ta­li­ty in Me­di­æ­val Times. — Old Lon­don Inns and Ta­verns. — An­ec­dotes of Inns and Inn-keep­ers. — Cur­ious Signs. — Sign­board and Ale-house Verses. — Sign­board Ar­tists. — Ale-house Songs and Catches . . . [182]
• CHAPTER IX. Ancient Mer­ry-ma­kings, Feasts and Cer­e­mo­nies pe­cu­liar to cer­tain Seasons, at which Ale was the prin­ci­pal Drink. — Har­vest Home, Sheep-shear­ing, and other songs . . . [232]
• CHAPTER X. The Ales. — Ale at Break­fast. — Be­quests of Ale. — Drink­ing Cus­toms. — A Ser­mon on Malt. — Ex­ces­ses of the Cler­gy. — Anecdotes . . . [266]
• CHAPTER XI. Old Ballads, Songs and Verses relating to Ale and Beer . . . [294]
• CHAPTER XII. Brewing in the Pre­sent Day. — Anec­dotal and Bio­graph­i­cal Ac­count of some rep­re­sen­ta­tive London, Dublin, Burton and Country Brewing Firms. — Edinburgh Ales . . . [331]
• CHAPTER XIII. Porter and Stout. — Circumstances which led to their Introduction. — Value to the Working Classes. — Anecdotes. — “A Pot of Porter Oh!” . . . [365]
• CHAPTER XIV. Beverages com­pound­ed of Ale or Beer, with a num­ber of Re­ceipts. — An­cient Drink­ing Ves­sels. — Var­ious Uses of Ale other than as a Drink . . . [378]
• CHAPTER XV. Old Medical Writers on Ale. — Adul­ter­a­tion of Ale. — Ad­van­tages of Malt Li­quors to La­bour­ing Clas­ses. — Tem­per­ance versus To­tal Ab­sti­nence. — An­ec­dotes. — Gay’s Ballad . . . [408]
• APPENDIX. — Pasteur’s Discoveries . . . [441]

CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY.

“For a quart of ale is a dish for a King.”

No doubt it is a very tedious thing To undertake a folio work on law, Or metaphysics, or again to ring The changes on the Flood or Trojan War: Old subjects these, which Poets only sing Who think a new idea quite a flaw; But thirst for novelty can’t fail in liking The theme of Ale, the aptitude’s so striking.

SUPPRESSION OF BEER SHOPS IN EGYPT 2,000 B.C. — BREWING IN A TEAPOT. — ALE SONGS. — DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN ALE AND BEER. — ALE-KNIGHTS’ OBJECTION TO SACK. — HOGARTH AND TEMPERANCE. — IMPORTANCE OF ALE TO THE AGRICULTURAL LABOURER. — SIR JOHN BARLEYCORNE INTRODUCED TO THE READER.

OUR thou­sand years ago, if old in­scrip­tions and pa­pyri lie not, Egypt was con­vulsed by the high-handed pro­ceed­ings of cer­tain per­sons in au­thor­i­ty who in­clined to the opin­ion that the beer shops were too many. Think of it, ye modern Sup­pres­sion­ists! ’Tis now forty cen­turies since first your theories saw the light, and yet there is not a town in our hap­py coun­try with­out its ale­house.

While those disturbing members of the Egyptian community were waxing wrath over the beer shops, our savage ancestors probably contented themselves with such drinks as mead made from wild honey, {2} or cyder from the crab tree. But when Ceres sent certain of her votaries into our then benighted land to initiate our woad-dressed forefathers into the mysteries of grain-growing, the venerable Druids quickly discovered the art of brewing that beverage which in all succeeding years has been the drink of Britons.

Of true British growth is the Nectar we boast, The homely companion of plain boiled and roast,