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OF USTE W 
 
 T is with much satisfaction that the authors 
 of this book are enabled at last to place 
 it, completed, into your hands. lor many 
 months past the writing of it has occupied 
 their leisure hours, and it may truly be 
 said to have been to them fc labor of love, 
 since only friendship for you prompted them 
 to undertake it. Originally commenced (both 
 as regards the verse and the prose) with 
 no intention of its making over a few 
 stanzas or pages, the subject opened be 
 fore them as they wrote, and almost im 
 perceptibly probably under the inspiration (at respectable 
 intervals) of the sparkling beverage it celebrates attained its 
 present goodly dimensions. 
 
 In a brief speech which the writer of the ballad made 
 a short time ago, at a dinner given to celebrate the com 
 pletion of this work, and where were gathered such choice 
 spirits as Professor Alexander Dimitry, John Brougham, A. 
 
 
J. Requier, John W. Carrington, Alex. Matthew, Thomas 
 J. Miller, Walter Dickson, Dr. C. L. Brown, and others, 
 he gave, in a few words, the history, as it were, of these 
 verses, wherein he said that the writing of them was sug 
 gested to him by a common friend, Tom Miller, who 
 desired them for the occasion of a festive gathering, where 
 your ale would form one of the staple drinks; accordingly, 
 a half dozen stanzas were written and recited by the writer, 
 and received by your guests with much greater approba 
 tion than they deserved. 
 
 When, a few days thereafter, at your request, the author 
 of those lines essayed to copy them, he found that he had 
 struck a vein which would bear fuller working. Thereupon 
 he gave rein to his Pegasus, and, though it is given to 
 halting, and is broken-winded at times, yet it bore him 
 triumphantly along beside fields of ripening barley and past 
 hop gardens, where the vines wreathed themselves in grace 
 ful lines about supporting trellises. It carried him to 
 Teutonic beer saloons and to English inns and homesteads 
 to Scotia s cabins and the hills of the Emerald Isle 
 to the vineyards of France and the bar-rooms of Yankee- 
 land ; and wherever he went he found something suggestive 
 of ale. So he wrote on, con amore, until the ballad 
 grew, speaking figuratively, from half-a-dozen mugs of ale 
 to a whole barrel full, thirty-two gallons to the cask, beer 
 measure. 
 
 After it was completed you engaged Mr. McNeviN to 
 illustrate certain portions of it. How successfully he ac 
 complished this the accompanying engravings will show. 
 
 Then it was, too, that the author of the accompanying 
 prose sketch offered to weave together a number of facts 
 which might outline the history and antiquity of ale, 
 illustrated with such literary and other reminiscences as 
 a reasonable scope would allow. The subject embraced the 
 prunings and pickings of years of reading, with more im- 
 
mediate research, to link by chronology, and balance with 
 appropriate references to the various interests suggested, in 
 a historical, hygienic and agricultural aspect, the materials 
 of which the essay is composed. The desire to accomplish 
 the work was thus constantly waylaid by the allurements 
 of the still-growing design, until, in following ale down the 
 centuries from the bjor of the Scandanavian. Vikings to the 
 chica of the South Pacific, and around the world from the 
 Steppes of Tartary to the vats of Albany the author 
 feared he had tired out the patience of those who bade 
 him "good speed" at his starting. In this, it seems, he 
 was mistaken ; and now, having completed what was 
 promised many months since, he presents it to you with 
 great sincerity of feeling, and to readers, in the hope that 
 it may help to further a much-needed reform in the 
 character of popular beverages, and, consequently, in the 
 health and comfort of the people. 
 
 With these few words, by way of preface, the writers 
 subscribe themselves 
 
 Your friends, 
 
 JOHN SAVAGE, 
 BARRY GRAY. 
 
 FORDHAM, N. Y., October 15, 18(56. 
 
 ti 
 
BONIFACE. " Ale ! Tis smooth as oil, sweet as milk, clear as 
 amber, and strong as brandy. * * * Sir, I have fed purely upon 
 ale ; I have eat my ale, drank my ale, and I always sleep upon ale. 
 * * * * * Now, Sir, you shall see [filling a glass}. Your 
 worship s health: Ha! delicious, delicious fancy it Burgundy, ouly fancy 
 it, and tis worth ten shillings a quart. 
 
 AIMWELL. [Drinks.] Tis confounded strong. 
 
 BONIFACE. Strong 1 It must be so, or how should we be strong 
 that drink it ?" FARQCHAR S Beaux Stratagem. 
 
 "When neebors anger at a plea, 
 An just as wud as wud can be, 
 How easy can the barley-bree 
 
 Cement the quarrel 1 
 It s aye the cheapest lawyer s fee, 
 
 To taste the barrel." 
 
 BURNS Scotch Drink. 
 
 Tom Miller, gay and festive " fellar, 
 
 Come, put aside your books and pen, 
 Let s drop into a quiet cellar, 
 
 And mingle with our brother men. 
 We re dull as monks in ivied cloisters ; 
 
 We need wherewith our hearts to cheer ; 
 We ll find it in a dozen oysters, 
 
 And in two mugs of Taylors beer. 
 
10 
 
 II. 
 
 John Taylor was a famous brewer, 
 
 In Albany for years he dwelt, 
 And never nobler man, or truer, 
 
 Than he, before God s Throne e er knelt. 
 You knew him, Tom, and oft united 
 
 With those to whom his love was dear, 
 Around the festal board, delighted 
 
 To quaff his generous foaming beer. 
 
 III. 
 
 You know his sons, both Joe and William, 
 
 Two glorious men as e er drew breath, 
 And there was Ned one in a million ! 
 
 But his bright eyes are closed in death. 
 A truce though, Tom, to thoughts of sorrow, 
 
 Grieving o er friends doth nought avail ; 
 What if the grave claims us to-morrow ! 
 
 To day we ll drink our mugs of ale. 
 
 IV. 
 
 And such ale, too, my jolly fellow, 
 
 As well would suit the gods to quaff; 
 Twill make the saddest heart grow mellow, 
 
 And cause the gloomiest man to laugh. 
 I ve drank the wines of many a vine-land, 
 
 The product of both hill and dale, 
 But I d exchange the best of Rhineland 
 
 For one full mug of Taylors ale. 
 
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11 
 
 The bearded Teuton, round and burly, 
 
 May find the best of festal cheer, 
 Whether the hour be late or early 
 
 In countless mugs of lager bier. 
 His flaxen-haired and blue-eyed daughter, 
 
 May even o er my tastes prevail, 
 And for her eyes do cruel slaughter 
 
 Make me forego my favorite ale. 
 
 VI . 
 
 But only for a little season, 
 
 An hour or two in Jones Wood, 
 For when returns my calmer reason, 
 
 I shake my head and say, "no good." 
 Lager may do for plump Dutch maiden, 
 
 To wash down Schweitzer cheese severe, 
 But I prefer my table laden 
 
 With Shrewsburys and Taylors beer. 
 
 VII. 
 
 The Frenchman may declare in favor 
 
 Of wines which la belle France bestows, 
 Praise Heidsick s champagne for its flavor, 
 
 And quite adore la Veuve Cliquot s. 
 What if the Turk o er sherbet lingers! 
 
 Oscanyan kept it once for sale 
 In his bazaar Allah! his fingers 
 
 Now oftener clasp our mugs of ale. 
 
12 
 
 VIII. 
 
 The Englishman, so grim and sober, 
 
 Has oftentimes been known to laugh 
 Above his wife s home-brewed " October, 
 
 And o er his mugs of alf and alf. 
 The canny Scot, in hours of leisure, 
 
 Forgotten gainst the world to rail, 
 And taken unco, muckle pleasure, 
 
 Aboon his barley-bree o ale. 
 
 IX. 
 
 His Irish neighbor, of whose doings 
 
 The likeliest is making love, 
 In poteen, and such other brewings, 
 
 Shows inspiration from above. 
 And, when the punch- is circling cheerily, 
 
 Not one who drinks would have it fail, 
 And few there be, who love it dearly, 
 
 Would give it up for common ale. 
 
 X. 
 
 Falstaff drank sack it was essential, 
 
 He thought, to keep his courage right, 
 But ale had been much more potential, 
 
 And better for the fat old knight. 
 And would that hero, Tarn O Shanter, 
 
 Have ever ventured to assail 
 Witch Nannie with rude words of banter, 
 
 But for John Barleycorn s strong ale ? 
 

 . 
 
 
13 
 
 XI. 
 
 |^>|gS ? 
 
 1 
 
 Ah ! could these good lads but have tasted 
 
 
 The brewage which my muse extols, 
 
 
 They d own their lives had half been wasted, 
 
 
 In quaffing, Tom, from lesser bowls. 
 
 
 Yes, yes, Tom Miller, you and I know 
 
 
 Full well this nectar, sparkling, pale, 
 
 
 For many, a time our final rhino 
 
 
 lias gone for mugs of Taylors ale. 
 
 
 XII. 
 
 
 And often, Tom, the midnight s found us 
 
 
 Within a publican s warm room, 
 
 
 With jovial comrades seated round us, 
 
 
 Forgetful of the outside gloom : 
 
 
 Forgetful of the sleet and showers, 
 
 
 Borne on the chill autumnal gale ; 
 
 
 Forgetful of the passing hours, 
 
 
 But mindful of our foaming ale. 
 
 
 XIII. 
 
 
 October s brewage, pure and creamy, 
 
 
 Fragrant of hops and malt new-made, 
 
 
 To childhood s days, so sweet and dreamy, 
 
 
 Fraught more with sunshine than with shade, 
 
 
 Carried us back to when we rambled 
 
 
 With pretty Madge o er hill and dale, 
 While trusty Watch before us gambolled, 
 Long ere we knew the taste of ale. 
 
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14 
 
 XIV. 
 
 The scent of blossoming hops was wafted 
 
 From fields where vines innumerous grew, 
 And mid its perfume there was grafted 
 
 A savor which the barley knew : 
 Those climbing vines, those fields of barley, 
 
 Heard then full many a pleasant tale, 
 While for her kisses we did parley, 
 
 Recalled to mind now o er our ale. 
 
 XV. 
 
 Those halcyon days long since have vanished, 
 
 For Madge, dear Madge, is now but dust : 
 Her form from earth forever banished, 
 
 Her spirit mingles with the just. 
 But while remembrance bids us weep her, 
 
 Our love through life will never fail, 
 For in our heart of hearts we ll keep her, 
 
 And drink her memory in our ale. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 Among the ales most famed in story, 
 
 From Adam s down or old or new 
 There s none possessing half the glory, 
 
 Or half the life of Taylors brew. 
 Their " amber" brand is light and cheery, 
 
 Their "XX" is strong, though pale, 
 But give to me, when dull and weary, 
 
 Their cream, imperial "Astor" ale. 
 
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 15 
 
 XVII. 
 
 Tis blithe, Tom, in the early morning, 
 
 To drain a pint of Taylors brew, 
 And woe to him who dares, with scorning, 
 
 At noon to take aught else in lieu : 
 And then, when evening shadows lengthen, 
 
 No other tankard should prevail, 
 While still the day-worn frame to strengthen, 
 
 At night tis good to quaff more ale. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 Do you remember, Tom, the cottage, 
 
 The old inn on the river s bank, 
 Where we ate many a famous pottage, 
 
 And many a cooling draught have drank ? 
 And those three rustic signs together, 
 
 Triangular that braved the gale, 
 Through Summer and through Winter weather, 
 
 Proclaiming there was Taylors ale? 
 
 XIX. 
 
 That quaint old inn, Tom, still is standing, 
 
 And near it s grown a thriving town, 
 And steamboats touch now at the landing 
 
 Both going up and coining down. 
 The sign, with hop vines round it wreathing 
 
 The try sling spot of all the vale 
 Still hrar tin- lads and lasses breathing 
 
 Tlu-ir vows of love o er Taylors ale. 
 
16 
 
 XX. 
 
 I do recall the day how clearly, 
 
 Though almost thirty years have fled, 
 When I, a lad of ten or nearly, 
 
 Saw that which quite perplexed my head. 
 Twas on a steamboat, in September, 
 
 At Albany, and near the pier, 
 And I was sober, to remember, 
 
 For then I drank no mugs of beer. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 And yet I could have sworn, believe me, 
 
 That I was tight as any brick, 
 Or else my eyes, which ne er deceive me, 
 
 Had played me quite a scurvy trick, 
 For on a sign which hung just o er me, 
 
 As past the bulk-heads we did sail, 
 The word "Imperial" gleamed before me, 
 
 " John Taylor" then, and then " Cream Ale." 
 
 XXII. 
 
 It s more than Janus-faced gyration, 
 
 Its mystic union three in one, 
 Was^ to my young imagination, 
 
 The greatest wonder under sun. 
 And long my mind upon it Avandered, 
 
 But little did it all avail, 
 Until, as through the streets I wandered, 
 
 I stopped and bought a mug of ale. 
 
 ii 
 
S, 
 
 * 
 & 3 
 
 
 ! 
 
17 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 And then, with subtle comprehension, 
 
 I solved the riddle .of the sign, 
 And deemed it was a great invention, 
 
 One odd and novel in design. 
 And now, when many a year has faded, 
 
 While still it braves the sun and gale, 
 I learn twas planned and made, unaided, 
 
 By him who brewed this famous ale. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 And more, I ve heard with admiration, 
 
 That often times he wrote in verse, 
 And held full many a civic station, 
 
 And filled full many an orphan s purse. 
 And till death s hand came o er him stealing, 
 
 He was as hearty and as hale, 
 And fresh and youthful in his feeling, 
 
 As when he brewed his earliest ale. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 Long, long old Albany will honor 
 
 His name, and keep his memory green, 
 For he shed endless glory on her, 
 
 And she no worthier son has seen. 
 And now he s gone but though departed, 
 
 And both his sons their loss bewail, 
 The world need not be broken-hearted, 
 
 For still they brew this favorite ale. 
 
18 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 Twas only last week, Tom, on Sunday, 
 
 In Albany I met with Saxe, 
 Who doesn t care for Mrs. Grundy, 
 
 And always pays his income tax ; 
 And as we walked that quaint, Dutch city, 
 
 Seeing no children weak or pale, 
 He said, twas rude, perhaps, but witty, 
 
 "Their mothers milk is Taylor s ale." 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 And ever, Tom, in joy or sorrow, 
 
 Go where I may throughout the land, 
 Whether the cash I have to borrow 
 
 Or hold it ready in my hand, 
 I search hotel, saloon and cellar, 
 
 As knights once sought the holy grail, 
 Until I find an honest " fellar" 
 
 Who keeps a tap of Taylors ale. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 And then straightway I "plank" the money, 
 
 And order up a mug of ale 
 And afterwards exclaim, " Now, sonny, 
 
 Look sharp, another mug of ale." 
 And then well, I repeat the order, 
 
 And replicate, and never fail, 
 Until I touch upon the border 
 
 Of half-a-dozen mugs of ale. 
 
19 
 
 XXI . 
 
 And as the foaming goblets vanish, 
 
 Peace takes possession of my soul ; 
 The world, with all its cares, I banish, 
 
 And, golden-like, the moments roll. 
 Once more I dream the dreams of glory, 
 
 Which in my boyhood did prevail, 
 When life was but a fairy story, 
 
 Bright as the sparkles on the ale. 
 
 XXX. 
 
 And then Tom Miller, cease your laughing 
 
 Put on your hat and go with me, 
 If you don t care for such deep quaffing, 
 
 We ll keep the number down to three. 
 Yet stay, just feel within your pockets 
 
 The very thought makes me turn pale ! 
 If you ve no greenbacks, like spent rockets 
 
 Must disappear our wished-for ale. 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 For I m a rhymer, Tom, and never 
 
 Have dollars in my slender purse, 
 And still I ve sometimes thought, however, 
 
 A few would make it none the worse. 
 But one can t have both wealth and genius, 
 
 Therefore I ll not at fortune rail; 
 To do so were a crime most heinous, 
 
 But can you pay for any ale ? 
 
20 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 " All right !" you say then let s be jolly, 
 
 You ll square the bin, I ll round a tale, 
 About a poet s love and folly, 
 
 Between our pewter mugs of ale. 
 We ll have some oysters, and a salad, 
 
 A dish of mushrooms, and a quail, 
 And yes, I ll read this simple ballad, 
 
 Concerning Taylors sparkling ale. 
 
ANTIQUARIAN, HISTORICAL AND LITERARY. 
 
 UBINGr the last ten or fifteen years con 
 siderable attention has been devoted by 
 philanthropists and publicists to the sub 
 ject of Malt Liquors. It grew into im- 
 imposing prominence in our State during 
 the liquor law excitement, from the leading 
 position of New York, as one of the 
 foremost hop - growing States in the world. The 
 question was argued from every stand - point. One 
 writer was opposed to the law, as referring to 
 malt beverages, on the ground of State policy, State 
 health and State wealth. Another, taking a Biblical 
 view of the subject, and instancing the recommenda 
 tion of certain drinks to be found in the Scriptures 
 in Genesis, Nehemiah, Ecclesiastes, Leviticus, Ephesians, 
 Peter, &c., was of opinion that the "beverage so fre 
 quently referred to was no other than barley wine, or 
 beer." A third reviewed the farming interests involved, 
 and a fourth thought the advocacy of beer or ale a 
 fair and moderate middle ground between the extreme 
 
22 
 
 pro-liquor men, on the one hand, and the extreme 
 anti-liquor men, on the other. 
 
 The mention of beer, or fermented liquor, is, in the 
 common phrase, as old as the hills. If the antiquity 
 of its appearance on the historical records of Old 
 Earth has any recommendatory qualification, as is fre 
 quently the case with other things, certainly its im 
 portance will not be considered far behind almost 
 any other article of domestic use. 
 
 Tradition, failing in the remoteness of the earlier 
 stages of its being to fix with certainty the invention 
 of beer on earth, takes refuge in the regions of my 
 thology, and accords its first creation to the god Bacchus. 
 Whether beer owes its paternity to the jolly Daemon 
 Bonus (one of the many names given to the god of 
 wine, because, at all feasts the last glass was drank 
 to his honor), or to any less heathen or more drunken 
 demi-god, is a matter of small consequence in these 
 days of earthly progressiveness. If, however, we reason 
 ably agree with Boyse* that no Bacchus ever existed, 
 but that he was only a masque, or figure of some 
 concealed truth, and adopt his reading of Horace s ode 
 to that "great spirit,"f to wit, that Bacchus meant 
 no more than the improvement of the world, by the 
 cultivation of agriculture, and the planting of the vine, 
 then we may, perchance, comprehend the importance 
 which the production of beer had for our ancestors, 
 when they fathered its initiation on that "masque or 
 figure," which to them symbolized the "improvement 
 of the world," by agriculture ; an art, in the opinion 
 of wise men, from Moses to Vattel and Audrey 
 
 * Pantheon, p. 125. 
 
 f Horace, book ii., ode xix. 
 
Johnson, the most useful and necessary of all others 
 to man.* 
 
 Leaving, however, that point where tradition, for 
 whatever purpose, seeks an authority in the classic 
 heaven of myth and fable, and coming down to the 
 earliest earthly authorities, we have but to step from 
 the heights of Olympus to the regions of the celes 
 tial empire ; the records of which at once chronicle 
 the earthly invention and fascinating character of the 
 Chinese beverage. We readf that under the Government 
 of the Emperor Yu, or Ta-Yu, before Christ 2207, 
 the making of ale or wine from rice was invented by 
 an ingenious agriculturalist named I-tye ; and that as 
 the use of this liquor was likely to be attended with 
 evil consequences, the Emperor expressly forbid the 
 manufacture or drinking of it, under the severest pen 
 alties. He even renounced it himself, and dismissed 
 his cup-bearer, lest, as he said, his successors might 
 suffer their hearts to be effeminated (softened) with so 
 delicious a beverage. This, however, had not the de 
 sired effect, for having once tasted it, the people 
 would never afterwards entirely abstain from the be 
 witching draught. It was, even at a very early period, 
 carried to such excess, and consumed in such abund 
 ance, that the Emperor Kya, the Nero of China, in 
 1836, before Christ, compelled three thousand of his 
 subjects to jump into a large lake which he had pre 
 pared and filled with ale; while Chin-Vang, in 1120, 
 thought it prudent to assemble the Princess to suppress 
 
 * See Discussion on the Homestead Bill, Life of President Johnsqn, 
 Ac., p. 61. 
 
 f See authorities quoted in S. More wood s " Essay on the Inventions 
 and Customs of Ancients and Moderns in the use of Inebriating Drinks." 
 
24 
 
 its manufacture, as the source of endless misfortune 
 in his realm.* 
 
 Coming to what appeals more to our reason, we 
 find that Herodotus, whose writings are the first extant 
 of Grecian historians, and who flourished in the close 
 of the fifth century previous to the Christian era, sets 
 beer down as an Egyptian invention, and ascribes its 
 discovery to Isis, wife of Assyris. She brewed a wine 
 or beverage from barley: and Mr. Talboys Wheeler, in 
 his remarkable literary panorama of the history, man 
 ners, arts and social condition of the ancients of that 
 day, tells us that, as vines did not grow in Egypt, 
 the wines of Greece and Phoenicia were very largely 
 imported and consumed by those able to enjoy such 
 indulgence, but those who could not buy the foreign 
 growths, drunk a kind of home-made wine or beer 
 produced from barley, which, however, was very su 
 perior to the ale drunk by the lower orders in 
 Greece.f Xenophon, in his description of the retreat 
 of the ten thousand (of which he was a general), after 
 the battle of Cunaxa, sixty miles from Babylon, in the 
 year 401, B. C., mentions beer as a beverage. Diodorus 
 Siculus, who flourished in the first century before 
 Christ, alludes to a fermented decoction of barley as 
 one of the ordinary beverages of the Egyptians, and 
 Tacitus (born Anno Domini 57) adopts the dates given 
 by the older Greek writers, and states that such a 
 drink was much used by the Germans. " Their drink 
 
 * Du Halde, vol. 1 ; 150, 159, 433. . Morewood, 114. 
 
 ) The Life and Travels of Herodotus, in the fifth century before 
 Christ: an imaginary biography, founded on fact, Ac., <fec., by J. 
 Talboys Wheeler, F. R. G-. S., &c., 2 vols. 
 
 ^ 
 
25 
 
 is a liquor prepared from barley or wheat, brought by 
 fermentation to a certain resemblance of wine."* 
 
 According to him, the Romans as well as the 
 Germans, at a very early period, learned the art of 
 fermentation from the Egyptians. Pliny also, noticing 
 the drinks made from corn, says that Zythum is made 
 in Egypt, Celia and Ceria in Spain, and Cervisia and 
 many more sorts in Gaul. The people of Spain, es 
 pecially, he tells us, had arrived at great perfection in 
 the manufacture of the beverage; and that it could be 
 kept to a great age. It is supposed by some com 
 mentators that Pliny s exclamation, "Heu, mira vitiorum 
 solertia! inventum est quemadmodum aqua quoque 
 inebriaret," (Oh ! the wonderful sagacity of our vices ! 
 They have, by some means or other, discovered how to 
 make even water intoxicating), was intended to indicate 
 distillation ; but, taken in connection with his preceding 
 remarks on the liquor of the western nations, "that 
 it was made of steeped grain," and "taken pure, and 
 not diluted as wine is," we agree with Morewood 
 that the passage means nothing more than the intoxi 
 cating power or strength acquired by the water in the 
 fermenting process of the grain. The Zythum was the 
 beer spoken of by Herodotus. Cereviscia or cervisia was 
 the appropriate name given to the beverage by the 
 Romans, as being made from corn, the gift of Ceres. 
 In the Maleria Medico, malt liquor retains this title. 
 The Egyptians had also a barley decoction called 
 Kourmi, milder in flavor than Zythum ; it was mixed 
 with honey. The early Greeks had a beer which 
 they termed Pinon, and a famous beverage of this 
 
26 
 
 nature was the Pelusian, named from the place of 
 its production, at the mouth of the Nile. We may, 
 indeed, infer from the notices found in historians, that 
 drinks analagous to our beer were in use among the 
 ancient Gauls, Germans, and, in fact, almost every 
 people of our Temperate Zone; and they are still the 
 universal beverages where the vine is not the object of 
 rustic husbandry.* At the ancient feasts of the Gauls, 
 wine and beer were the liquors indulged in, the last 
 being the most extensively used of the two. 
 
 Beer was the national drink of the Teutons. It was 
 the potent beverage of the heroes and sea rovers of 
 Norse-land, and not only filled up the measure of 
 delight, next to fighting, in this world, but entered 
 largely into their expected joys in Valhalla. To drink 
 ale in the halls of Odin, even from the skulls of 
 their foes, deprived death of its terrors. The death 
 chant of Eagnar Lodbrog, a famous sea king, who 
 was captured and killed in prison by a Northumbrian 
 king, about A. D. 865, exhibits the beer hopes of the 
 Norse heroes : 
 
 " We fought with our swords still I delight 
 When I think of the banquet prepared 
 By the father of Balder to regale the brave; 
 There we shall copiously drink of ale, 
 Out of cups which are formed of the 
 
 Skulls of our foes." 
 * * * * * * 
 
 "Now cease our song the goddesses come 
 And invite me home to the Hall of Odin; 
 Happy there, on a high raised throne, 
 Seated with gods, I shall quaff my ale." 
 
 *Dr. Ure. 
 
27 
 
 In one of the Danish ballads, the mighty " Thor of 
 Asgard" having lost his hammer, goes disguised as a 
 maid to the Thusser King, in whose possession it was, 
 when 
 
 "They took her, the young and bashful bride, 
 
 To sit on her bridal chair, 
 And forward stepped the Thusser King 
 
 Himself to serve the fair. 
 **** 
 
 A whole ox-carcase the maid ate up, 
 
 Her loaves and her bacon first, 
 And then twelve barrels of ale she drank, 
 Before she could quench her thirst." 
 
 When the hammer was forthcoming, the maid, 
 thus strengthened, took it and laid about her in very 
 fierce style. Northern literature is full of references 
 illustrating the ancient history of the beverage. This 
 verse, from another old Danish ballad, is -only a varia 
 tion of the general business of the Vikings drinking 
 and going to sea; or, to use a well known phrase, 
 which unites both duties, getting three sheets in the 
 wind 
 
 "To-night we ll drink a full carouse, 
 
 Can we but get the ale; 
 To-morrow, if the breeze is fair, 
 We ll put to sea and sail." 
 
 The Scandinavians called it Ijor, which was con- 
 .verted into leer by the Anglo-Saxons whence comes 
 the title so familiar to us at the present day. The 
 beverage was known in England at a very early 
 period. We find an evident reference to it by Eu- 
 menes, in his panegyric on Constantius, in the year 
 A. D. 296, when noting the remarkable fact that 
 Britain produced such abundance of corn that it was 
 
28 
 
 not only sufficient to supply bread, but also a drink 
 comparable to wine. This, no doubt, was ale, or beer, 
 as it is indiscriminately, but not correctly called. 
 
 In the laws given by Ina, king of the west Saxons, 
 or Wessex, to his people and the conquered Britons 
 of Somerset, mention is made of aje "houses. This 
 prince is characterized as wise, just, and possessing a 
 " humanity hitherto unknown to the Saxon conquerors,"* 
 and his " long reign of thirty-seven years (from A. D. 
 688 to 726) may be regarded as one of the most 
 glorious and prosperous of the Heptarchy."f 
 
 A sample of Ina s wisdom may be given, especially 
 as, while it exhibits his appreciation of the liquor, it 
 also indicates the progress of ale as a popular drink. 
 Its manufacture had become of such consequence in the 
 year 694, that Ina directed that "every possessor of a 
 farm of ten hides of land, or as much as required ten 
 ploughs, should, among other articles, pay him twelve 
 ambers of Welsh ale," each containing above seven 
 gallons of English wine measure. In 728, during the 
 reign of Ethelbald, tenth king of the Mercians, and 
 fifteenth monarch over the seven Saxon kingdoms, ale 
 booths were set up, their necessity becoming more ex 
 tensive, and laws were instituted for their regulation. 
 In the reign of Edward the Confessor ale is expressly 
 mentioned as one of the liquors for a royal banquet. 
 The progress of beer or ale drinking was rapid, and 
 a large portion of time seems to have been devoted 
 to it by all the old northern nations. The custom 
 furnishes many picturesque passages and scenes in 
 
 * Imperial History of England. By T. Camden. 2 vols., folio, 
 f Ibid. 
 
, k. 
 
 :?r 
 
 29 
 
 Charles Kingsley s recent work, " Ilereward, the Last 
 of the English," which is chiefly interesting from the 
 descriptions of the manners and customs before and 
 at the period of the Norman Conquest. These were 
 the days when great fighting earls and chiefs, like 
 Alef, a Cornish kinglet, used to hold state and festi 
 val on a high-backed wooden settle, at the end of a 
 long oaken table, well filled with boiled beef, bar 
 ley cakes and ale. The young bloods of those days 
 were not characterized by that effeminacy which is a 
 leading feature of the sons of \vealthy or prominent 
 men in our day. What our moderns have learned in 
 demeanor or deportment, as Turveydrop would say, 
 they have sadly lost in animal vim, courage and 
 public spirit. Ilereward, we find, even at the age of 
 fifteen, had a following of house-carles, and was a 
 terror "at wakes and fairs, ale houses and village 
 sports." No doubt the muscles of the former were 
 more expanded than their minds, still they proved good 
 fighters and patriots when the day of necessity came. 
 In their sports or councils ale was a prominent in 
 spiration and pledge of faith. The mode by which 
 the liquors of the ancient Britons and other Celtic 
 nations was made, as described by Isidorus and 
 Orosius, did not differ materially from the method at 
 present pursued. " The grain was steeped in water 
 and made to germinate, by which its spirits were ex 
 cited and set at liberty; it was then dried and 
 ground, after which it was infused in a certain quantity 
 of water, and being fermented, it became a pleasant, 
 warming, strengthening, and intoxicating beverage." 
 This ale, says Morewood, alluding to the above, was 
 commonly made of barley, but sometimes of wheat, 
 oats, and millet. The ancient Welsh and Scots had 
 
 tf 
 
 air 
 
30 
 
 two kinds of it, called common and spiced ale, and the 
 value of each was determined by law. "If a farmer 
 hath, no mead, he shall pay two casks of spiced ale, 
 or four casks of common ale for one cask of mead." 
 Thus, a cask of spiced ale, " nine palms in height and 
 eighteen in diameter, was valued at a sum equal to 
 7 10s. of our present coin,* and a cask of common 
 ale, of the same size, at a sum equal to 3 13s." 
 
 In the thirty-fifth article of the Magna Charta, 
 granted by King John 19th June, 1215, touching 
 weights and measures, wine and ale are the only 
 drinks mentioned, and a uniform measure ordained for 
 them all over the country.f 
 
 Bread and ale were associated together as positive 
 necessaries of life, as is shown by the ordinances 
 which were instituted from time to time regulating the 
 prices of both. In the reign of Henry Third middle 
 of the thirteenth century the manufacture of ale had 
 become of such consequence that its price was fixed 
 in proportion to that of corn and wine.:}: A sta 
 tute was passed, 1256 (the preamble of which al 
 ludes to other statutes on the same subject), which 
 enacted that " when a quarter of wheat was sold for 
 3s. or 3s. 4id.j and a quarter of barley for 20 pence 
 or 24 pence, and a quarter of oats for 15 pence, 
 brewers in cities could afford to sell two gallons of 
 ale for Id., and out of cities three gallons for Id. ; 
 and when in a town three gallons are sold for \d., 
 out of town they may and ought to sell four." 
 
 * 1824. More wood. 
 
 f Sic. Article 35. There shall be only one measure of wine 
 through all our kingdom, and one measure of ale, &c. 
 \ Hume. Vol. 2. 
 
81 
 
 In the reign of Edward the Sixth houses for the 
 sale of ale were first licensed, and about a half cen 
 tury afterwards, in the reign of James the First, 1621, 
 the power of licensing inns and ale houses was granted 
 by letters patent to particular individuals; but this 
 system disclosing great abuses, the same mode was 
 applied to it as in the collection of other branches of 
 assize. 
 
 The duty imposed on beer during the reign of the 
 Merrie Monarch, Charles the Second, and granted to 
 him for life, was two shillings and sixpence per barrel 
 on strong, and sixpence on table beer. The King 
 farmed the grant out until 1684, when this source of 
 revenue was placed under commissioners. The duties 
 were nearly doubled on strong beer, and more than 
 doubled on table beer after the revolution, during the 
 reign of William and Mary: "but the product was 
 not so great as heretofore, and they afterwards con 
 tinued to fluctuate according to the change of duties." 
 Parliamentary papers, given by Morewood, state the 
 net revenue for 1821, at which period he was engaged 
 on his valuable work, as 2,549,620 18s. 9d In 
 1822 there were in London alone ninety-eight brewers 
 and thirty-seven licensed victuallers, who brewed 2,000,- 
 932 barrels, of which 1,673,603 were strong and 327,- 
 329 table beer. In the rest of England were 1,488 
 brewers and 20,575 licensed victuallers, who brewed 
 5,547,875 barrels, of which 4,345,015 were strong and 
 1,202,860 table beer.* 
 
 This was exclusive of porter, which had been dis 
 covered about a century previous, by a man named 
 
 * Parliamentary papers quoted by Morewood. 
 
32 
 
 Harwood, who, to avoid the trouble of mixing beer, 
 ale, and two-penny, a concoction then in. demand, con 
 trived to brew a liquor to answer the same end. It 
 derived its name from being chiefly consumed by 
 porters. At the time represented by the preceding 
 figures, the annual production of porter in London 
 was over 1,316,345 barrels, of thirty-six gallons each. 
 In 1834 there were sixty thousand retailers of beer 
 and ale in England, and the returns for the British 
 Islands, some nine years ago, showed 2,150 public 
 breweries, stated as exclusive of retail and intermediate 
 brewers, of which there are in England alone about 
 1,400, besides 28,000 victuallers, who brew their own 
 ale. 
 
 In Scotland, in remote times, the inhabitants, it is 
 said, brewed an ale which was called Loin, a word 
 signifying provisions, it being, doubtless, regarded as 
 both meat and drink. It was not, however, until 1482, 
 that its government officially took notice of the 
 manufacture of beer or ale. At the union of that 
 country with England, the regulations pertaining to the 
 latter were extended to the former. As the duties 
 advanced the breweries decreased in Scotland. In 1720 
 the product of two-penny, the chief malt liquor in 
 use, was 520,487 barrels; in 1779 it had decreased to 
 152,465 barrels. The brewing of the varieties of strong 
 and table beer was introduced in the reign of George 
 III, but the joint product did not average half what 
 it was at the first date given. 
 
 In Ireland ale was known at a very remote era. 
 From its very early settlement by Eastern emigrants, it 
 is taken for granted by the antiquarians that a know 
 ledge of such fermentation or distillation as was known 
 accompanied commercial intercourse, the cultivation of 
 
X^vj/1 s >s 
 
 33 
 
 philosophy and the arts. Tacitus, in his " Agricola" 
 (A. D. 97), tells us that though the soil, and climate, 
 and manners, and dispositions of its inhabitants are little 
 different from those of Britain, "its ports and harbors 
 are better known, from the concourse of merchants for 
 the purposes of commerce." Home-brewed ale was in 
 common use in- Ireland before A. D. 500. Ware says, 
 " the ancient and peculiar drink of the Irish was ale." 
 Dioscorides takes notice of this drink in a passage, where 
 he says that the Britons and Irish (whom he calls Hi- 
 beri) instead of wine use a liquor called Curmij made of 
 barley. But Camden observes that "Curmi in that place 
 is corruptly written for the old British word Cwrw* 
 which signifies ale; which last name it took from the 
 Danes, who call it Oel. This is the liquor which 
 Julian the Apostate, in an epigram calls the offspring 
 of corn, and wine without wine. The Irish have no 
 name for this drink that I know of but leaun^ which 
 signifies liquor in general, but they understand it by 
 ale. Beer, or ale, brewed with hops to preserve it 
 long, is a liquor of no antiquity." A very curious and 
 interesting passage in Jonas Life of St. Golumbanus, 
 who flourished during the close of the sixth and first 
 decade of the seventh centuries, briefly and pointedly 
 illustrates the subject, thus: 
 
 "When the hour of refreshment approached, the 
 minister of the refectory endeavored to serve about 
 
 * Camden is doubtless in error, as the name of tho barley beer made 
 by the Egyptians was called Kurmi, and it is reasonable to suppose 
 that tho emigrants from tho East brought the name as well as tho 
 liquor itself into Ireland. J. S. 
 
 f Assimilating to the Scotch Loin. J. S. 
 
the ale (cervesiam), which is bruised from the juice of 
 wheat and barley, and which, above all nations of the 
 earth, except the Scordiscae and Dardans, who inhabit 
 the borders of the ocean, those of Gaul, Britain, 
 Ireland, and Germany, and others who are not unlike 
 them in manners, use; he carried to the cellar a vessel 
 which they called typrus, and placed it before the 
 vessel in which the ale- was deposited, when having 
 touched the spigot, he suffered it to run into the 
 typnm" 
 
 A northern tradition declares that a heather -beer 
 was brewed by the Danes in Ireland, in the ninth 
 century. 
 
 A recent % journal* gives an account of the discovery 
 of an ancient Irish brewery in the County Cork. It 
 appears that for several years back a farmer living 
 near the Club-house Cross, a few miles south of 
 Dunmanway, was often impeded in the plowing of 
 one of his fields by what he considered a piece 
 of bogwood. Not having any time to spare on those 
 occasions, he used to pass it over. This year, having 
 made up his mind to sow turnips in the field, he and 
 one of his laborers set to work to remove the old 
 obstruction, and, on digging about it and bringing it 
 to the surface, they were surprised to find a strong 
 oak beam, well fashioned with some sharp instrument, 
 and having a square hole at one end, as well made as 
 it would be by any country carpenter of the present 
 day. They persevered, and brought to light another 
 and another. Soon the news spread, and all the 
 neighbors flocked in to see what was going on, and 
 
 * Cork Constitution, May, 1866. 
 
35 
 
 they cheerfully assisted to unveil the mysterious build 
 ing a building which the oldest people in the vicinity 
 had never heard of, and which evidently belonged to 
 an age long since buried in the murky past. After 
 a great deal more shoveling they came upon what 
 they thought and felt convinced was the coffin of some 
 old king, and their hearts rose high. Who knew but 
 that the Royal Firbolg, or Milesian, or Dane, or who 
 ever he was, lay there with his crown on his head 
 and his sceptre in his hand, or he might be some old 
 bishop who lived in the good old times, and might 
 have a gold cross on his breast, and a jewelled pyx 
 beside him. Dragging it up on end for they couldn t 
 wait to disinter it properly they removed the lid, 
 which was securely fastened down by oaken pins, and, 
 alas! the coffin did not even contain the residuum to 
 which all humanity must eventually come dust and 
 ashes. The coffin was a water-shoot, and nothing 
 more. The place was immediately visited by Mr. 
 Zachariah Hawkes, an eminent antiquary, Mr. George 
 Bennett, and others. Mr. Hawkes minutely scrutinized 
 everything, took the measurement of the various beams, 
 the remains of the old flooring, the millstone, only 
 half of which was discovered, and which, on the 
 rim, was as well chiselled as if it were but the 
 work of yesterday; and, after considering all the evi 
 dences before him, he was quite confident that what 
 he saw were the remains of an old Danish brewery, 
 which was used by some of these adventurous in 
 truders, during their stay in Ireland, for brewing a 
 kind of drink which they made from heath. 
 
 History records, that in 1156 the Irish had con 
 siderable trade with Chester, and supplied the latter 
 with many of the necessaries of life; also, that in 
 
36 
 
 1300, when King Edward of England was carrying on 
 warlike operations in the South of Scotland, he was 
 supplied from Ireland with a considerable number of 
 cargoes of wheat, oats, malt and ale. Campion, in his 
 History of Ireland, states that a knight who lived in 
 1350, named Savage of the Anglo - Norman family 
 which settled in the North in 1172, and had, in the 
 struggles of the times, to take up arms against the 
 English and the Irish, as necessity and the varying 
 local ties of party warranted having raised a body of 
 fighting men, allowed to every soldier, before he 
 buckled with the enemy, a mighty draught of aqua 
 vitce, ivine, or old ale. 
 
 From Harris H&ernica we find that in the reign 
 of the eighth Henry it was decreed that no ale should 
 be sold above 2d. per gallon, upon pain of 8d. toties 
 quoties ; that there be but one maker of aqua vitce in 
 every borough town, upon pain of 6s. 8d. ; and that 
 no wheaten malt go to any Irishman s country, upon 
 pain of forfeiture of the same in value, except only 
 bread, ale, or aqua vitce. 
 
 In ancient Gaul beer had the supremacy over wine 
 as a beverage; but, as Diodorus Siculus says, they be 
 came so fond of the wine of Italy, before it began to 
 abound in their own country, that they have been 
 known to give a slave for a gallon. Their excesses 
 were without bounds. It is said that a whole vintage 
 was exhausted at a single feast of the Lusitanians. 
 Ale, however, was not lost sight of: but it was not 
 until A. D. 1268, a few years after the English measures 
 on the subject, that its manufacture was deemed of 
 sufficient importance to warrant the drawing up of 
 laws to regulate the trade in Paris. The brewers at 
 that time were called Cervoisiers, from Cervoise, a 
 
^r 
 
 French equivalent for the Latin name of the liquor. 
 The abuses in the breweries led to a revision of the 
 laws in 1489 : again, in 1630, ten new regulations 
 were added to the Code, and registered in the Park- 
 ment in 1714. In 1801 there were seventv - eight 
 master brewers in Paris. The desire of the French 
 to have pure beverage is illustrated by the facts re 
 lating to brewing at the period which have come down 
 to us. No one could then (and for all we know 
 can now ) open or carry on a brew-house in that 
 capital without having regularly served five years of 
 an apprenticeship, and three years as a foreman. A 
 deputation of the corporation examined the ingredients 
 used in brewing, to prevent the use of any noxious 
 or deleterious ingredient. Barm was not permitted for 
 sale without inspection ; and, for the prevention of filth, 
 no oxen or other animals were allowed to be kept 
 or fed within the range of the brewery - grounds. 
 "Formerly each brewer could have only one pan or 
 mash kieve, per day, containing fifteen septiers of 
 malt. These members of the corporation, annually 
 elected, are obliged to inspect the breweries, all of 
 which they may visit whenever they please."* 
 
 In the Netherlands the brewing of ale and beer was 
 early practiced. In the thirteenth century Isaac and 
 John Holiandus discussed the subject with striking 
 ability, treating of distillation as well as fermentation. 
 Delft was famous for its beer, and the liquor was, for 
 many years, the leading staple of that port. At other 
 places, Gouda and Muyden, for instance, London porter 
 has been imitated with success. 
 
 * Morowood s Essay, p. 213. 
 
38 
 
 In Russia ale and beer are of universal acceptance. 
 The beer of Riga is of a superior order, and the ale 
 of Okka, in Nishney Novogorod, is said to partake of 
 the character of Burton, both in quality and flavor. 
 Quass and Braga are in common use. The Quass, 
 which is the ordinary household beverage, is made of 
 barley malt, and small proportions of rye malt- and . un 
 bolted rye meal, sometimes varied by adding raisins to 
 make it foam, a piece of rye bread to acidulate it, or 
 different fruits to give it color. In all the modes of 
 making it cold or tepid water is poured on the in 
 gredients, the pans greased and set in a hot oven. 
 Kisslysclitscliy is the name of a kind of Quas8, made 
 from rye meal and boiling water, violently stirred. 
 Cold water is added, and, after fermentation, it is 
 bottled. It is said to be a fine drink, foamy, effer 
 vescent, sparkling like selzer water, and bearing a re 
 semblance to the Hornerbier of Vienna. Braga is a 
 thick white liquor, vinous in flavor, heady, and drank 
 by " the common people." It is made of oat meal, 
 or wheat and hops, and is pleasant when fresh. Birch 
 wine is the staple home made drink in Norway ; but 
 a considerable quantity of ale is imported, and is a 
 feature at wedding, baptismal and other festive occa 
 sions. The Swedes are much addicted to strong drinks; 
 but beer is a common beverage with the people. The 
 Finns and Laplanders beguile the severity and gloom 
 of their climate by indulging in potent draughts. They 
 deem life joyless without beer and brandy, unfortunately 
 the latter largely taking the place of the ale and 
 mead, which was the favorite potations of Odin and 
 their ancient gods. In Tartary a fermentation of mares 
 milk, called Koumiss, is the great beverage; but the 
 various tribes have also varieties of beer as the Kal- 
 
mucks their brown beer, -Schwa, and the Usbecks their 
 Braya and Busa, made of rice or millet. 
 
 In China they make a liquor of malted wheat and 
 barley, called Tarasum. The Mexicans make beer 
 from Indian corn; the Japanese their Saki (beer) from 
 rice ; the Nubians and Abyssinians a like beverage, 
 called Sysior and Durrah, from barley and wheat ; the 
 former also their Bouza, from roasted barley. The 
 Caffres and Tombookies their Pomlie, from millet or 
 guinea corn ; the Guyanese their Piworree, from the 
 cassava; and the Egyptians and Arabians their Carmi 
 or Kunni. The Chica, or maize beer of South America, 
 is of very remote date, and is in universal demand. 
 " The liquor is of a dark yellow color, and has an 
 agreeable, slightly bitter, acid taste."* 
 
 The most highly prized Chica is made in the Valleys 
 of the Sierra, and, in that very interesting work, the 
 Chemistry of Common Life, we have an account of its 
 manufacture. All the members of the family, inclu 
 ding such strangers as choose to assist in the operation, 
 seat themselves on the floor, in a circle, in the centre 
 of which is a large calabash, surrounded by a heap 
 of dried maize (malt.) Each person takes up a hand 
 ful and thoroughly chews it. This is deposited in 
 the calabash, and another handful is immediately sub 
 jected to the same process, the jaws of the company 
 being kept continually busy until the whole heap of 
 corn is reduced to a mass of pulp. This, with some 
 minor ingredients, is mashed in hot water, and the 
 liquid poureci into jars, where it is teft to ferment. 
 In a short time it is ready for use. Occasionally, 
 
 * Von Tchudi. Travels in Peru. 
 
40 
 
 however, the jars are buried in the ground, and 
 allowed to remain there until the liquor acquires, 
 from age, a considerable strength, and powerfully 
 intoxicating qualities. Thus prepared, it is called Chica 
 Mascada, or chewed Chica, and the Serrano believes 
 he cannot offer his guest a greater luxury than a 
 draught of old Chica Mascada, the ingredients of which 
 have been ground between his own teeth.* The 
 Piworree of Guyana is produced by a similar process. 
 In Mr. Ed. T. Perkins narrative of adventures in 
 the Hawaiian, Georgian and Society Islands, entitled 
 Na Motu ; or. Reef Ravings in the South /Seas, there is a 
 description given of the making of a beer from ava, 
 arva, or awa, the name given to the root of the long 
 pepper shrub (macropiper methysticum.^ It was also a 
 cheived beverage, but the mastication was performed 
 by the " beautiful white-teethed girls of Lahaina." 
 Johnston speaks of it in his work (page 255-6), and 
 quotes an interesting passage from Wi Ikes U. S. Ex 
 ploring Expedition, but he evidently had not seen the 
 capital account of Mr. Perkins. The chewing code 
 suggested to Tom Hood a happy figure, when he said 
 that he did not hash certain opinions 
 
 "In my books, 
 
 And thus upon the public mind intrude it, 
 As if I thought, like Otahitian cooks, 
 No food was fit to eat till I had chewed it." 
 
 It thus appears, by the rapid glance we have been 
 enabled to give over the ancient and modern world, that 
 ale or beer in %ome form was and is almost universally 
 
 * Chemistry of Common Life. By James P. W. Johnston, M. A., 
 P. R. S., &c. Vol. i., p. 248. 
 
 / 
 
11 
 
 recognized as a healthful and invigorating beverage. 
 The progenitors of this Republic, in the British Isles 
 and in Ireland, seem to have relished the strengthen 
 ing liquid quite as much as % those Scandinavians who 
 helped to teach them its use, in the belief that 
 " large and frequent draughts of it was one of the 
 greatest pleasures enjoyed by the heroes admitted 
 into the halls of Odin.* Kingsley s group in Waterford, 
 Ireland, in the eleventh century, disposed around a local 
 king, Ranald, and all drinking ale which a servant 
 poured out of a bucket into a great bull s horn, and 
 the men handed round to each otherf is not over 
 drawn. In England ale became a sort of pivot on 
 and around which many of the customs, social, chari 
 table, religious and political, revolved. Sometimes 
 meetings were held for the sole purpose of drinking 
 ale for the love of it, and these were Scot-ales. One 
 form of these frolics were called a give-ale, and was 
 a remnant of an Anglo Saxon superstition. Sometimes 
 these meeting were held in taverns, and sometimes in 
 churches or churchyards. When held in the public 
 houses the clergy were, not allowed to be present. 
 Other drinkings were termed leet-ale, clerk-ale, church- 
 ale and bride- ale ; the last of which, says the " Ency 
 clopedia Brittanica," still prevails in Scotland, under 
 the name of a penny bride-ale a practice intended 
 to assist those who are unable to defray the expense 
 of a wedding dinner. While writing on this subject, 
 Barry Gray put into my hand a brief article on 
 England s national drink, reproduced in a current pub- 
 
 * Maillot s Northern Antiquities, 
 f Hereward, p. 64. 
 
42 
 
 lication, from an English source, a portion of which 
 illustrates the adoption of the word ale into the En 
 glish language as an equivalent for festivity, in con 
 nection with other words. "Thus," says the writer, 
 "bride-ale (bridal) is the feast in honor of the bride, 
 or marriage ; similarly we have leet-ale, lamb-ale, 
 Whitsun-ale. . A bid-ale was when a poor man, 
 decayed in his substance, was set up again by the 
 contributions of his friends at a Sunday s feast. 
 Church-ales, as they are described by Pierce, bishop 
 of Bath and Wells, in his answer to the inquiries of 
 Archbishop Laud, " are when the people go from 
 afternoon prayers on Sunday to their lawful sports 
 and pastimes in the churchyard, or in the neighbor 
 hood, or in some public house where they drink and 
 make merry. By the benevolence of the people at 
 these pastimes, many poor parishes have cast their 
 bells and beautified their churches, and raised stock 
 for the poor." 
 
 Alack for the progress of civilization ! What would 
 be thought of a Christian bishop now-a-days Arch 
 bishop McCloskey or Bishop Potter, for instance, look 
 ing with a kindly eye on his flock adjourning from 
 "afternoon prayers on Sunday" to their sports in the 
 churchyard, or pastimes in the public house, to " drink 
 and be merry," while they took care of the poor, and 
 raised money to beautify the church ? In this especial 
 connection, William Howitt s remarks on the glory 
 and departure of one of these old customs is in place. 
 
 " The Love feasts of the primitive Christians degene 
 rated, in England, into what are called Whitsun-ales, 
 so called from the church-wardens buying and laying 
 in, from presents also, a large quantity of malt, which 
 they brewed into beer, and sold out in the church or 
 
elsewhere. The profits, as well as those from Sunday 
 games there being no poor rates were given to -the 
 poor, for whom this was one mode of provision, ac 
 cording to the Christian rule, that all festivities should 
 be rendered innocent by alms. In every parish, 
 says Aubrey, was a church-house, to which belonged 
 spits, crocks, and other utensils for dressing provisions. 
 Here the housekeepers met. The young people were 
 there too, and had dancing, bowling, shooting at butts, 
 &c. The merriment degenerated into license: Puritan 
 ism put it down ; but the love-feasts revived again, in 
 the celebration of the annual meetings and processions 
 of the friendly societies or clubs, and Whitsuntide be 
 came the greatest and most jocund of all village festi 
 vals, excepting only the wake." * 
 
 But since then dark days have intervened, and 
 snatched away many a fair attribute from this genuine 
 holiday of the people. Easter was the great holiday 
 of the Church ; Mayday was the holiday of the poets ; 
 but Whitsuntide was the holiday of the people. It 
 was the village festival ; the village love-feast ; the holi 
 day when Nature and all her sunshine seemed to come 
 out and rejoice with man. It was the festival when 
 the old feasted and sang their old songs, and the 
 young danced and were happy. But, first came sage 
 Prudence, and said the times were hard ; it were bet 
 ter to give up these ribbons, they would furnish re 
 lief to a sick member for months, and it ivas prudent, 
 and it was done. The next year Prudence came again, 
 and brought Temperance with her, and said the times 
 were still worse, and Union workhouses were building, 
 and all who asked parish relief must go there; and, 
 therefore, it was prudent to husband both health and 
 the club-fund. So they advised them to give up their 
 
44 
 
 dinners and ale. But, without dinners, ale, or ribbons, 
 how. were the poor souls to walk in procession, and 
 be merry? Nobody was merry." To cap the climax, 
 adds Howitt, next came a new parson with a new 
 text : " He that provideth not for his family is worse 
 than an infidel." This knocked all the wind out of 
 them. There was not a man among them that could 
 provide for his family at 7s. a week, and the corn- 
 law price of bread; so the poor fellows set themselves 
 down for a worthless set of infidels, and sneaked away 
 from church." 
 
 Truly the times had changed since Bacon s days, 
 when, as he tells us, "to brew ale and press cider" 
 were among the main occupations of every English 
 shire; yea, changed very much since the days of the 
 great civil war, when General Monk, having made his 
 coup d etat and marched to Westminster, the park was 
 crowded with gazers, who turned the serious occasion 
 into an excuse for a little mumming and masking ; 
 of which "pleasantries" one was that " Theophila Turner 
 ran a race against Mrs. Pepys and another poor 
 woman for a pot of ale. "* 
 
 At present Germany, after England, produces and 
 consumes the largest quantity of beer. In former times 
 it was brewed from barley, oats and wheat, with an 
 infusion of oak bark to make it pungent. The intro 
 duction of hops laid the foundation for lager bier, the 
 prefix lager meaning a store, warehouse, or stillion for 
 the support of barrels, and thus conveying the idea 
 that the beer so named was left to rest warehoused 
 for some time before it was opened for sale that it 
 was, in fact, stock or store beer. 
 
 * Fairfax Correspondence. 
 

 
 45 
 
 There are various kinds of beer produced in Ger 
 many, but the principal breweries are those of Bava 
 ria. They have the best reputation, and their vats 
 furnish a large proportion of that drank in Germany. 
 A paper on German beer, in the Tribune, a few years 
 ago, gave some facts of interest, among others, the 
 names of the various kinds of beer brewed in the 
 north of Germany. The most nota"ble is the Koesbritz 
 double beer, which resembles the famous London pale 
 ale ; Broyliahn, or white beer of Berlin, -the beer of 
 Cassel ; Mumme, a Brunswick beer, first made in 1492, 
 by Ch. Mumme, formerly exported even to the East 
 Indies. It is dark brown, thick, strong, sweet in taste, 
 and is made from wheat, barley malt, hops, molasses, 
 juniper berries, dried prunes, and several aromatic 
 herbs. The denominations or "brands" of the beer 
 made in the different German provinces are, in some 
 instances, curious and suggestive. That made in Bait- 
 zenburg, Prussia, is called Bind den Kerl (the fine fel 
 low), the beer of Brandenburg, Alter Claus (Old Nick), 
 the beer of Jena, Dorfteufel (Village Devil), the beer 
 of Kyritz, Aford und Lodtschlag (murder and man 
 slaughter), the beer of Wernigrode, Lumpen (rascals 
 beer), the beer of Wittenburg, Kuckniclc (Cuckoo), the 
 the beer of Lubeck, Isrcbl, and so forth. 
 
 Having given a general glance at the history of ale 
 and its ancient and extended use, we will spring a 
 few centuries backward, and look at the introduction 
 and progress of that now widely recognized ingredient 
 in the manufacture of the healthful beverage hops. 
 
 Hops, used for centuries in Flanders, were promi 
 nently introduced into England about the year 1524. 
 The exact date of its introduction is by no means well 
 authenticated, as the plant was known many years 
 
46 
 
 before that era referred to in the couplets upon which the 
 record is now mainly based. One says : 
 
 " Hops, reformation, bays and beer, 
 Came into England all in one year." 
 
 And the other, 
 
 "Turkeys, carps, hops, piccarel and beer, 
 Came into England all in one year." 
 
 Previous to the use of hops, ground ivy (glechoma 
 hederaced) was in general use for preserving the liquor. 
 It is said by some authorities that it was after the 
 use of hops that the name beer was given the drink, 
 "to distinguish it from the ancient and softer malt 
 liquor called ale." But beer, as a malt beverage, was 
 known long before. It was agreed by several writers, 
 consulted on the subject, that the name beer is com 
 paratively modern to that of ale, yet it was certainly 
 a received denomination of a more lasting and strong 
 form of beverage, almost a century before the date 
 usually received as that given for the use of hops. The 
 paper previously quoted on the old ale customs supplies 
 us with some interesting references on this point, which 
 are incorporated. 
 
 To place the name of beer subsequent to or coeval 
 with 1524, is undoubtedly erroneous, for we read in the 
 Promptorium Parvulorum, compiled in 1440, and which 
 throws so much light upon the manners and customs of 
 the England of the middle ages, " Hoppe Seede for 
 beyre." An ancient municipal record, under date 1432, 
 has this entry : " Item, payd to Davy, bere brewer, for 
 pyp of bere that was dronck at the Barrgeate when 
 the furst affray was of the Ffrenshemen, vjs. viijd;" 
 and again, under the date 1497 : " Half a barrel of doble 
 bere, xxc?. Ten gallons peny ale, xc." We seem here 
 
47 
 
 to get an inkling that the hieroglyphic x, xx, xxx, 
 still in use by the London brewers, may possibly have 
 originated in the practice of writing the price of the 
 ale in Roman numerals, when a certain measure of the 
 three qualities in vogue bore the respective prices of 
 x, xx, and xxx pence. Finally, it is certain that hops 
 were cultivated in England in 1463, since there is 
 extant a lease of lands, in Kent, of that date, in 
 which a provision occurs for taking care of the under 
 wood fit for hop-poles. Whether hops were in use 
 in England in the time of Chaucer is an open 
 question. The word beer does not occur in his 
 writings, yet it would appear that London ale already 
 possessed a character of its own, by which it could 
 be distinguished by connoisseurs; for, in the "Canter 
 bury Tales," written about 1395, we read of "the 
 Coke:" 
 
 " Wei coude ho knowo a draught of London ale." 
 
 7*7(6 Prologue. 
 
 Again, the Miller, in his prologue, says : 
 
 "And, therefore, if that I mispeko or say, 
 Wit it the ale of Southwark I you pray." 
 
 With reference to this discussion, we think it may 
 fairly be said, that it is one of those cases in which 
 it would not be wise to rely too much upon negative 
 evidence. It must be remembered that we know 
 nothing of the ingredients employed for flavoring the 
 spiced ale mentioned, as being rated at half the value 
 of mead and double the value of common ale; and, 
 considering that the hop is an indigenous plant, it is 
 not impossible that it may have entered, in conjunc 
 tion with alehoof, or ground-ivy (which we know to 
 
48 
 
 have been used for ale) and other herbs, into the 
 composition in question. However this may be, there 
 is much evidence which seems to point to a great 
 increase in the use of hops in brewing during the 
 fifteenth century, and that, like most new things, 
 whether improvements or otherwise, the innovation en 
 countered violent opposition. Thus, in the reign of 
 Henry VI, Parliament was petitioned against that 
 wicked weed called hops ; and in the nineteenth year 
 of Henry VIII (1528) their antagonists succeeded in 
 getting their use prohibited under severe penalties ; 
 and an ale-man, having brought an action against 
 his brewer for spoiling his ale by putting in a certain 
 weed, called a hop, recovered damages. The king 
 had probably been gained over by the opposition ; at 
 any rate, he appears to have been a victim to these 
 prejudices; for, in 1530, he gives an injunction to his 
 brewer not to put any hops or brimstone into the ale. 
 This crusade against hops seems not long to have 
 survived the king. In the reign of Edward VI, in 
 the year 1552, the term hop-grounds made its appear 
 ance for the first time in English law ; and, a few 
 years later, the merits of hops were so well appreci 
 ated that Reynold Scot says: "If your ale may endure 
 a fortnight, your beere, through the benefit of the 
 hoppe, shall continue a month, and what grace it 
 yieldeth to the taste all men may judge who have 
 sense in their mouths. 
 
 At all events, the hop, or rather its use in this 
 especial direction, immediately commanded attention in 
 England, and the peculiarities of its culture and 
 nature are recorded by Tusser and Gerard. In the 
 " Hondred Good Points of Husbandrie" of the former, 
 published 1537, he gives directions for the cultivation 
 
of a hop garden, and gives his reason for so favoring 
 the theme thus : 
 
 "The hop for his profit I thus do exalt, 
 It strengtheneth drink, and it favoureth malt, 
 And being well brewed, long kept it will last, 
 And drawing abide if ye draw not too fast." 
 
 Gerard, writing in 1596, says, " The manifold virtues 
 in hops do manifestly argue the holesomeness of beere 
 above ale, for the hops rather make it a physical 
 drink, to keep the body in health, than an ordinary 
 drink for the quenching of our thirste." 
 
 The hop originally was the object of much preju 
 dice, but under the test of experience and chemical 
 science, it is proved to be possessed of several recom 
 mendatory principles, it being nutritive, tonic, aromatic. 
 Other common vegetable productions will give the 
 bitter flavor to malt liquor. Ilorehound, and worm 
 wood, and gentian, and quassia, and strychnia, and 
 the grains of paradise, and chicory, and various other 
 plants, have been used to replace or supplant the hop ; 
 but none are known to approach it in imparting those 
 peculiar qualities which have given the bitter beer of 
 the present day so well merited a reputation.* 
 
 " In 1850 the quantity of hops grown in England was 
 21,668 tons, paying a duty of 270,000. This is 
 supposed to be a larger quantity than is grown in 
 all the world besides. Only 98 tons were exported 
 in that year; while, on the other band, 320 tons 
 were imported, so that the home consumption amount 
 ed to 21,886, or forty millions of pounds, being more 
 than the weight of the tobacco we yearly consume. 
 
 Vide Blackwood, Aug., 1853. 
 7 
 
50 
 
 It is the narcotic substance, therefore, of which Eng 
 land not only grows more and consumes more 
 than all the world besides, but of which Englishmen 
 consume more than they do of any other substance 
 of the same kind." This, from a writer in Black- 
 wood s Magazine, gives not only a key to the statisti 
 cal, but also to the sanitary importance of malt 
 beverages in England. 
 
 English writers have completely adopted the hop, 
 calling it " The English narcotic," and extolling 
 not only its inside virtues but its exterior picturesque- 
 ness, and justly. They boast of their hop lands and 
 the landscape beauties of their hop vines. "Waving 
 and drooping," says the English writer before quoted, 
 " in easy motion with every tiny breath that stirs 
 them, and hanging in curved wreaths from pole to 
 pole, the hop-vines dance and glitter beneath the bright 
 English sun the picture of a true English vineyard, 
 which neither the Ehine nor the Rhone can equal, 
 and only Italy, where her vines climb the freest, can 
 surpass." The traveller through the hop-vineyards of 
 Otsego, Madison, Oneida, Herkimer, Jefferson, Onon- 
 daga, or other counties of the State of New York, will 
 find, if not more, certainly not less reason for en 
 thusiasm than in the fields of Kent and Surrey. 
 
 And this fact naturally brings us to the importance, 
 both in a commercial, agricultural and hygienic aspect, 
 of malt liquors in America, an importance which is 
 exceedingly and peculiarly interesting to our own 
 State of New York. 
 
 Of all the States in the Union, New York has the 
 greatest and most vital interest in the question of malt 
 liquors, and in the dissemination of honest facts relating 
 thereto. Next after England and Germany in the de- 
 
9r 
 
 votion of its agricultural interests to the growth of 
 those ingredients from which malt liquors are produced, 
 and alike next to them in the consumption of those 
 beverages, it is not to be marveled at that this es 
 pecial branch of the liquor business should inspire the 
 most anxious solicitude, and go far in creating that 
 opposition to reckless and wholesale legislation which 
 arises from those very natural sensations of self-pro 
 tection which inspire all when the purse is menaced. 
 
 The manufacture of malt liquors is a very extensive 
 business in the State, and the investments in hop grow 
 ing are commensurately large. The immense increase 
 of late years is evidently the result of the nutritious 
 character attributed to the hop by medical writers, 
 and the steadily increasing and sensible desire to im 
 bibe malt, in the place of more intoxicating beverages. 
 
 That New York has a deeper and more extended 
 interest than perhaps all the States of the Union com 
 bined in this healthful reform, will be seen from the 
 returns of the Census for 1850, and also for 1860. 
 A review of the agricultural statistics for the former, 
 informs us that a gratifying increase has taken place 
 in the culture of this useful article the hop. The 
 gain has nearly been two hundred per cent. The re 
 port proceeds to state, that "almost the whole of the 
 increment, however, has been in the State of New York, 
 which, from less than half a million of pounds in 1840, 
 now produces more than two and a half millions, which 
 exceeds five sevenths of the entire crop of the United 
 States* 
 
 In connection with this circumstance, continues the 
 commissioner, "it may be mentioned that New York 
 
 * Tide Report on the Census, 1850. 
 
 
 
52 
 
 stands foremost in the production of beer, ale and por 
 ter, in the manufacture of which the larger part of 
 the hops raised is consumed. The brewers of this State 
 produced 645,000 barrels of ale, &c., in 1850, being 
 being more than a -third of the quantity required for 
 the whole Union." 
 
 The following table, showing the state of hop culture 
 in the principal hop growing States, with the increase 
 and decrease in ten years, will convey a truth to our 
 New York legislators, farmers and temperance lectures, 
 certainly not less significant than instructive. 
 
 According to the official returns for 
 
 1840) The hop crop of the entire (1,238,502 
 1850 f Union was, in pounds, ( 3,497,029 
 
 Increase for the whole Union 2,258,527 
 
 STATES. 1840. 
 
 New York 447,250 Ibs. 
 
 Massachusetts 254,795 " 
 
 New Hampshire . . 243,425 " 
 
 Ohio 62,195 " 
 
 Pennsylvania. .... 49,481 " 
 
 Vermont 48,137 " 
 
 Indiana 38,591 " 
 
 1850. 
 . 2, 536, 299 Ibs. Increase 2,089,049 Ibs. 
 
 121,195 " 
 
 257,174 " 
 
 63,731 " 
 
 22,088 " 
 
 288,023 " 
 
 92,796 " 
 
 Decrease 133,600 " 
 
 Increase 13,749 " 
 
 1,536 " 
 
 Decrease 27.393 " 
 
 Increase 239,886 " 
 
 54,205 " 
 
 Thus, comparing the increase of the hop crop in the 
 entire Union for ten years, with that of the State of 
 New York in the same period, it will be seen that; 
 there are but 169,478 pounds increase in all the re 
 maining States, this being chiefly made in Vermont and 
 Indiana, the former having made, of itself, over one 
 third in addition, and which more than overbalances, 
 in the aggregate, the large decrease in Massachusetts 
 and Pennsylvania. 
 
 A glance at the Agricultural Report of the Census 
 for 1860, still further expands the interest of New 
 
tl 
 
 r 
 
 53 
 
 York, and shows her preponderating progress. The 
 total hop crop of 1860, for the States and Territories, 
 was 10,991,996 pounds three times what it was ten 
 years previous. New York more than keeps pace with 
 the relative increase. Of this total, in I860, she pro 
 duced 9,671,931 pounds seven eighths of the whole 
 Vermont yielding about one half of the remainder, or 
 638,677 pounds. It will be seen by the Table of Brew 
 ing, hereafter given, that New York must have ex 
 ported large quantities of hops to other States, as States 
 like Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey, 
 Massachusetts and Wisconsin, which brewed a consider 
 able amount of ale or beer, grew very little hops. The 
 Superintendent of the E-aport says, " In this coun 
 try, as in England, the cultivation of hops is confined 
 to a comparatively small area. New York raises over 
 eight tenths of all the hops produced in the United 
 States ; and in this State the bulk of the crop is 
 raised in a few counties. The County of Otsego pro 
 duces 3,507,069 pounds ; Madison, 1,520,657 pounds ; 
 Schoharie, 1,441.648 pounds; Oneida, 833,460 pounds ; 
 Herkimer, 707,910 pounds ; Montgomery, 515,584 
 pounds."* 
 
 The growth of barley in New York is" not less im 
 portant than hops and as they are grown for, and go 
 together in the manufacture of malt liquor, the statis 
 tics of the former will not be without their instruc- 
 tiveness. In 1840 the entire crop of the Union 
 amounted to 4,161,504 bushels, of which the State of 
 
 * Agriculture of the United States in 1860 ; Compiled from the Origi 
 nal Returns of the Eighth Census, under the direction of the Secre 
 tary of the Interior. By Joseph G. C. Kennedy, Superintendent of 
 Census. Washington Government Printing Office, 1864. 
 
New York furnished 2,520,068 more than three fifths 
 of the amount the remaining 1,641,436 bushels being 
 chiefly divided between Maine, Ohio, Pennsylvania, 
 Massachusetts, Michigan and New Hampshire, in the 
 order given. In 1850 the entire crop was 5,167,015, 
 showing an increase of 995,511 bushels. In the same 
 year the returns of New York were 3,585,059, exhibit 
 ing, in our State, an increase of 1,064,991 bushels, 
 much more than overbalancing, in the aggregate, a large 
 decrease in Maine, Massachusetts and Vermont. 
 
 The aggregate barley crop of 1860 in the States 
 and Territories, was 15,825,898 bushels ; of which 
 New York raised 4,186,668 bushels. 
 
 On the subject under notice the Report presents the 
 following remarks and figures : " The manufacture of 
 Malt Liquors, though of less magnitude, and far less 
 pernicious in its effects, shows a still larger increase. 
 It derives its material wholly from agriculture, and 
 its extension promises more substantial benefits to the 
 country than the last (spirituous liquors.) 
 
 " The Northern States returned 969 breweries, or 
 more than double the number in the Union in 1850. 
 The quantity of all kinds of Malt Liquors made, in 
 cluding 855,803 barrels of lager bier, was 3,235,545 
 barrels ; an increase of 175 per cent, upon the total 
 product of 1850, while its value was returned at 
 $17,977,135, being more than three times the amount 
 produced by breweries in that year. Nearly one half 
 of the whole quantity was made in New York and 
 Pennsylvania. The former had .175 establishments 45 
 of them in the city of New York and the latter State 
 172, of which Philadelphia contained 68. The manu 
 facture of lager bier was much increased in all the 
 middle and western States ; about 41 per cent, of 
 
v 
 
 w 
 
 Uf 
 
 55 
 
 the whole being the product of the two States last 
 named. Among the eastern States, Massachusetts, and 
 among the western States, Ohio, Illinois and Missouri, 
 were the largest producers of Malt Liquors. There 
 were 71 breweries in California and 8 in Oregon,* 
 producing together about 7 per cent, of the total value 
 of the manufacture. 
 
 Maine 
 
 New" Hampshire. 
 Massachusetts. . . 
 Rhode Island... 
 
 No. OF E 
 
 5 
 
 3 
 
 . ... 13 
 4 
 
 Connecticut 
 
 Total New England States. 31 
 
 New York 
 
 New Jersey 
 
 Pennsylvania 
 
 Maryland 
 
 District of Columbia. 
 
 Total Middle States. 
 
 Ohio 
 
 Indiana 
 
 175 
 22 
 
 172 
 26 
 4 
 
 399 
 
 29 
 50 
 
 BARRELS. 
 
 7,230 
 
 17,200 
 
 133,600 
 
 6,400 
 
 16,030 
 
 180,460 
 
 990,767 
 
 155,430 
 
 585,206 
 
 44,664 
 
 13,484 
 
 1,789,551 
 
 402,035 
 66,338 
 
 903,346 
 
 4,996,151 
 865,910 
 
 3,246,681 
 
 242,286 
 
 84,300 
 
 9,435,328 
 
 1,912,419 
 328,116 
 
 * As these pages were going through the press we received intel 
 ligence of tho welcome given to ale in Colorado. In a letter dated 
 Central City, June, 1866, Bayard Taylor gives an appreciative notice 
 of a mug of ale amid the "thin air aud alkali water" of Colorado, 
 and a suggestive glimpse of the wise brewers thereof. He says :- 
 "Some friends took me over the hill to Quartz Gulch, the other day, 
 in order to try some mountain-brewed ale. After the intense a 
 heat of the air the beverage was very refreshing, and greatly supe 
 rior in its quality to the lager bier of the mountains. The owner of 
 the brewery lives in a neat log cabin, the steps whereto are o 
 gold and silver, and inside tho rough walls an accomplished lady BI 
 down to her piano and played for us some choice compositions." 
 
56 
 
 No. or ESTAB. BARRELS. VALUE. 
 
 Kentucky IT 74,850 219,700 
 
 Illinois 75 218,043 1,309,180 
 
 Michigan 42 .... 57,671 .... 354,758 
 
 Wisconsin 121 124,956 702,812 
 
 Minnesota 24 14,080 77,740 
 
 Iowa 39 35,588 221,495 
 
 Missouri 55 172,570 1,143,450 
 
 Kansas 4 .... 5,100 .... 52,800 
 
 Nebraska 2 2,200 16,4t)0 
 
 Utah 2 .... 145 .... 4,200 
 
 Total Western States 460 1,173,576 :... 6,343,070 
 
 California 71 .... 87,806 .... 1,211,641 
 
 Oregon 8 4,152 83,750 
 
 Total Pacific States 79 91,958 1,295,391 
 
 4,000 24,000 
 
 Aggregate 970 .... 3,239,545 .... 18,001,135 
 
 Thus may be seen the energy and capital devoted 
 to the production of hops and barley, and the conse 
 quent effect in the health and wealth of the Empire 
 State ; and thus it is that our interest in the question 
 under consideration is more vital than that of any of the 
 States to which a " liquor law " has been applied. The 
 exhibition of these figures lessens the necessity for 
 argument. They are more powerful than words, and 
 should be directed to the proper channel for circula 
 tion put into the hands of the agricultural districts, 
 which have been at once the victims as well of their 
 own good intentions as of the sweeping charges and 
 intemperate zeal of temperance lecturers. The most 
 useful temperance lecturer is he who advocates the 
 temperate use of beverages which custom has sane- 
 tioned 7 and which, as it would appear, man will 
 
57 
 
 have. A reform may, and we trust will be effected 
 in favor of healthful and comparatively mild drinks; 
 but it is more than doubtful if a hard working, energe 
 tic, and withal social people, such as form the bone and 
 sinew of the Republic, will or can be induced to 
 give up all drinks which custom, and the large ma 
 jority of clergymen and physicians, have sanctioned as 
 refreshing. 
 
 The Germans are characterized as a thrifty, indus 
 trious people. They are ingenious and social, arid 
 well qualified in all the arts which make civilization, 
 enhance peace or sustain war. In literature, science, 
 art, music, they are alike famous. In almost every 
 branch of learning and culture they have, in modern 
 times, sent forth some of the leading and representa 
 tive men. They are a healthy people, capable of 
 enduring great mental and physical fatigue, and afford 
 a striking and sensible commentary on the inutility 
 and injustice of thoughtlessly rigid liquor laws. The 
 Germans drink frequently, but from the peculiarity of 
 the beverage, receive only a suitable and sustaining 
 exhilaration of mind and body they do not become 
 intoxicated. Beer is famous in conjunction with the 
 German name; and, as an evidence of the Teuton s de 
 votion to it, its usefulness to the hard working man, as 
 well as its acceptability to those in more intelligent 
 paths of life, we will quote a paragraph from a paper 
 in the Tribune, already alluded to, which derives ad 
 ditional importance from the* position of that journal 
 on the question of temperance reform: 
 
 " In Bavaria beer has become an imperative neces 
 sity to the working classes. The hard working man 
 will content himself with meat only, on holidays, pro 
 vided he can at all times get his usual quantity of 
 
58 
 
 beer. This quantity is by no means small, and we 
 do not overrate it when we say that a gallon per 
 diem is the average allowance of a frugal beer drinker. 
 Most of the hard working mechanics live more on beer 
 and bread than anything else. The government has 
 been compelled more than once to diminish the . malt 
 tax, in order to prevent a rise in the price of beer, 
 which has always been followed by serious riots, and, 
 in 1841, even by a revolution. In Bavaria beer is 
 drunk for and at breakfast; for and at dinner; takes 
 the place of coffee in the afternoon, and is poured 
 down at supper." 
 
 The demand for cheap beer, of an agreeable and 
 uniform character, led to the formation of a Company, 
 on the co-operative principle, in London. We have 
 before us a Eeport, July, 1853, of its working, which 
 shows that, although but a short time in existence, 
 a dividend of five per cent, was available. A- much 
 larger dividend would have been declared, had there 
 been capital to meet the business which might have 
 been done. Much had been achieved in spite of the 
 want of capital and the continual rise of the price of 
 malt and hops. The directors had kept the price and 
 quality of the articles sold the same as before. It 
 was stated that highly influential members of the medi 
 cal profession had recommended the ales and porter 
 brewed by the company to their patients, as the only 
 genuine articles in London. The Report goes on to state 
 at length the good effects which must arise, both mor 
 ally and physically, from the ramifications of the com 
 pany being extended. 
 
 The healthful use of malt liquors, though admitted 
 by all eminent writers on dietetics, is, in the general 
 denunciation, not at all recognized by the advocates 
 
59 
 
 and framers of "liquor laws." These laws, as is 
 proved by the comparative tables of police stations, are 
 not for the benefit of the many, but for the punish 
 ment of a few exhibiting additional evidence of the 
 despotic character of all sumptuary enactments. 
 
 From the peculiar qualities of the ingredients com 
 posing them, malt liquors are more strengthening, 
 consequently more cheering and less intoxicating than 
 any beverage in use. As we sustained a few words 
 with many facts, in speaking of the agricultural inte 
 rests of the State, so shall we support the statement in 
 regard to the healthfulness and necessity of malt liquors, 
 by facts and experiments recorded by the ablest ac 
 knowledged writers. Dr. Kitchener, whose "Cook s 
 Oracle" was declared by Christopher North "a good, jovial, 
 loyal book," recommends ale or beer as the most in 
 vigorating drink, and from its peculiarly substantial 
 and nutritive qualities, terms it " liquid bread ; " and 
 the suggestive title seems not to have been without 
 reason. 
 
 Malt liquors differ from wines in containing a greater 
 amount of nutritive matter and less of spirit. Irre 
 spective of the flavor and tonic properties communi 
 cated by the hops, they precipitate, by means of their 
 astringent principle, the vegetable mucilage, and thus 
 remove from beer the active principle of its fermen 
 tation ; consequently, without hops malt liquors would 
 have to be drunk either new and ropy or old and 
 sour.* 
 
 Dr. Jonathan Pereira, allowed even by water-cure 
 oracles "as the most approved author on dietetics as 
 
 * Vide Dunglison s Elements of Hygiene, p. 366. 
 
well as materia medica, in the allopathic school," says, 
 in his treatise on Food and .Diet, "The practice of 
 taking a moderate quantity of mild malt liquor, of 
 sound quality, at dinner, is, in general, not only un 
 objectionable but beneficial. Considered dietetically, 
 beer possesses a threefold property: it quenches thirst; 
 it stimulates, cheers, and if taken in sufficient quan 
 tity, intoxicates ; and lastly, it nourishes or strength 
 ens."* He thus recommends its medicinal property : 
 "In the convalescence, after lingering disease, it often 
 proves a most valuable restorative " (p. 200.) And 
 again "The Indian Pale Ale, which is manufactured 
 for the Indies, is very carefully fermented, so as to 
 be devoid of all sweetness, or, in other words, to be 
 dry; and it contains double the usual quantity of hops; 
 it forms, therefore, a most valuable restorative beverage 
 for invalids and convalescents." Dr. Pereira thinks, 
 we may safely assume, with Dr. Ure (Dictionary of 
 
 * As it is thoroughly necessary to understand from what quarter 
 such advice comes, we give the opinion of Dr. Chas. A Lee, in his 
 preface to the American edition of Pereira s famous work. Ho says, 
 " With respect to the merits of this treatise it is scarcely necessary 
 for me to speak. It fully meets a desideratum which modern discove 
 ries, the improvements in practical and experimental physiology, and 
 especially the late achievements in analytic chemistry, have created; 
 and which, since the appearance of Liebig s remarkable works, every 
 one must have felt could not long remain unsupplied. * * * The 
 author, Mr. Pereira, is well known throughout Europe and America 
 as one of the most learned, scientific, and practical men of the age 
 a physician of great experience and accurate observation a highly suc 
 cessful writer, unsurpassed in the judicious selection and arrangement 
 of facts, and in the felicity of his illustrations and reasoning. To the 
 medical profession, especially, he is universally and most favorably 
 known as the author of the best work on the materia medica which Jjt 
 
 has hitherto appeared in our language." >.,j 
 
 I^BU 
 
81 
 
 Arts, p. 105), that "the amount of spirit in common 
 strong ale or beer is about four per cent., or four 
 measures of spirits, specific gravity 0.825, in 100 mea 
 sures of the liquor. The best brown stout porter con 
 tains six per cent., the strongest ale even eight per 
 cent., but common beer only one." Dr. L. C. Beck, 
 quoted in the appendix to the American edition of 
 Pereira, says that Albany ale, in barrels, contains 
 7.38 per cent., and that in bottles 10.67 per cent, 
 spirits. Dr. Lse s experiments with ale resulted in 
 extracting nine ounces of solid matter from the gal 
 lon about 8.16 grains to the pint. 
 
 The nutritive qualities of ale are derived from the 
 component elements indicated as follows: By evapora 
 tion we obtain the soluble but fixed and nutritive 
 constituents of beer, in the form of an extract, which 
 consists of starch-sugar, dextrine, lactic acid, different 
 salts, the extractive and aromatic parts of the hop, 
 gluten, and fatty matters. The quantity of extract 
 yielded by beer is subject to considerable variation. 
 It depends not only on the strength of the wort but 
 on the length of the fermentation and the age of the 
 beer. An imperial pint of porter yielded about one 
 ounce and a half of extract twelve ounces to the 
 gallon.* 
 
 The following table, prepared by Richardson, exhibits 
 the density of besr: 
 
 Excess in Iba. of beer over 
 water by the barrel. 
 
 Barton Ale, 1st sort 40 to 43 
 
 " " 2d " 35 to 40 
 
 " " 3d " 28 to 33 
 
 Common Ale 25 to 57 
 
 " " 21 
 
 * Pereira, p. 199. 
 
 riiiv.^- 
 
 .-:,.: f?,^ -* 
 
N-, Jv22^>\5 S^-o 
 
 --^ ^ 
 
 t*y> 
 
 teKfe/;3s&+ 
 
 |9 /" \ - - 
 
 |J 
 
 S^ 
 
 ^?F^ 
 ySj^ 
 
 62 
 
 ; 
 
 \ r* 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 Excess in Ibs. of beer over 
 water by the barrel. 
 
 
 Porter, Common 
 
 18 
 
 
 Double 
 
 20 
 
 
 Brown Stout 
 
 23 
 
 
 Best " 
 
 26 
 
 
 Table Beer 
 
 6 
 
 
 Good " 
 
 12 to 14 
 
 
 With these facts, we do not wonder that Dr. Paris 
 considered that country happy whose laboring classes 
 preferred malt liquors as their beverage. Experience 
 in England, Germany and America, has proved that they 
 are the most suitable, because the most cheering and 
 strengthening beverage for the hard working man.* 
 It is more, it is a necessity. The famous Dr. Clarke 
 wisely said, in allusion to those beverages recommend 
 ed by Scripture : * Heavy taxes on these necessaries 
 of life are taxes on life itself." 
 
 Ale has not been overlooked by the poets and 
 dramatists. " Sir John Barleycorn" has been a standing 
 character with them. He is the Gambrinus of our 
 race, and the history of the beverage represented by 
 him receives a great deal of lively illustration from 
 the attention and writings of the poets and literati. Of 
 course it is neither desirable nor necessary that the many 
 noticeable allusions to ale, which occur throughout the 
 writings in the English tongue, should be referred to, 
 much less quoted ; but it will be in generous accord 
 with the subject being as it were the creamy foam 
 beads on the brown or amber beverage to draw upon 
 literature and the lives of eminent people for some 
 
 *See also, on the uses of beer for working men, and women in deli 
 cate health, the various works of Buchan, Paris, Beach, Cullen, Wil 
 liams, &c. 
 
illustration of that which so happily inspired them on 
 various occasions. 
 
 The best thing in one of the- very oldest dramatic 
 pieces is a song in praise of ale. In that " Ryjht 
 jPythy, Pleasant and Aferie Comedie, In ty tided Gammer 
 Gurton s Needle, played on the Stage not longe ago* in 
 Ghrisle s Colled je, in Cambridge, and written by John 
 Still, a name suggestive of drink-making (afterwards 
 Bishop of Bath and Wells), we have the following ex 
 cellent convivial song, extolling jolly good ale: 
 
 "I cannot eat but little meat, 
 
 My stomach is not good ; 
 But sure I think that I can drink 
 
 "With him that wears a hood; 
 Though I go bare, take ye no care, 
 
 I nothing am a-cold; 
 I stuff my skin so full within 
 Of jolly good ale and old. 
 
 Back and side go bare, go bare; 
 
 Both foot and hand go cold; 
 But, belly, God send thee good ale enough, 
 Whether it be new or old. 
 
 "I love no roast but a nut brown toast, 
 
 And a crab laid in the fire; 
 And little bread shall do my stead; 
 
 Much bread I nought desire. 
 No frost, no snow, no wind, I trow, 
 
 Can hurt me if I wold, 
 I am so wrapp d, and thoroughly lapp d 
 Of jolly good ale and old. 
 Back and side, Ac. 
 
 "And Tib, my wife, that as her life 
 Loveth well good ale to seek, 
 
 About 15G5. 
 
64 
 
 Full oft drinks she, till ye may see 
 
 The tears run down her cheek ; 
 Then doth she troul to me the bowl, 
 
 Even as a malt-worm should, 
 And saith, Sweet heart I took my part 
 
 Of this jolly good ale and old, 
 Back and side, &c. 
 
 "Now let them drink till they nod and wink, 
 
 Even as good fellows should do; 
 They shah 1 not miss to have the bliss 
 
 Good ale doth bring men to. 
 And all poor souls that have scour d bowls, 
 
 Or have them lustily troul d, 
 God save the lives of them and their wives, 
 Whether they be young or old. 
 Back and side, &c." 
 
 In connection with the subject, it is certainly interest 
 ing to know that Shakespere s father was one of the 
 ale-tasters of Stratford-upon-Avon about the same time 
 that he was a member of the corporation of that 
 borough.* The stage furnishes many glimpses charac 
 teristic not only of the uses of ale but of the peculiar 
 qualities and special local brewings of it. The famous 
 scene between old Will Boniface and Aimwell, in Far- 
 quhar s Beaux Stratagem, for instance, which is one of 
 the heartiest passages in the whole range of comedy, 
 and in which the jolly host, who was as particular in 
 the age of his ale as of his children, describes Litch- 
 field brew "smooth as oil, sweet as milk, clear as am 
 ber, and strong as brandy," with the additional infor 
 mation that "it will be just fourteen years old the fifth 
 day of next March, old style." In the " Recruiting 
 
 * J. P. Collier s Life of Shakespere, chap. 1. 
 
65 
 
 Officer 1 1 of the same dramatist Captain Plume alludes to 
 the March beer in Shropshire, and after indulging 
 heavily in it at the Raven, says, " I have been doubly 
 serving the Queen raising men and raising the excise 
 recruiting and elections are rare friends to the ex 
 cise," This passage not only indicates a special brew, 
 but also the value of the duty to the government in 
 the time of Queen Anne. 
 
 Plume s allusion to elections shows the indulgence of 
 the voters in those days, at the candidate s expense. 
 We have neither improved nor gone backward since. 
 The old election ballads are full of allusions to ale 
 and beer, especially during the troubles of England 
 with France, when foreign wines were decried, and 
 the "home brewed" lauded to the skies. John Cun 
 ningham, whose pastoral poem, " Day," is pleasurably 
 remembered, wrote several ballads of this nature, which 
 are retained in his works. A brace of stanzas from 
 his " Newcastle Beer " introduces to us the qualities of 
 that potent brew : 
 
 " Twas stingo like this made Alcidcs so bold ; 
 
 It braced up his nerves and enliven d his powers ; 
 And his mystical club, that did wonders of old, 
 Was nothing, my lads, but such liquor as ours. 
 The horrible crew 
 That Hercules slew, 
 
 . Were Poverty Calumny Trouble and Fear : 
 Such a club would you borrow 
 To drive away sorrow, 
 Apply for a jorum of Newcastle Beer. 
 
 Yo fanciful folk! for whom Physic prescribes 
 Whom bolus and potion have hurass d to death 
 
 Yo wretches! whom Law and her ill-looking tribes 
 Have hunted about till you re quite out of breath 
 
 : 
 
66 
 
 Hero s shelter and ease, 
 
 No craving for fees, 
 
 No danger no doctor no bailiff is near; 
 
 Your spirits this raises, 
 
 It cures your diseases; 
 
 There s freedom and health in our Newcastle Beer." 
 
 " Morgan Odoherty," who had experience and 
 great taste in such matters, advises people, instead of 
 "dram drinking," which is an infamous and ruinous 
 practice, and "port drinking," which is provocative of 
 blobby Bardolphian noses, to "drink as much good 
 claret, good punch, or good beer, as you can get hold 
 of, for these liquors make a man an Adonis." Ana 
 lyzing the effect produced on the appearance by these 
 liquors, he gives the palm to claret the tasting of 
 which, he says, creates a peculiar delicacy of expression 
 about the mouth. "Beer, though last," he adds, "is 
 not the least in its beautifying powers. A beer-drinker s 
 cheek is like some of the finest species of apples 
 
 The side that s next the sun. 
 
 Such a cheek carries one back into the golden age, 
 reminding us of Eve, Helen, Atalanta, and I know not 
 what more. Upon the whole I should, if called upon to 
 give a decided opinion as to these matters, in the pre 
 sent state of my information and feeling, say as fol 
 lows: Give me the cheek of a beer-bibber the calf 
 a punch-bibber and the mouth of a claret-bibber. "* 
 
 Another of Odoherty s maxims says: "In travelling 
 I make a point to eat wherever I can sit down, and to 
 drink ale whenever the coach stops." He also makes 
 a suggestion, the efficiency of which, I trust, no reader 
 of this will ever need to test that "the most grateful 
 of all drinks is 
 
 1 Cocl small beer unto the waking drunkard. " 
 
 * Maxims of Odohorty. Miscel. Writings of Dr. Maginn. Vol. 1 . 
 
67 
 
 Milton, the prince of poets, gives a happy glimpse 
 of rustic life in his " L Allegro," when he pictures the 
 old and young, after the enjoyment of a sunshine holi 
 day out-o - doors, betaking themselves indoors 
 
 " To the spicy nut-brown ale," 
 
 to tell stories of the fairy Mab and her junketings, 
 and the pranks of the goblins, who upset the milk- 
 pans and thresh the corn. 
 
 The pipe and the jug of ale are associated in the 
 mind s eye with rotund and easy vicars of the olden 
 time, who thought it no sin to lounge under the yawn 
 ing porch of an old hostel, and talk politics with mine 
 host. Bishop Still s song, given above, is a famous spe 
 cimen of clerical joviality ; not less so, if not so old, 
 is Francis Fawkes song: 
 
 "Dear Tom, this brown jug, that now foams with mild ale 
 (In which I now drink to sweet Nan of the vale), 
 Was once Toby Fillpot, a thirsty old soul 
 As e er drank a bottle, or fathom d a bowl. 
 In boozing about twas his praise to excel 
 Among jolly topers he bore off the bell. 
 
 "It chanc d as in dog-days he sat at his ease, 
 In his flower-woven arbor, as gay as you please, 
 With a friend and a pipe puffing sorrow away, 
 And with honest old stingo was soaking his clay, 
 His breath doors of life on a sudden were shut, 
 And he died full as big as a Dorchester butt. 
 
 "His body, when long in the ground it had lain, 
 And Time into clay had resolved it again, 
 A potter found out, in its covert so snug, 
 And with part of fat Toby ho form d this brown jug- 
 Now sacred to Friendship, and mirth, and mild ale 
 So here s to the lovely sweet Nan of the vale." 
 
 Fawkes was a clerical poet of the middle of the last 
 century, whose writings are now little known, although 
 
Doctor Johnson said of his translations from the classics, 
 "Frank Fawkes has done them very well." His ana 
 creontics have passed away, but his Brown Jug* has 
 remained sacred to friendship, mild ale and sweet Nan. 
 What a chain of literary circumstances, and what 
 an interesting fund of anecdote is there not based 
 upon and woven round Sam Johnson s residence under 
 the roof of Mr. Thrale, the brewer, famous as the 
 husband of his wife, nee Hester Lynch ; and after his 
 death, the vain, garrulous, keen, brilliant and interest 
 ing Madame Piozzi. Apropos of ladies illustrating the 
 ale and beer history, it will be remembered that the 
 angelic Malibran was devoted probably for the 
 sake of her complexion to a "pot of half and half." 
 Even the Siddons herself is the inspiration of a few 
 very characteristic anecdotes relating to the "malt." 
 Her predilection for a " pint of beer " on one occa 
 sion produced a very novel and ridiculous stage ef 
 fect : the boy who was hurriedly despatched for the 
 beverage rushed back to the theatre, and not finding 
 Mrs. Siddons in the green-room or on the wings, and, 
 intent on his errand, darted on the stage and pre 
 sented the foaming pewter to the great actress, then 
 going through the sleeping scene of Lady Macbeth. 
 The other anecdote presents her as somewhat, if not 
 very stagey, off the stage. Moore told Shiel, the author 
 of Evadne, of an occasion when a large party were in 
 vited to meet her. She remained silent, as was her 
 wont, and disappointed the expectations of the whole 
 company, who watched for every syllable that should 
 escape her lips. At length, however, being asked if 
 
 * Which is also, by-the-bye, as the author admits, an imitation from 
 the Latin of Hieronymus Amaltheua. 
 
m^ 
 
 69 
 
 she would have some Burton Ale, she replied, with ;t 
 sepulchral intonation, that " she . liked ale vastly."* 
 Lockhart gives another and similar anecdote. When the 
 guest of Scott Mrs. Siddons, in an eminently tragic voice, 
 addressed a servant: "I asked for water, boy you ve 
 brought me beer." Shelton Mackenzie having detailed one 
 of these anecdotes to Maturin, author of Bertram, the lat 
 ter very aptly said, " The voice of Mrs. Siddons, like 
 St. Paul s bell, should never toll except for the death 
 of kings." 
 
 Burns turned a neat verse of compliment to his 
 friend, Mr. Syme, when, sending a dozen of porter 
 from the Jerusalem Tavern, at Dumfries, he wrote: 
 
 " Oil, had the malt thy strength of mind, 
 
 Or hops the flavor of thy wit, 
 . Twere drink for first of human kind 
 
 A gift that e en for Syme wero fit." . 
 
 Burns also paid a strong testimony to the honesty 
 of a brewer, in an epitaph on Gabriel Richardson, 
 father of Sir John Kichardson, the Arctic traveller: 
 
 " Hero brewer Gabriel a fire extinct, 
 
 And empty all his barrels: 
 He s blost if as he brewed ho drink 
 In upright, honest morals." 
 
 It will be remembered, as no mean testimony to the 
 healthful and sustaining influence of the malt, that 
 George Crabbe, in the terrible struggle of his early 
 days, wandering about London, devoted almost his very 
 last seven farthings for a pint of portec. 
 
 A curious instance of the observance of the laws of 
 hospitality gave rise to the Scotch proverb: Do as the 
 
 * Shiel a Sketches of the Irish Bar. Edited by Dr. R. S. Mackenzie. 
 
70 
 
 law of Forfar did talce a standing drink. A woman in 
 Forfar, who was brewing, set out her tub of beer to cool. 
 A cow came by and drank it up. A lawsuit followed, 
 but the bailies of Forfar acquitted the owner of the cow, 
 on the ground that the farewell drink, called Dock an 
 doris, or stirrup cup, taken by the guest standing at 
 the door, was never charged, and as the cow had 
 taken but a standing drink outside, it could not, ac 
 cording to Scottish usage, be chargeable.* 
 
 Instances innumerable might be given to exhibit the 
 intimacy of distinguished people with, and the hospi 
 tality promoted by the "liquid bread," to show its 
 uses, and its less liability to abuses than other drinks ; 
 but in closing this brief historical, hygienic and literary 
 testimonial to its use and merits, the following passage, 
 from an English article on taxation, may be adopted 
 as true of the wide-spread appreciation and popularity 
 of the beverage in the New as well as in the Old 
 World : 
 
 " With an impartial catholicity of palate the votary 
 of the amber ale loves to see its beaded bubbles 
 winking at the brim, and yet is never forgetful of 
 the darker charms possessed by porter or stout. Boat 
 ing men whenever they are not under strict training 
 cricketers, and the whole of the manly English sport 
 ing community, are sensible alike to the charms of the 
 long, thin, narrow glass, the simple and unassuming 
 tumbler, and the thorough going pewter pot. The 
 prudent and industrious mechanic prefers the whole 
 some brew of native malt and hops to the fiery 
 foreign distillations that madden the brain and shatter 
 the nerves. The statistics of beer-drinking are simply 
 
 * Ramsay s "Reminiscence of Scottish Life and Character." 
 
 *** 
 *i 
 
 I* 
 
 T 
 
t! 
 
 71 
 
 stupendous. Mr. Gladstone, after making all the de 
 ductions that occurred even to his peculiarly exact and 
 analytical intellect, computed that every adult male in 
 England consumed the astounding quantity of six 
 hundred quarts per annum. Despite all the arguments 
 and invectives of the agitators who advocate what is 
 paradoxically described as a permissive bill, on 
 account of its prohibitory character, we adhere to our 
 faith that sound, honest malt liquor, does far more good 
 than harm ; nor should we dream of opposing any 
 system of financial legislation which would make it 
 cheaper without inflicting an extra burden upon the 
 community." 
 
 In this faith we may echo the praises of GambrinuK 
 and the dispraise of those narrow-minded "legislators" 
 and mistaken "philanthropists" who would curtail or 
 abolish the blessings he invented for man, and especially 
 the man of labor : 
 
 " So, blessings on the old Flanders king, 
 
 And blessings on his beer; 
 And curse upon the tax on malt, 
 
 That makes good drink so dear." 
 
 FORDHAM, June 19th, 18G(5. 
 
lo|a 
 
 ons 
 
 55 
 
 B CITY OP ALBANY, one of the largest 
 and most flourishing cities in the State of 
 New York, as well as the oldest for it 
 was settled as early as 1607, by Hollanders, 
 who built a fort, called Orange, which was 
 visited by Hendrick Hudson, who anchored 
 his vessel, the "Half Moon," under its guns, in 1609 
 
 is noted for its extensive breweries. The principal 
 
 one was built by the late John Taylor, and of it we 
 propose particularly to speak. 
 
 The first brewery, however, as we learn from Bishop s 
 "History of American Manufactures," erected in Albany, 
 or rather at Beveryck the present site of the town 
 was about the year 1661. The proprietor was Arendt 
 Von Curler, a man who was held in high esteem 
 both by the English and French Governors. Previous 
 to his time, however, a brewery was in operation at 
 Rensselaerwyck as early as 1635. Eveert Pels, who 
 settled in the Colony iu 1612, also erected a brewery 
 about that period. The city records of Albany show 
 tli at, in 1695, Benn. C. Corlaer and Albert Ryckman 
 were ordered to brow, for the use of the Common 
 Council, three pipes of table beer, at 10 13s. The 
 Aldermen of to-day, we think, are somewhat more ex 
 travagant, and prefer champagne. 
 
 10 
 
74 
 
 "One of the most prosperous brewers of Albany," 
 says our authority,* " during the last century, was 
 Ilarman Gansevoort, who died in 1801, having acquired 
 a large fortune in the business. His brewery stood at 
 the corner of Maiden Lane and Dean street, and was 
 demolished in 1807. He found large profits in the 
 manufacture of beer, and as late as 1833, when the 
 dome of Stanwix Hall was raised, the aged Dutch 
 men of the city compared it to the capacious brew 
 kettle of old Harine Gansevoort, whose fame was fresh 
 in their memories." 
 
 In Munsell s Annals of Albany we read of this 
 brewer that, when he wished to give a special flavor 
 to a good brewing, he would wash his old leathern 
 breeches in it. This is doubtless one of the little 
 jokes, at the expense of the brewers, in which the 
 good people of sixty or seventy years ago used to indulge. 
 
 Half a century ago, also, we learn that a Mr. Gill 
 not a bad name, by the way, for a brewer 
 used to boast that he actually turned out one hundred 
 and fifty barrels of beer yearly a number which, 
 when compared with that produced at the Taylor 
 Brewery at this day, would be but as a gill to a 
 hogshead. 
 
 Perhaps no city in the State is better located for 
 brewing purposes than. Albany, it being the great 
 central mart for the barley and hops raised in the 
 West, and which, by way of the Erie Canal, are 
 brought to a market at a cheaper rate than they 
 could be by any other conveyance. The water, too, 
 which is used, is particularly adapted, by its purity 
 
 * A History of American Manufactures, from 1608 to 1860, etc.: by 
 J. Leander Bishop, A. M., M. D., in three volumes. Philadelphia; 
 Edward Young & Co. London: Sampson, Low. Son & Co., 1866. 
 
7. . 
 
 and softness, for making the best ales. After the ale 
 is manufactured the facilities for shipping it to New 
 York, Boston, the western cities and Canada, are un 
 rivalled, and consequently it can be sold much more 
 reasonably that if such advantages did not exist. 
 
 Albany may well feel proud of her enterprising 
 citizens, and especially of such men as was the late 
 John Taylor, who, by the erection and working of 
 his immense brewery and malt-houses, gave employ 
 ment to a large number of mechanics and other 
 laborers, and indirectly added largely to the value of 
 the agricultural portion of the State. He is worthily 
 succeeded by his two surviving sons, Joseph B. and 
 William II. Taylor, the former of whom attends to 
 the sale of the ale in the cities of New York and 
 Boston, and the latter to the manufacturing of it at 
 Albany. 
 
 No establishment in this country is more perfectly 
 adapted for the purpose intended than the brewery of 
 John Taylor s Sons, at Albany. No necessary expense 
 was spared in its erection. Its machinery is all of 
 the most approved description, and every department 
 throughout the vast establishment is conducted with an 
 especial view to producing not only the best ale 
 brewed in this country, but also with a regard to 
 rigid cleanliness, purity of materials, and economy both 
 of labor and time. 
 
 It is now over forty years in 1822 since the late 
 senior partner commenced the business of brewing. 
 For a number of years he conducted it on a com 
 paratively small scale, but ever with an eye to enlarg 
 ing it, and making his the model establishment in the 
 country. To this end he closely studied through 
 books the art and history of brewing, in all its rami- 
 
76 
 
 fications, from the earliest times to the present day, 
 and increased the knowledge thus obtained by practical 
 experiments. Mr. Taylor has been called a self-made 
 man; and, if much careful reading, earnest thought, 
 keen observation and a retentive memory, have any 
 thing to do with the making of such a man, he was 
 essentially one. He used to say that he never spent 
 an hour in a person s company without learning some 
 thing from him, and we doubt not but that it was 
 so. When, therefore, we consider all these things, 
 and in this connection remember that he was indus 
 trious, honest, persevering and energetic, and rejected 
 from his dictionary such words as "can t" and "fail," 
 we need not be surprised to learn that he attained 
 remarkable success in business, won honors in civil life, 
 and, dying full of years, left a good name behind 
 him. 
 
 John Taylor lived long enough, however, to fulfil 
 one of the great objects of his life, and for ten years 
 to enjoy his success. The model brewery, which it 
 had been his ambition to erect and successfully sus 
 tain, was built by him in 1851 and 52, and up to 
 the time of his death, in 1863, was under his especial 
 supervision. Before, however, proceeding to describe 
 this extensive establishment, we would state that, in 
 1860, Mr. Taylor, accompanied by his son Joseph, 
 visited Europe for the purpose of recreation combined, 
 as we may truly presume, with a desire to inform 
 himself concerning the business of brewing in that 
 country. A man gifted, as he was, with large per 
 ceptive faculties, could not pass through the great 
 breweries of Great Britain without adding to his store 
 of information, and learning many things which could 
 be advantageously adapted to his business. Many of 
 
these breweries he examined with close attention, and 
 whatever \vas novel, either in the machinery or man 
 ner of operation, was carefully studied and noted 
 down. In some instances he made elaborate drawings 
 of such portions of the works as he deemed it de 
 sirable to imitate, and often under circumstances un 
 favorable to such labor. After duly considering and 
 comparing the various advantages accruing to the 
 breweries from their mechanical or other improve 
 ments, he decided to select the Lion Brewery, of 
 London, with such additions and improvements as his 
 own observation and judgment would enable him to 
 graft upon it, as the model from which to erect, on 
 his return to Albany, a brewery, which would favor 
 ably compare with those of the old world, and far 
 excel any which, up to that period, had been erected 
 in this country. 
 
 In May, 1851, the corner stone of the present 
 brewery at Albany was laid, and during the following 
 year the first barrel of ale was turned out from it ; 
 since then more than two millions of barrels have 
 been brewed. The building is located on the square 
 bounded by Broadway, Ferry and Arch Streets, and 
 the Hudson lliver. It is six stories in height, eighty 
 by two hundred feet in dimensions, and the nucleus 
 about which other buildings, nearly covering the two 
 adjoining blocks, north and south, and occupied by 
 the firm in their business, are clustered. The capital 
 invested amounts to over a million of dollars. The 
 plot of ground on which these buildings are erected 
 was formerly covered by the waters of the Iludson, 
 but, through the skill and energy of man, was re 
 claimed from its sovereignty. To secure the buildings 
 to be erected upon this site a firm and solid founda- 
 
78 
 
 tion, several hundred spiles were driven into it, and 
 the corner stone, enclosing various United States coins, 
 sundry printed reports and statistics of Albany and 
 its institutions, was placed in position on the fifteenth 
 of May, 1851. 
 
 To enable our readers the better to understand the 
 various uses of the different parts of this vast estab 
 lishment, as we shall describe them, it is necessary 
 briefly to state what articles are employed in the ma 
 king of ale: these are, first, barley, which contains the 
 saccharine matter and the alcoholic properties of the 
 liquor, and second, hops, to give it the requisite 
 flavor, and also assist in preserving it. Before com 
 mencing the process of brewing it is necessary to con 
 vert the barley into malt. This is effected in from 
 fifteen to twenty days, by three distinct processes. 
 The barley is first steeped in huge wooden cisterns for 
 about forty-eight hours, to macerate ; it is then spread 
 upon the floor, in beds four to six inches in depth, 
 to germinate. While undergoing this process, which 
 lasts from five to seven days, it is technically termed 
 couch. At the end of the germinating season the 
 couch is removed to the proper kilns and thoroughly 
 dried ; by this last process it is converted into malt. 
 
 Several interesting chemical changes take place during 
 the process of malting. In all grains is found a large 
 proportion of a substance termed by chemists fecula, 
 but which is commonly known as starch. At the 
 time when the grain begins to germinate there is 
 formed a peculiar azolized substance, called by a Greek 
 word, diastase, meaning to separate. This diastase pos 
 sesses the somewhat curious property of converting the 
 starch into a fermentable sugar, though the process is 
 not immediate, for the starch first becomes a mucila- 
 
79 
 
 ginous substance, easily dissolved in water, termed dex 
 trine, naturally unfermentable, and requiring the action 
 of diastase to convert it into starch sugar before it is 
 fermentable. Therefore, in the process of malting, the 
 grain is permitted to germinate until a large supply 
 of diastase is produced, when the vitality is destroyed 
 by subjecting it to a great heat. Another important 
 service is also obtained by the high temperature, which is 
 that of depriving the saccharine starch of its gelatinous 
 character, and greatly facilitating the action of the hot 
 water in the process of mashing one of the earliest 
 and most important in that of brewing. 
 
 The process of brewing requires seven distinct pro 
 cesses, namely, grinding the malt, mashing or infusing 
 with hot water, boiling the wort with the hops, strain 
 ing, cooling, fermenting with the addition of yeast, and 
 clearing. The malt is first ground or crushed into a 
 coarse powder, in a powerful mill ; it is then con 
 veyed to the mash-tun. This is a large circular tub, 
 with a double bottom, of which the upper one is false, 
 being pierced with numerous holes. Between these 
 bottoms is a space of about three inches, into which 
 the stop-cocks enter, for letting in the water and draw 
 ing off the wort. Within the tun is an apparatus by 
 which the crushed grain and water are kept in agita 
 tion through a rotary movement. After the proper 
 quantity of malt is supplied, water, the temperature of 
 which is about one hundred and sixty degrees, is let 
 into the space between the two bottoms, and passing 
 through the small holes in the upper one, mixes with 
 the malt. After it is agitated so as to completely dis 
 solve the sugar, and allow the diastase to react upon 
 the starch, the whole is allowed to stand covered for 
 about two hours, when the clear infusion of sweet wort, 
 
80 
 
 as it is now called, is drawn off into a vessel desig 
 nated the underbade, placed on a lower level than the 
 mash-tub, and where the master brewer, aided by a 
 hydrometer, regulates its strength to the proper quality- 
 The wort, properly graduated, is then pumped into 
 the copper, for boiling. This is a close vessel, with a 
 loaded valve at the top, to allow the steam, at about 
 two hundred and fifteen degrees, to escape. 
 
 As soon as the wort is introduced into the copper, 
 with a proper proportion of hops, the two are boiled 
 together until the mixture becomes clear a process 
 which generally requires about three hours to perfect. 
 To prevent the hops from settling at the bottom and 
 burning, it is necessary to keep them well agitated ; 
 for this purpose a vertical rod passes into the copper, 
 through a stuffing-box at the top, which rod termi 
 nates in a horizontal bar, carrying an extended chain, 
 called a rouser, and both are kept in motion by being 
 connected with the moving machinery of the brewery. 
 The quantity of hops used varies with the quality of 
 the beer, the season, the time of keeping, temperature, 
 climate, etc. 
 
 After the boiling is completed the contents of the 
 coppers are let down into the hop-back. This is a 
 cistern, with a metal bottom, full of small holes, which 
 acts as a strainer, and separates the refuse hops from 
 the wort. . Then the liquor is rapidly pumped from 
 the hop-back into the coolers large, shallow vessels, 
 covering the whole of one of the upper floors of the 
 brewery. In this story, instead of window-glass, large 
 blinds are used in the openings, for light and air, 
 thereby preserving a free circulation of air, no matter 
 from which quarter of the compass the wind blows. 
 The beer is let into the coolers to the depth of about 
 
81 
 
 two inches. To prevent acidification or foxing, the 
 cooling must be effected as rapidly as possible, and for 
 this purpose large horizontal fans, moving swiftly 
 around, are employed to create a draught over the 
 surface of the liquid. At other times the worts are 
 passed through refrigerators and cooled with ice and 
 by other artificial means. 
 
 The worts, on being cooled to about sixty degrees, 
 are discharged into the gyle, or fermenting tuns. These 
 are large, circular vats or tubs, bound with strong iron 
 hoops, and covered in all their parts, except that each 
 has an opening through which the process of fermen 
 tation may be inspected and the tuns cleaned. 
 Into these tuns, containing the worts, the requisite 
 quantity of yeast is added, and the fermentation com 
 mences, during which process a portion of the sugar 
 in the wort is converted into alcohol. When the active 
 fermentation is over, the head formed on the liquor 
 in the tun would, if left to ftself, subside ; the effer 
 vescence would entirely cease ; the liquor would be 
 came transparent; but, after a short time, a new class 
 of changes would take place the aceteous fermentation 
 would commence, and the entire contents of the vat 
 would be converted into vinegar. To prevent so de 
 plorable a result, and at the same time to retain the 
 alcohol, the aroma and bitterness of the hop, and the 
 carbonic ^cid in solution, and to cleanse the ale of 
 the minute particles of yeast which are floating through 
 it, and render it thick and muddy, it is racked off 
 into vessels for cleansing and refining. Much of the 
 quality of the ale depends upon the success of these 
 operations, and by the aid of the pontoons every de 
 sirable effect is attained. The beer is racked from the 
 gyle-tuns into large parachute tubs, situated in the 
 
 11 
 
82 
 
 third story, and passes from them into the pontoons, 
 in the story immediately below ; floats are so arranged 
 to open and close the valves that the liquor in the 
 pontoons is always at the same height, independent of 
 the flow of yeast in the receiving troughs. This pu 
 rifying and cleansing is the final process of brewing, 
 and, after it is completed, the ale is pumped from the 
 pontoons to the storing vats, or into casks, ready for 
 market. It is now tightly bunged down, so that the 
 carbonic acid gas, which is still generated in small 
 quantities, may be retained in the beverage, and im 
 part to it that sparkle, sharpness and foaming head 
 which are so greatly desired. 
 
 Having thus briefly sketched the process of brewing 
 through its different stages, from the bringing of the 
 barley into the malt-house until the ale itself is pre 
 pared and ready for market, we will now proceed to 
 describe the buildings, with their various appurtenances, 
 in which these celebrateU ales are manufactured, and 
 which, wherever lovers of ale are found throughout 
 the land, have a reputation unsurpassed by any other 
 brevvage. 
 
 The accompanying sectional view of the brewery will 
 convey a good idea to the reader of its internal 
 arrangement. 
 
 GRANARIES AND MALT HOUSES. 
 
 On the river front, connected with the main build 
 ing, is a fire proof brick building, seven stories high, 
 and seventy by forty feet in dimensions, which is 
 used in storing the grain from which the malt is 
 made. The majority of brewers throughout the 
 country purchase their supplies of malt from those Jj 
 
 who manufacture it, as it requires a large capital to 
 
83 
 
 carry on both the malting and brewing business. Mr. 
 Taylor, Senior, early saw the advantage to be gained, 
 however, by combining the two branches, which 
 would enable him to select the finest barley in the 
 market, and personally superintend its malting. He 
 would be certain then of obtaining the best quality 
 of malt, and, as a consequence, his ale would be 
 proportionately excellent. Fully realizing the benefits 
 which would accrue from such a combination of forces, 
 he erected not only the above mentioned store house, 
 which will hold two hundred and fifty thousand bushels 
 of grain, and whose elevators are capable of conveying 
 the same from boats lying at the wharf in front of the 
 building to the bins on the top floor of the brewery, at 
 the rate of one thousand bushels per hour, but also 
 three large malt houses, respectively two hundred and 
 twenty, two hundred and ten, and one hundred and 
 ninety feet in length, by sixty feet in width, and 
 from three to five stories in height. Two of these 
 malt houses have double, and the other treble floors, 
 and the three together have the capacity to malt two 
 hundred and fifty thousand bushels of barley per 
 annum. 
 
 ENGINE AND MASH ROOM. 
 
 In so vast an establishment as this, only steam 
 could be successfully used as the motive power; 
 hence we find in the engine room two double geared 
 steam engines, of fifty horse power, constantly at work, 
 running seven hundred feet of shafting, ramifying 
 throughout the building, and successfully employed in 
 pumping, hoisting and grinding in driving various 
 sets of machinery, elevators and conveyers, and, in 
 short, doing the greater part of the work which in 
 
84 
 
 other establishments is generally performed by hand 
 labor. Everything connected with these engines moves 
 under the supervision of an efficient engineer, with 
 the regularity of clock work, and the polished steel, 
 the glistening brasses, and general neatness displayed, 
 are evidences of the care bestowed upon them. In 
 the same room, but divided from the engine works 
 by an iron railing, are the mash tubs enormous 
 
 wooden cisterns, reaching from floor to ceiling in 
 
 which can daily be infused fifteen hundred bushels of 
 malt. Each tub has a double bottom, the upper 
 being a false one, pierced with numerous holes. The 
 malt being ground or crushed, is first placed in the 
 tub, and water heated to the proper degree is let in 
 between the two bottoms, and gradually works its 
 way through the entire mass of crushed malt. 
 
 THE FERMENTING TUNS. 
 
 There are four of these immense circular vats, each 
 of a thousand barrels capacity, bound with strong iron 
 hoops, and closed tightly from the air, though each 
 has a door which may be opened to inspect the progress 
 of fermentation ; but woe betide the unlucky wight who 
 carelessly Jputs his head into the opening while the 
 process of fermentation is going on, for the carbonic 
 acid gas which rises from it is of the most potent 
 searching quality, and if inhaled into the lungs will 
 deprive him of consciousness. From these vats the 
 liquor passes into large parachute tubs in the story 
 below, thence into the pontoons on the next floor, and 
 from these, thoroughly cleansed from all impurities, is 
 pumped into the storing vats, or into casks, ready for 
 market. 
 
THE PUMP. 
 THE BREWING COPPERS AND PUMP. 
 
 There are two brewing coppers for boiling down the 
 wort and hops; the larger one holds one thousand and 
 the smaller six hundred barrels. By the aid of a three- 
 throw gun metal pump the wort is discharged from 
 the coppers to the coolers, at the rate of two hundred 
 barrels per hour. This pump, which is one of the 
 finest pieces of workmanship of the kind in the country, 
 was constructed from drawings made by Mr. Taylor, 
 Sen., and is of admirable design and finish. 
 
86 
 
 THE WATER TANK. 
 
 In the sixth story of the building a wrought-iron 
 water tank, of one thousand barrels capacity, is situa 
 ted. By aid of one of Holly s patent rotary pumps, 
 which forces the water from the river, one hundred 
 feet below, this tank is filled in two and a half hours. 
 This water being taken from below the surface, is clear, 
 cold, and free from all impurities. 
 
 THE PONTOON ROOM. 
 
 Perhaps the most remarkable feature of Taylor s 
 Brewery is to be found in the pontoon room. Stand 
 ing on an elevated platform at one end of the vast 
 apartment, the eye of the spectator passes over three hun 
 dred and sixty-five white cedar vessels or pontoons, 
 capable of holding twenty -six hundred barrels, placed in 
 regular order, and divided into five sets. Between 
 them wooden troughs are arranged, which carry off the 
 yeast as it purges from the new-made ale contained in 
 them, undergoing the process of cleansing. From each 
 pontoon the creamy yeast, crowned with foam, remind 
 ing one of white capped billows, slowly pours itself into 
 the receiving troughs. Heretofore this refining process 
 was effected solely by hand a slovenly and dirty pro 
 cess which, until this pontoon apparatus was introduced 
 by Mr. Taylor, in his present brewery, was the only 
 one employed in this country. Even now the expense 
 necessary for making the change deters many breweries 
 from adopting the new and more perfect and cleaner 
 process. 
 
 THE COOLING ROOM. 
 
 As one steps into the cooling room he can readily 
 imagine himself standing at the edge of the Stygian 
 

87 
 
 Lake, so dark and still and seemingly deep is the 
 liquid before him. Not one, however, but a dozen lakes 
 meet his gaze, and he wonders whether a dozen Cha 
 ron s will not come forward to ferry him across to the 
 other side. These coolers contain the liquor, which, 
 after having been boiled in the coppers, is let down into 
 the hop-back, and from thence pumped rapidly into 
 these vessels to cool. The coolers are large though 
 shallow, and capable of containing five hundred barrels 
 of ale. They cover the whole of one of the upper floors 
 of the brewery. This apartment is surrounded, not 
 by windows of glass, but by large blinds formed of 
 wooden slats, which, when turned, allow a free circula 
 tion of light and air. The liquor in the coolers is about 
 two inches in depth, and as ft must be rapidly cooled 
 to prevent "foxing," large horizontal fans are kept, by 
 the aid of machinery, moving rapidly around, to create 
 a powerful draught over the surface. 
 
 THE RACKING CELLAR. 
 
 In addition to the above described rooms, containing 
 two storing vats of six hundred barrels capacity each, 
 is the racking cellar and the racking tub, which holds 
 one thousand barrels, and from which the casks are, 
 by the aid of pipes and hose, filled with the new- 
 made ale, and then tightly bunged, to prevent the 
 carbonic acid, which is still generated in small quanti 
 ties, and imparts to the liquor that pleasant sharpness 
 and sparkling head of foam, without which it would 
 be flat and stale, from escaping. In this cellar, too, 
 ten thousand casks can be stored while awaiting shipment. 
 
 THE COOPERING DEPARTMENT. 
 
 On Broadway, between Ferry street and the main 
 building, is a two-story edifice, two hundred by fifty 
 
feet, the rear portion of which is chiefly used for cooper 
 ing, cleansing and steaming casks and barrels. The ap 
 paratus for steaming, which was imported from Europe, 
 is one of the most perfect and effective works of the 
 kind in this country. The steam is driven through 
 the staves of the barrels, placed in order to receive 
 it, in an incredible short space of time, thoroughly 
 cleansing them from all mould or other impurities. 
 
 THE COUNTING HOUSE. 
 
 The lower story of the front building is occupied 
 by the Counting House and private offices of the firm. 
 These are fitted up in a " plain, substantial manner, 
 and are -well adapted to their several uses. 
 
 ADDITIONAL MACHINERY, ETC. 
 
 In addition to the various mechanical apparatus and 
 appliances employed in the brewing of Taylor s ale, 
 there are also two mills for crushing malt, a wort- 
 back, a hop -back, a spent hop-bin, an ashery, a ma 
 chine-room, with turning lathes, circular saws and 
 planing machine, iron forges, malt screens, thirteen 
 drying kilns, and over two miles of pipe, leaders and 
 hosing. 
 
 FACILITIES FOR CLEANSING PURPOSES, ETC. 
 Although the finest qualities of hops and malt may 
 be used in brewing ale, yet, unless the vessels em 
 ployed in its manufacture be perfectly clean and pure, 
 the ale made cannot be of the best kind. The least 
 acid, must or mould, in any of the apparatus used, 
 would give the ale which might come in contact with 
 it at 1 least an unpleasant flavor, and in some cases 
 utterly spoil it for the market. Cleanliness in the 
 
89 
 
 manufacture of ale was always regarded by Mr. Tavlor 
 as of preeminent importance, and therefore it is 
 that in his brewery not a pipe, tun, cask or vessel 
 of any kind employed, but that is regularly purified 
 with hot or cold water every time it is used. To 
 this care we may ascribe the superiority of the Taylor 
 ale to that of all others. 
 
 THE CLOCK. 
 
 On the Broadway front of the brewery is a tower, 
 the top of which is one hundred and thirty feet above 
 the street, and from which an extensive view of the 
 city and surrounding country can be obtained. In 
 this tower is an expensive clock, with glass dials six 
 feet in diameter. At the time of the Crystal Palace 
 Fair in New York it occupied a prominent place in 
 the main aisle, and its makers were awarded the 
 highest premium for its superiority to other clocks 
 exhibited. The bell, too, is a very fine one, and 
 is mug regularly at the hours for commencing and 
 quitting work. 
 
 DEPOTS OF NEW YORK AND BOSTON. 
 
 Since the death of Mr. Taylor, Sr., the name of 
 the firm has been changed to JOHN TAYLOR S SONS, 
 the two surviving sons, Joseph B. and William H. 
 Taylor being the representatives. Since the death of 
 Edmund B., a brother, the Boston depot, at 117 Com 
 mercial street, as well as the New York depot, corner 
 of Jay and Greenwich streets, have been under the 
 charge of Joseph, who, however, makes his permanent 
 residence in the latter city, while William has charge 
 of the Brewery. 
 
 -: - 
 
90 
 
 THE NEW YORK DEPOT, 
 Corner of Greenwich, Jay and Washington streets. 
 
 A brief description of the New York Depot, for the 
 storage and sale of Taylors ales, may not be uninte 
 resting, as the reader, after perusing the following ac 
 count, will acknowledge : 
 
 The growing demand for, and the increasing celebrity 
 of Taylors ale, in the city of New York, even as far 
 back as 18.22, rendered the establishment of an agency 
 in the great metropolis an imperative necessity ; hence, 
 during the said year, the first depot was opened at No. 
 113 Warren street, where, for a long time thereafter, the 
 business was successfully transacted. At length, however, 
 the trade increased to such , an extent that the firm 
 was forced to secure other accommodations, which it 
 did by erecting and occupying a new storehouse and 
 ofiices at No. 356 Greenwich street. This edifice was 
 large and commodious, possessing all of the modern 
 improvements, and was, at the time, supposed to be 
 ample enough for all emergencies. 
 
 At this period Mr. Taylor s son, John- Richmond, was 
 acting as agent in New York, of which department he 
 took charge in September, 1841, occupying that posi 
 tion until 1844, when, with his brother Joseph B., he 
 was admitted to a partnership in the house, under the 
 firm of John Taylor & Sons. John Richmond died 
 in 1853. 
 
 Time, however, rolled along, and the prosperity of 
 the concern increased with each succeeding year, until 
 again it became apparent that the accommodations were 
 inadequate to the immense and increased business, and 
 the firm was once more compelled to extend its facili 
 ties. 
 
A 
 
 The members of the firm of John Taylor & Sons 
 now resolved to erect a building which, as regarded 
 size, beauty, strength and adaptability, would surpass 
 all their previous establishments, and place them in 
 possession of one of the finest depots in the laud, 
 constructed upon scientific principles, and contain 
 ing vaults for the storage of ale unexcelled in this or 
 any other country. Accordingly the services of an 
 able architect were secured, the design made and ac 
 cepted, and the work so far advanced that on the first 
 day of June, 1862, the corner stone was laid in the 
 presence of a large concourse of persons. 
 
 In passing, it may be worthy of note to recall for a 
 moment the particulars of this event. On this occasion 
 the senior of the firm, John Taylor, and the three part 
 ners, his sons, Joseph B., Edmund B. and Wil 
 liam H., took part with appropriate ceremonies; the 
 father initiating the proceedings with a brief though 
 truthful account of the manufacture of the Taylor ale, 
 from its earliest introduction to the public, and each of 
 the sons following him with apposite and suggestive 
 remarks. These proceedings took place after the leaden 
 box, containing much of interest to posterity, had been 
 deposited under the corner stone, which was laid by 
 the several members of the firm, who each assisted in 
 spreading the cement, and severally tapped the stone 
 three times with the setting trowel, when the cere 
 monies were ended. The assembly then, by invitation, 
 adjourned to the depot, to partake of the hospitality 
 offered them, and in which the builders, architect and 
 invited guests participated, with a degree of satisfac 
 tion seldom witnessed. 
 
 The architect of this structure was Walter Dickson, 
 of Albany, N. Y. ; the builders were Wm. C. Miller, 
 
92 
 
 carpenter and joiner, and Frank Eidlitz, mason; to 
 each of whom, and their assistants, great credit is due 
 for the excellence exhibited by them in their mecha 
 nical skill and truthful execution of the design of the 
 architect. 
 
 This building is located on the north side of Jay 
 street, and extends from Greenwich to Washington 
 streets. It occupies the site of the once palatial resi 
 dence of the late Philip R. Paulding, formerly Mayor 
 of the city, and is looked upon and copied as a model 
 of elegant simplicity and appropriateness. It is six 
 stories in height, including a cellar. It is built in the 
 most substantial manner of iron, Nova Scotia freestone, 
 and Philadelphia pressed brick. It contains no interior 
 columns, but is sustained by iron beams and rafters. 
 There are two steam hoisting machines, working upon 
 an improved principle, which perform all the necessary 
 hoisting in the establishment. The building is heated 
 by steam, the pipes conveying which extend through 
 the entire edifice. While the building is in every par 
 ticular of a faultless character, the attention of all who 
 examine it is directed to the superiority, over all others 
 in this country, of the ale vaults and cellars which un 
 derlie it. The walls, floors and ceiling of these immense 
 vaults are composed entirely of granite and iron. The 
 stones forming the roof are the sidewalks of the street 
 above, and each one is sixteen by twenty feet square, 
 and one foot in thickness, of Quincy granite, and 
 weighing not less than twenty tons apiece. They are 
 supported by iron girders, and the walk, as regards the 
 size of the stone and construction, is probably the finest 
 in this country. 
 
 The machinery in the cellars, for hoisting, removing 
 and piling the thousands of barrels from time to time 
 

98 
 
 stored in them, is of the most perfect description. 
 The ventilation is thorough and complete, and the 
 barometer is kept at an unvarying temperature, based 
 on scientific principles, and adapted to the necessary 
 requirements of the famous ale. The even tempera 
 ture to which Taylors ales are subjected is one reason 
 why they are superior to those of many manufacturers, 
 and which have given them such a world famous re 
 putation. 
 
 As fast as the empty casks accumulate they are 
 shipped, by barges belonging to the firm, to their manu 
 factory at Albany, where they are examined, repaired, 
 steamed, cleansed, refilled, and reshipped to New York, 
 and again stored in the vaults, from whence they once 
 more find their way to the remotest, as well as the 
 intervening portions of our commercial country. 
 
 It is well to bear in mind that both Boston and 
 Albany are, also, great depots for Taylors ales, from 
 which places thousands of barrels are yearly distributed 
 far and wide. 
 
 THE BOSTON DEPOT. 
 
 The establishment in Boston was founded in 1851, 
 and, after many changes similar to the one under 
 gone in New York, was located permanently in the six 
 story granite block, corner of Commercial and Richmond 
 streets. The Boston depot supplies the entire eastern, 
 the New York one the southern, and the Albany one 
 the western markets. With the facilities at their com 
 mand for supplying these three portions of the Union, 
 it is not to be wondered at that Taylors brewage 
 has obtained a reputation superior to any in the coun- 
 try : and, wherever good ales are drunk, there you may 
 be certain to find those of Taylor s Sons. In short, 
 
94 
 
 the house is the great Brewery of the land, and its 
 members proverbial for their well known liberality, 
 honesty, business "ability and independence of character. 
 
 THE LIBKAKY. 
 
 Above the counting house is the library, a fire-proof 
 apartment, fifty feet square, containing over ten thou 
 sand volumes, the larger part of which are rare and 
 valuable works, collected through many years, and at 
 great expense, by the late head of the firm. They com 
 prise works on scientific subjects, practical sciences and 
 fine arts, history, biography, travel, poetry and general 
 literature. Among them are the Musee Frangais, Ho 
 garth s works (folio edition), complete sets of the English 
 quarterlies, and other choice productions. Not a few of 
 the highly prized works in this collection were purchased 
 by Mr. Taylor at the sale of the library of De Witt Clin 
 ton. In this apartment, devoted to intellectual treasures, 
 within sound of the whir of machinery, and at times 
 " fragrant of hops and malt new made," as our poet 
 has it, that kind, genial old man, John Taylor, used 
 to pass many of his leisure hours, carefully storing 
 his mind with useful knowledge, and making himself 
 thoroughly acquainted with the literature of the past 
 and the present. The picture which presents itself to 
 our mind of that good old man, seated, in his decli 
 ning years, amidst his treasured volumes, striving and 
 not in vain to improve his mind by a course of 
 study, such as in his earlier years was denied him, 
 but which, as winter after winter went by T whitening 
 his head, and bringing wrinkles upon his brow, he 
 more and more saw the need and benefit of, is a most 
 rare and beautiful one, and, as an example to the 
 rising generation, is worthy of being closely followed. 
 
Knowledge, Mr. Taylor found, was power, and he re 
 solved to obtain it. That he succeeded, those who can 
 recall his success in life in his business connections 
 and in his exercise of civil rights will freely ac 
 knowledge. 
 
 The history of the establishment and successful ope 
 ration of so large and fine a Brewery as we have 
 Ijerein described, produced, too, under the auspices of a 
 single individual, and owing its reputation almost 
 solely to his energy, perseverance and untiring indus 
 try, cannot be considered complete, if the writer should 
 fail to give, in a brief summary, the sketch of his life, 
 and allude to the testimonials of respect which the sad 
 occasion of his death called forth. A writer in the 
 Home Journal, who knew him well, writes this touching 
 tribute to his memory : 
 
 JOHN TAYLOR, O F A L B A N Y . 
 
 " Iii the death of this good man society mourns 
 the loss of one of its most honored members. At the 
 ripe age of seventy-four years, after a life full of event 
 ful interest, rich in acts of benevolent usefulness, highly 
 cherished in public esteem, full of honors and civic 
 trust, on Saturday, August the fifteenth, JOHN TAYLOR 
 passed away from our midst, his life s record being only 
 of good deeds, which keep alive his memory and freshen 
 the recollection of his numerous virtues and spotless 
 traits of character. Born in the County of Durham, 
 England, in 1790, in the first year of his infancy his 
 parents emigrated to this country, and for a few years 
 took up their abode in Brooklyn, when, in 1793, they 
 moved to Albany, New York, where he was reared 
 and educated. At the age of seventeen he begun bu- 
 
96 
 
 siness as a tallow chandler, which he prosecuted for 
 six years, during the time meeting with reverses and 
 discouragements by four different conflagrations. Ral 
 lying, however, with that energy which subsequently 
 became so well known as one of his chief characteris 
 tics, he overcame misfortunes which would have over, 
 whelmed any ordinary man, and, several years after 
 the war of 1812, embarked in the business of brew 
 ing, in which he successfully laid the foundation of 
 that establishment which, for more than forty years, 
 bore his name lately in connection with his sons 
 and which has been distinguished as one of the largest, 
 most prosperous and reputable houses in the mercan 
 tile community. Several times elected to the office of 
 Mayor of the City of Albany, he was instrumental in 
 effecting many marked improvements to the city, and 
 of discharging the duties of the office to the complete 
 satisfaction of the entire public, irrespective of all po 
 litical parties, and of being known as one of the most 
 incorruptible magistrates who had ever presided over 
 the councils of that ancient Knickerbocker city. He 
 was also elected presiding officer of the Board of Trade, 
 of the Water Commissioners, and of the St. George s 
 Society, and was the senior warden of the vestry of 
 St. Peter s Church at the time of his death. Few 
 men die more beloved and respected, or who are 
 more worthy of it than he. He was a man who 
 thought humbly of himself and charitably of others. 
 He was benevolent to a fault, and was never known 
 to turn a deaf ear to the slightest charitable appeal. 
 Kind in his feelings and expressions, with tastes of the 
 most primitive simplicity, he was a rare instance of a 
 truly meritorious man who shunned observation and 
 avoided display. With a highly cultivated mind, his 
 
97 
 
 leisure hours were passed in his library, where he had 
 secured one of the largest and most valuable collec 
 tions of standard literature to be found in the city. 
 Full of years, in the sunset of life he was gathered 
 to his fathers, bequeathing to his children the price 
 less legacy of a spotless name." 
 
 In connection with the above, we transcribe the fol 
 lowing elegiac stanzas, written on the occasion of Mr. 
 Taylor s death, which fitly express the regard in which 
 he was held for his noble, honest, and Christianlike 
 character : 
 
 IN MEMORIAM. 
 JOHN TAYLOR. 
 
 OBIIT, AUG. 15, MDCCCLXIII. 
 
 JEat LXXIV Ans. 
 
 " Like some tall oak, which many a year hath stood 
 The pride and monarch of the leafy wood, 
 Braving the winter s snow, the summer s rain, 
 And casting shade and shelter o er the plain 
 Wearing from youth to age a royal crown, 
 Green in the spring, and in the autumn brown 
 Till, centuries passed, at length it bows its head, 
 And in a storm falls blasted, powerless, dead; 
 So he, for whom we, mourning, sadly sing, 
 Stood midst his fellows grandly as a king; 
 Noble and honest, faithful, true and kind, 
 He saw their virtues, to their faults was blind ; 
 Gave freely of the goods which Heaven bestowed, 
 While countless blessings from his bosom flowed. 
 Honors and riches gathered round his ways, 
 And Christian glories crowned his latter days. 
 So, when at last the final storm arose, 
 And, quitting earth, he passed to heaven s repose, 
 Of him twere truth to spak, though ueath the sod, 
 An honest man s the noblest work of God/" 
 
 R. B. C. 
 
 FORDHAM, N. Y., Sept. 15, 1866. 
 
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