_Stepony Ale._--Chamberlayne, in his _Present State of England_ (part.
i. p. 51., ed. 1677), speaking of the "Dyet" of the people, thus
enumerates the prevailing beverages of the day:--
"Besides all sorts of the best wines from Spain, France, Italy,
Germany, Grecia, there are sold in London above twenty sorts of
other drinks: as brandy, coffee, chocolate, tea, aromatick, mum,
sider, perry, beer, ale; many sorts of ales very different, as
cock, _stepony_, stickback, Hull, North-Down, Sambidge, Betony,
scurvy-grass, sage-ale, &c. A piece of wantonness whereof none
of our ancestors were ever guilty."
It will be observed that the ales are named in some instances from
localities, and in others from the herbs of which they were decoctions.
Can any of your readers tell me anything of Stepony ale? Was it ale
brewed at Stepney?