About 1620 some doctors and surgeons, during their attendance on an
English gentleman, who was diseased at Paris, discoursed on wines and
other beverages; and one physician, who had been in England, said, “The
English had a drink which they call ale, and which he thought the
wholesomest liquor that could be drank; for whereas the body of man is
supported by natural heat and radical moisture, there is no drink
conduceth more to the preservation of the one, and the increase of the
other, than ale: for, while the Englishmen drank only ale, they were
strong, brawny, able men, and could draw an arrow an ell long; but when
they fell to wine and beer, they are found to be much impaired in their
strength and age:” and so the ale bore away the bell among the
doctors.[355]
[355] Howell.
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