NINETEEN CENTURIES
OF
DRINK IN ENGLAND
_A HISTORY_
BY
RICHARD VALPY FRENCH
D.C.L., LL.D., F.S.A.
RECTOR OF LLANMARTIN AND RURAL DEAN
AUTHOR OF ‘THE HISTORY OF TOASTING’ ETC.
_SECOND EDITION--ENLARGED AND REVISED_
LONDON
NATIONAL TEMPERANCE PUBLICATION DEPOT
33 PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C.
_All rights reserved_
EDINBURGH:
PRINTED BY LORIMER AND GILLIES,
31 ST. ANDREW SQUARE.
PREFACE.
The earlier part of this slight contribution to the literature of an
inexhaustible subject has already appeared in a series of numbers in
a London weekly journal. The best acknowledgment of the writer is due
to the Rev. ARTHUR RICHARD SHILLITO, M.A. (late Scholar of Trinity
College, Cambridge), who has from time to time during the progress of
this work most kindly furnished him with valuable notes.
INTRODUCTION.
The object of this work is to ascertain the part which Drink has played
in the individual and national life of the English people. To this
end, an inquiry is instituted into the beverages which have been in
use, the customs in connection with their use, the drinking vessels in
vogue, the various efforts made to control or prohibit the use, sale,
manufacture, or importation of strong drink, whether proceeding from
Church, or State, or both: the connection of the drink traffic with
the revenue, together with incidental notices of banquets, feasts, the
pledging of healths, and other relevant matter.
It must interest every thoughtful being to know how our national life
and national customs have come to be what they are. They have not
sprung up in a night like a mushroom. They have been forming for ages.
Each day has contributed something. The great river of social life,
ever flowing onward to the ocean of eternity, has been constantly fed
by the tributaries of necessity, appetite, fashion, fancy, vanity,
caprice, and imitation. Man is a bundle of habits and customs.
With some, it is true, life is mere routine, a round of
conventionalities; literally ‘one day telleth another;’ with others,
each day is a reality, has its fresh plan, is a rational item in the
account of life. To these nothing is without its meaning; there is a
definiteness, a precision, about its hours of action, of thought, of
diversion, of ministering to the bodily claims of sustenance by eating
and drinking. Around the latter, social life has fearfully encircled
itself. The world was, and still is,--
‘On hospitable thoughts intent.’
The latter days are but a repetition of the former. ‘As it was ... so
shall it be also. They did eat, they drank.’
Social life is intimately connected with the social or festive board;
in short, with eating and drinking, because these are a necessity of
nature. Other customs and habits may be fleeting, but men must eat, men
must drink. Food ministers not only to the principle of life, but to
that of brain force also. Thought is stimulated, activity is excited,
man becomes communicable. He then seeks society and enjoys it. Thus has
social intercourse gathered round the social board. Eating and drinking
are two indispensable factors in dealing with the history of a nation’s
social life. Adopting the adage by way of accommodation, ‘In vino
veritas,’ truth is out when wine is in, once know the entire history of
a nation’s drinking, and you have important materials for gauging that
nation’s social life.
For obvious reasons, a division has been adopted of the subject into
periods, in some respects artificial so far as the present inquiry
is concerned. The Romano-British period has been selected as the
_terminus a quo_. It might have been speculatively interesting to
penetrate further into the arcana of the past, to have inquired who
were the earliest inhabitants of this country? Were they aborigines,
natives of the soil, or were they colonists? Had they an independent
tribal existence, or were they originally a part of that great Asiatic
family who emigrated into and peopled Western Europe, and to whom the
Romans gave the name of Gauls?
Had such an inquiry been relevant, the question would have been of
immense importance; for drawing, as one must, considerably upon
imagination in dealing with any period not strictly historic, one must
either regard the primitive inhabitants as independent aborigines, and
accommodate their supplies to their wants, or, regarding them as an
offshoot from another nation, suppose them to have carried with them
the customs of their parent tribe, and find the sought-for habits of
the child in the ascertained habits of the parent.
But we are concerned with fact; and must therefore date from a period
when facts, however meagre and involved, are forthcoming.
A chapter of _Bibliography_ is appended for the benefit of any who
might wish to prosecute a study, of which the present effort is a mere
outline.
_A CONTRIBUTION TO THE BIBLIOGRAPHY OF DRINK._
--------------------+---------------------------------------+-------
Author. | Title of Work. | Date.
--------------------+---------------------------------------+-------
Accum, F. |_Adulterations of Food_ | 1820
Ackroyd, W. |_History and Science of Drunkenness_ | 1883
Adair, R. G. |_The Question of the Times_ | 1869
Agg-Gardner, J. T. |_Compulsory Temperance_ (Fortnightly) | 1884
Alcock, Rev. T. |_Observations on ... a late Act of | 1756
| Parliament_ |
Alford, S. S. |_On Drink-Craving_ | 1875
Ames, R. |_Bacchanalian Sessions_ | 1693
Anderson, A. |_Trade and Commerce_ | 1762
Anstie, Dr. F. E. |_Stimulants and Narcotics_ | 1864
” ” |_On the Uses of Wines_ | 1877
Armstrong, Dr. J. |_The Art of Preserving Health_ | 1744
Arnold, R. A. |_English Drunkenness_ | 1877
Ashton, J. |_Old Times_ | 1885
Assheton, Dr. W. |_A Discourse against Drunkenness_ | 1692
Arthur, T. S. |_Ten Nights in a Bar-Room_ | 1871
Aspin, J. |_A Picture of the Manners, &c._ | 1825
Atkinson, F. P. |_A Cause of Alcoholism_ | 1879
Austin, Major |_Cup Draining._ (Bristol Magazine) | 1857
| |
Bacon, G. W. |_Alcohol at the Bar_ | 1878
Baker, W. R. |_The Curse of Britain_ | 1840
” ” |_Intemperance the Idolatry of Great | 1851
| Britain_ |
Barnaby, A. |_Proposals for laying a Duty on Malt_ | 1696
Barber, M. A. S. |_Bartholomew Faire_ | 1641
Barclay, Dr. J. |_Ale, Wine, Spirits_ | 1861
Barrow, J. H. |_Temperance and Teetotalism_ | 1845
Barry, Sir E. |_Observations on the Wines of the | 1775
| Ancients_ |
Basil, S. |_Homilia Contra Ebrios_ | --
Bayly, Mrs. |_Ragged Homes_ | 1860
--------------------+---------------------------------------+-------
Author. | Title of Work. | Date.
--------------------+---------------------------------------+-------
Baynes, C. R. |_Two Discourses on Sickness of Wine_ | 1669
Beale, J. |_A Treatise of Cyder_ | 1665
Beardsall, F. |_Nature and Properties of Wines_ | 1839
Beaumont, Dr. T. |_A Lecture on Ardent Spirits_ | 1830
Beddoes, Dr. T. |_A Guide for Self-Preservation_ | 1793
Beecher, Dr. Lyman |_Sermons on Intemperance_ | 1826
Beggs, T. |_Dear Bread and Wasted Grain_ | 1856
Bell, Dr. J. |_Action of Spirituous Liquors_ | 1791
Bennet, Dr. D. W. |_Alcohol: Use and Abuse_ | 1883
Bernard, S. |_De Ordine Vitæ_ | --
Bickerdyke, J. |_Curiosities of Ale and Beer_ | --
Bradley, R. |_The Riches of the Hop Garden_ | 1729
Brewster, J. |_The Evils of Drunkenness_ | 1832
Bridgett, T. E. |_The Discipline of Drink_ | 1876
Brown, Dr. A. |_Advice respecting Water Drinking_ | 1707
Browne, Sir T. |_Pseudodoxia Epidemica_ | 1646
Browne, Dr. Peter |_Discourse of Drinking Healths_ | 1716
” ” |_Of Drinking in Remembrance of the | 1715
| Dead_ |
Bruce, E. |_Digest of Evidence before the | 1835
| Committee of Parliament_ |
Brunton, Dr. L. |_The Influence of Stimulants_ | 1883
Burgh, J. |_A Warning to Dram Drinkers_ | 1751
Burn, J. H. |_Descriptive Catalogue of London | 1855
| Traders_ |
Burne, Peter |_The Teetotallers Companion_ | 1847
Burns, Dr. D. |_Drink, Drunkenness and the Drink | 1862
| Traffic_ |
” ” |_The Bible and Total Abstinence_ | 1869
” ” |_The Bases of Temperance Reform_ | 1872
” ” |_Christendom and the Drink Curse_ | 1875
Buckingham, J. S. |_Evidence on Drunkenness_ | 1834
” ” |_Earnest Plea for the Reign of | 1851
| Temperance_ |
” ” |_History and Progress of the Temperance| 1854
| Reformation_ |
Bucknill, J. C. |_Habitual Drunkenness_ | 1878
Bury, E. |_The Deadly Danger of Drunkenness_ | 1671
Butler, W. R. |_The Idolatry of Britain_ | --
” ” |_The Curse of Britain_ | 1838
Buxton, C. |_How to stop Drunkenness_ (North | 1855
| British Review) |
| |
Caine, W. |_Thoughts on Wines and Temperance_ | 1882
Capil |_On the Laws of Drunkenness_ | --
Carlysle, Dr. A. |_Pernicious Effects of Liquors_ | 1810
” ” |_Moral Influence of Fermented Liquors_ | 1837
Carpenter, Dr. W. B.|_Use and Abuse of Alcoholic Liquors_ | 1851
” ” |_The Moderate Use, &c._ | 1853
--------------------+---------------------------------------+-------
Author. | Title of Work. | Date.
--------------------+---------------------------------------+-------
| |
Carpenter, Dr. W. B.|_Physiology of Temperance_ | 1853
Carpenter, Dr. A. |_Alcoholic Drinks not Necessaries_ | 1882
Chadwick, Sir E. |_Various Reports, Speeches, &c., dating| 1842
| from_ |
Chadwick, Dr. J. |_An Essay on Alcoholic Liquors_ | 1849
Charleton, Dr. |_Mystery of Vintners_ | 1692
Child, S. |_Every Man his own Brewer_ | 1797
Christison, Sir R. |_A Treatise on Poisons_ | 1829
” ” |_The Habit of Intemperance_ | 1861
Clark, Sir Andrew |_Alcohol in Small Doses_ | 1881
” ” |_An Enemy of the Race_ | 1882
Clarke, S. |_The British Gauger_ | 1762
Close, Dean |_Why I have taken the Pledge_ | 1860
Collier, J. P. |_Collection of Ordinances_ | 1790
Collinson, J. |_Crack Club_ | 1858
” |_The Gaol Cradle_ | 1875
Confalonarius, J. B.|_De Vini Naturâ_ | 1535
Conybeare, W. J. |_Social Essays_ | 1855
Cornwalleys, H. |_The Law of Drinking_ | 1705
Cornaro, L. |_De Vitæ Sobriæ Commodis_ | 1678
Coryn, H. A. W. |_Moral and Physical Advantages of | 1888
| Total Abstinence_ |
Couling, S. |_The Traffic in Intoxicating Drinks_ | 1855
” |_History of the Temperance Movement_ | 1862
” |_Teetotalism v. Alcohol_ | 1863
Crane, J. T. |_The Arts of Intoxication_ | 1877
Crespi, Dr. A. |_Various Essays and Lectures, dating | 1870
| from_ |
Cruikshank, G. |_The Bottle_ | 1847
” |_A Sequel to The Bottle_ | 1848
” |_The Glass_ | 1853
| |
Daniel, Geo. |_Merrie England in ye Olden Time_ | 1842
” |_Democritus in London_ | 1852
Darby, C. |_Bacchanalia_ | 1680
Deacon |_The Innkeeper’s Album_ | 1823
Dearden, J. |_Short Account of Drunkenness_ | 1840
Decker, Th. |_The Gull’s Horne-booke_ | 1609
” |_English Villaines Prest to Death_ | 1632
Defoe, Dan. |_The Poor Man’s Plea_ | 1698
De Laune |_Present State of London_ | 1681
Denham, Sir J. |_Calf’s Head Club_ | 1713
Dewhurst, W. H. |_Physiology of Drunkenness_ | 1838
Dickson, Dr. |_Fallacies of the Faculty_ | 1839
Digby, Sir K. |_Closet Opened_ | 1677
Disney, John. |_View of Ancient Laws against | 1710
| Immorality_ |
Doran, Dr. |_Table Traits_ | 1854
Dossie, R. |_On Spirituous Liquors_ | 1770
--------------------+---------------------------------------+-------
Author. | Title of Work. | Date.
--------------------+---------------------------------------+-------
Downham, John |_Disswasion from Drunkenness_ | 1613
Druik, Dr. L. |_Cheap Wines_ | 1865
Duncan, Dr. |_Wholesome Advice_ | 1706
Dunckley, H. |_The Shame and the Glory of Britain_ | 1849
Dunlop, J. |_National Intemperance_ | 1828
” |_The Wine System of Great Britain_ | 1831
” |_Philosophy of Drinking Usages_ | 1839
| |
Earle, John |_Microcosmographie_ | 1628
Edgar, John |_Drinks of the Hebrews_ | 1837
Edmunds, Dr. J. |_Non-Alcoholic Treatment_ | 1876
” |_Alcoholic Drinks as Diet_ | 1879
Edwards, Edwin |_Collection of Old English Inns_ | 1873
Edwards, Henry |_Charities and Old English Customs_ | 1842
Ellis, Mrs |_A Voice from the Vintage_ | 1843
” |_Pictures of Private Life_ | 1844
Ellison, Canon |_The Church Temperance Movement_ | 1878
Esquiroz, Alphonze |_The English at Home_ | --
Evelyn, John |_Tyrannus; Sumptuary Laws_ | 1661
| |
Fairholt, F. W. |_Lord Mayor’s Pageants_ | 1843
Farrar, Archdeacon |_Numerous Lectures, Articles, &c._ | --
Fleetwood, Bishop |_Chronicon Preciosum_ | 1707
Flower, R. |_Observations on Beer_ | 1802
Forbes, Sir J. |_Temperance: An Enquiry_ | 1847
Forster, Dr. T. |_Physiological Reflections_ | 1812
Fosbroke, T. D. |_British Monachism_ | 1817
Fredericus, J. |_De Ritu Bibendi_ | --
Freeman, G. |_Exhortation from Drunkenness_ | 1663
French, R. V. |_History of Toasting_ | 1881
” |_Personal Advantages of Abstinence_ | 1878
Frinus, D. |_Spirits and Wine Offending Man’s | 1668
| Body_ |
Friscolinus |_In Ebrietat_ | --
| |
Gairdner, Dr. W. E. |_On Alcoholic Stimulants_ | 1861
Gale, Rev. H. |_Apostolic Temperance_ | 1856
Garbult, R. |_A Sober Testimony_ | 1675
Gascoigne, G. |_The Pryncelye Pleasure at Kenilworth_ | 1576
” |_The Steele Glas, a Satyre_ | 1576
Gay, John |_Poem on Wine_ | 1727
Gayton, Edmund |_Art of Longevity_ | 1659
Geree, John |_Potion for the Cure of Unnatural | 1648
| Health-Drinking_ |
Gesner, C. |_Contra Luxum Conviviorum_ | --
Gibson, E. |_Earnest Dissuasive_ | 1750
Gilmore, A. |_Our Drinks_ | 1856
Gladstone, Rev. G. |_Good Templarism_ | 1873
Godschall, W. M. |_Monitions concerning Ale-house | 1787
| Keepers_ |
--------------------+---------------------------------------+-------
Author. | Title of Work. | Date.
--------------------+---------------------------------------+-------
Goodwin, M. |_An Address to the Nobility on | 1819
| Distillation_ |
Googe, B. |_Noageorgus_ | 1570
Gough, J. B. |_Autobiography of_ | 1879
” |_Orations_ | 1886
Gratarolus, W. |_De Vini Naturâ_ | 1565
Greenfield, W. S. |_Alcohol, its Use and Abuse_ | 1878
Greenwood, J. |_The Seven Curses of London_ | --
Greenwood, E. |_Lectures on Intemperance_ | 1837
Grier, R. M. |_Numerous Pamphlets, Articles, &c._ |1870-89
Grindrod, R. B. |_Bacchus_ | 1839
Grose, F. |_Worn out Characters of the Last Age_ | --
Gunning, H. |_Reminiscences of Cambridge from 1780_ | --
Gustafson, Axel |_The Foundation of Death_ | 1884
Gutch, J. |_Collectanea Curiosa_ | 1781
Guthrie, Dr. T. |_A Plea for Drunkards_ | --
Guy, Dr. |_Intemperance_ (Weekly Record) | 1857
| |
Hales, S. |_The Unwholesomeness of Liquors_ | 1750
Hall, Thomas |_Funebria Floræ_ | 1660
Hall, J. |_Drink Thirst: Its Treatment_ | 1880
Harris, R. |_The Drunkard’s Cup_ | 1635
Harris, Dr. Sylvanus|_Inebriety_ | 1872
Harwood, Dr. E. |_Of Temperance and Intemperance_ | 1774
Haynes, M. |_Against Drunkenness_ | 1701
Heath, Benjamin |_The Case of the County of Devon_ | --
Henderson, Dr. A. |_History of Ancient and Modern Wines_ | 1824
Henry, Rev. W. |_Earnest Addresses against Drinking, | 1761
| &c._ |
Heslop, T. P. |_The Abuse of Alcohol_ | 1872
” |_Our Drinking Customs_ | 1878
Heywood, Thomas |_London Harbour of Health_ | 1635
” ” |_The Marriage Triumph_ | 1613
” ” |_Philocothonista; or, The Drunkard | 1635
| Opened_ |
” ” |_London Speculum_ | 1637
Higginbottom, J. |_On the Treatment of Disease without | 1862
| Stimulants_ (Brit. Med. Journ., Vol. |
| II.) |
Hill, J. |_Friendly Warnings_ v. _Drunkenness_ | 1831
Hingeston, H. |_Dreadful Alarm_ | 1703
Hobson |_Household Expenses of Sir John | 1466
| Howard_ |
Hodgkin, Dr. |_Promoting Health_ | 1835
Hone, W. |_Everyday Book. Year Book_ | 1825
Hopkins, W. B. |_H. Sc. Temperance_ | 1871
Hornby, W. |_The Scourge of Drunkenness_ | 1614
Horsely, J. |_Toxicologist’s Guide_ | 1866
Horsely, J. W. |_Numerous Articles, Lectures, &c._ |1875-89
Hospinianus |_De Festis Christianorum_ | 1593
--------------------+---------------------------------------+-------
Author. | Title of Work. | Date.
--------------------+---------------------------------------+-------
Hoyle, W. |_Intemperance and Crime_ | 1864
” |_Total Abstinence_ | 1874
” |_Our National Drink Bill_ |1884, &c.
Howard, C. |_The Touchstone of Adulteration_ | --
Hudson, Thomas |_Numerous Articles, Lectures, &c._ |1849-89
Hughes, W. |_Complete Vineyard_ | 1665
Husenbeth |_Guide to the Wine-cellar_ | --
Huss |_Alcoholismus Chronicus_ | 1851
| |
Ingestre, Viscount |_Meliora; or, Better Times_ | 1852
” ” |_Ancient Laws and Customs of the | --
| Burghs_ |
Inwards, J. |_Essays on Temperance_ | 1849
| |
Jeaffreson, J. C. |_A Book about the Table_ | 1875
Jeffreys, Archibald |_The Religious Objections_ | 1840
” ” |_Alcoholic Wines_ | 1845
Jenkins, E. |_The Devil’s Chain_ | 1876
Jerrold, D. |_Cakes and Ale_ | 1852
Johnson, J. |_Laws and Canons_ | 1720
Jole, W. |_Warning to Drunkards_ | 1680
Jones, A. |_The Dreadful Character of a Drunkard_ | 1660
Junius, R. |_The Drunkard’s Character_ | 1638
| |
Kempe, A. J. |_Losely MSS. Illustrative of English | 1835
| Manners_ |
Kennet, Bishop |_Parochial Antiquities_ | 1695
Kerr, Dr. N. |_The Action of Alcoholic Liquors_ | 1876
” |_Intemperance and its Remedy_ | 1878
” |_Diseases from Alcohol_ | 1882
” |_The Truth about Alcohol_ | 1884
” |_Numerous Articles and Lectures_ | --
Kester |_De immoderatâ Adbibendi consuetudine_ | --
Kirton, J. W. |_Intoxicating Drinks_ | 1879
Knight, T. |_Pomona Herefordiensis_ | 1809
| |
Lacey, W. J. |_The Case for Total Abstinence_ | 1889
Lamb, C. |_Essays of Elia_ | 1833
Lambarde, W. |_Lamentable Complaints_ | 1641
Lankester, Dr. E. |_On Food_ | 1861
Larwood, J. |_History of Signboards_ | 1866
Lees, Dr. F. R. |_History of the Wine Question_ | 1840
” ” |_Essays on the Temperance Question_ | 1853
” ” |_Agreement for Legislative Prohibition_| 1856
” ” |_Science Temperance Text Book, &c., | 1884
| &c._ |
Lawson, Sir W. |_Numerous Articles, Lectures, | --
| Parliamentary Speeches, &c._ |
Lemerry, L. |_Treatise of Foods and Drinkables_ | 1745
| (Translated by Dr. D. Hay) |
--------------------+---------------------------------------+-------
Author. | Title of Work. | Date.
--------------------+---------------------------------------+-------
Levi, Leone |_On the Wine Trade and Duties_ | 1866
” ” |_Consumption of Spirits_ | 1872
Levison, J. L. |_Hereditary Tendency of Drunkenness_ | 1839
Lewis, David |_Britain’s Social State_ | 1872
” ” |_The Drink Problem, and its Solution_ | 1883
Lightbody, J. |_The Gauger’s Companion_ | 1694
Livesey, J. |_Lecture on Malt Liquor_ | 1832
” |_Reminiscences_ | 1867
Lucas, Dr. T. P. |_The Laws of Life and Alcohol_ | 1877
Lupton, D. |_The Country Carbonadoed_ | 1632
Lash, W. J. H. |_Chronic Alcoholism_ | 1873
| |
Macdonald, G. B. |_Apology for the Disuse of Alcohol_ | 1841
Macnish, R. |_Anatomy of Drunkenness_ | 1834
Macpherson, D. |_Annals of Commerce_ | 1805
Macrae, D. |_Dunvarlich_ | --
Madox, T. |_History of the Exchequer_ | 1769
Madden, F. |_Privy Purse Expenses of Queen Mary_ | 1831
Madden, R. H. |_Stimulating Drinks_ | 1847
Maffei, Scipio |_De Compotationibus Academicis_ | --
Maguire, J. F. |_Father Mathew_ | 1863
Malcolm, J. P. |_Manners and Customs of London_ | 1811
Maltman, J. |_Teetotalism_ | 1889
Marchant, W. T. |_The Praise of Ale_ | 1888
Marcet, W. |_On Chronic Alcoholic Intoxication_ | 1862
Markham, J. |_English Housewife_ | 1683
Martyndale, H. F. |_Analysis of the Calendar_ | --
Mayor, Prof. |_Modicus Cibi_ | 1880
J. E. B. | |
Miller, Rev. J. |_The Coffeehouse_ | 1737
Miller, Dr. J. |_Alcohol, its Place and Power_ | 1861
Mills, J. |_The Merrie Days of England_ | 1859
Misson, M. |_Memoirs and Observations_ | 1719
Morewood, S. |_History of Inebriating Liquors_ | 1838
Moxon, H. E. |_The Laws Affecting Publicans_ | --
Mudie, R. |_Babylon the Great_ | 1824
Mudge, Dr. H. |_Nature and Obligations of Temperance_ | 1862
Muirhead, J. P. |_Drinking Songs_ | 1875
Mulder, Prof. C. J. |_Chemistry of Wine_ | 1857
Munroe, Dr. H. |_Alcohol not Food_ | 1867
Myrc, John |_Liber Festivalis_ | --
| |
Nash, Th. |_Pierce Pennilesse_ | 1595
Nichols, John |_The Progresses of Queen Elizabeth, | 1788
| James I., &c._ |
” ” |_Illustrations of Manners and | --
| Expenses_ |
Nichols, J. G. |_London Pageants_ | 1837
Norris, Edw. |_Establishment of the Household of H. | 1770
| Algernon Percy_
--------------------+---------------------------------------+-------
Author. | Title of Work. | Date.
--------------------+---------------------------------------+-------
Nott, Dr. |_Lectures_ | 1863
| |
Obsopœus, Vinc. |_De Arte Bibendi_ | 1578
Oinophilos, Bon. |_(Pseud) Praise of Drunkenness_ | 1812
Osborne, S. J. |_Hints for the Amelioration, &c._ | 1841
| |
Page, Th. |_An Earnest Appeal on the Effects of | 1846
| Beer-houses_ |
Paris, Dr. J. A. |_On Diet_ | 1837
Paris, M. |_Paradise of Dainty Devices_ | 1576
Parkes, Dr. E. A. |_Public Health_ | 1876
Parsons, Benj. |_Anti-Bacchus_ | 1840
Partridge, S. |_An Admonition to the Keepers of | --
| Inns_ |
Pasquil |_Palinodia and his Progress to the | 1634
| Tavern_ |
Peacham, T. |_The Art of Living in London_ | 1642
Pegge, S. |_The Form of Cury_ | 1780
” |_Introduction and Condition of the | --
| Vine in England_ (Arch. i. 319) |
Pengelly, W. |_Signs of Hotels, &c._ | --
Phelps, C. |_A Caveat against Drunkenness_ | 1676
Phillips, J. |_Cyder_ | 1708
Pigot, J. M. B. |_De Morbis Ebriosorum_ | 1807
Poole, T. |_Treatise on Strong Beer_ | 1785
Powell, J. |_The Assyse of Ale_ | --
Powell, F. |_Bacchus Dethroned_ | 1870
Porphyry |_De Abstinentia_ | --
Pulman, J. P. R. |_Book of the Axe_ | 1841
Prynne, W. |_Healthe’s Sicknesse_ | 1628
” |_Pymlico; or Runne Red Cap_ | 1609
| |
Rae, Rob. |_Handbook of Temperance History_ | --
Randall, Th. |_Arislippus_ | 1652
” |_The Virtues of a Pot of Good Ale_ | 1642
Reade, A. A. |_Study and Stimulants_ | 1883
Redding, C. |_History and Description of Modern | 1833
| Wines_ |
Reeve, Th. |_God’s Plea for Nineveh_ | 1657
Reid, W. |_The Evils of Modern Drinking_ | 1850
” |_Temperance Cyclopædia_ | 1851
” |_Our National Vice_ | 1858
Reid, Th. |_Intemperance Considered_ | 1850
Ricket, E. |_Gentleman’s Table Guide_ | 1873
Rich, Barnaby |_The Irish Hubbub_ | 1617
Richardson, Dr. |_On Alcohol_ (Cantor Lectures) | 1875
B. W. | |
” ” |_Researches on Alcohol_ | 1877
” ” |_Total Abstinence_ | 1878
” ” |_Dialogues on Drink_ | 1878
--------------------+---------------------------------------+-------
Author. | Title of Work. | Date.
--------------------+---------------------------------------+-------
Richardson, Dr. |_Drink and Strong Drink_ | 1882
B. W. | |
” ” |_Asclepiad_, passim |1884-9
Rigby, J. |_The Drunkard’s Perspective_ | 1656
Ridge, Dr. J. |_The Temperance Primer_ | 1879
” ” |_Non-Alcoholic Treatments_ | 1889
Ritchie, W. |_Scripture Testimony_ | 1874
Robson, W. |_De Effect Vini et Spiritus_ | 1803
Roberts, G. |_Social History of the Southern | 1856
| Counties_ |
Rosewell, H. |_Religious Revel_ | 1711
Russell, A. G. |_Drinking and Disease_ | 1868
Russom, J. |_Evil Effects of Beer-shops_ | 1849
Rye, W. B. |_England as seen by Foreigners_ | 1865
Rymer, Thomas |_Roxburghe Revels_ | 1834
| |
Samuelson, J. |_The History of Drink_ | 1878
” |_Beer Scientifically and Socially | 1870
| Considered_ |
Scrivener, M. |_A Treatise against Drunkenness_ | 1685
Sedgwick, J. A. |_New Treatise on Liquors_ | 1725
Shannon, Dr. |_On Brewing and Distillation_ | 1805
Sharman, H. R. |_A Cloud of Witnesses_ | 1884
Shaw, T. G. |_Wine_ | 1864
Sheen, J. R. |_Wines and other Fermented Liquors_ | 1864
Sherlock, F. |_Shakespeare on Temperance, &c._ | 1882
Sinclair, Sir J. |_History of Revenue_ | 1785
Smith, Albert |_Wassail-Bowl_ | 1843
” ” |_A Bowl of Punch_ | 1848
Smith, Dr. Edward |_Action of Tea and Alcohol_ | 1860
” ” |_The Action of Alcohol_ | 1862
| (Journ. Soc. Arts) |
” ” |_On the Action of Foods_ | 1859
Smith, J. |_The Temperance Reformation_ | 1875
Speechly, W. |_The Culture of the Vine_ | 1790
Strenock, J. |_God’s Sword drawn against Drunkards_ | 1677
Strutt, J. |_Horda_ | 1774
Stubs, P. |_The Anatomie of Abuses_ | 1583
Stuckins |_De Antiquorum Conviviis_ | --
Symonds, J. A. |_Wine, Women, and Song_ | 1884
| |
Taylor, John |_Drinke and Welcome_ | 1637
” ” |_A Relation of the Wine Taverns_ | 1636
” ” |_Drunkenness an indirect Cause of | 1860
| Crime_ |
Teare, J. |_The Principle of Total Abstinence_ | 1846
Terrington, W. |_Cooling Cups_ | 1880
Thomson, Thomas |_Diet for a Drunkard_ | 1612
Thomson, Dr. S. |_Use and Abuse of Alcoholic Liquor_ | 1850
Thorpe, B. |_Ancient Laws and Institutes_ | 1840
Thrupp, J. |_The Anglo-Saxon Home_ | 1862
Thudichum, J. L. W. |_On the Origin, Nature, &c., of Wine_ | 1872
--------------------+---------------------------------------+-------
Author. | Title of Work. | Date.
--------------------+---------------------------------------+-------
| |
Timbs, John |_Clubs and Club Life_ | 1872
Tomline |_Monastic and Social Life_ | --
Tovey, C. |_Wit ... distilled from Bacchus_ | 1878
” |_British and Foreign Spirits_ | 1864
Trotter, Dr. T. |_Essay on Drunkenness_ | 1804
Tryon, Dr. T. |_The Way to Wealth_ | 1683
Tuckerman, H. T. |_The Collector_ | --
Turner, Dr. W. |_A New Boke of the Properties of Wines_| 1568
| |
Ullmus, J. F. |_De Ebrietate Fugiendâ_ | 1589
| |
Venner |_Via Recta ad Vitam Longam_ | 1628
Vizetelly, H. |_History of Champagne_ | 1882
| |
Ward, Samuel |_Woe to Drunkards_ | 1622
Ward and Clark |_Warning Piece_ | 1682
Ward, Ned |_The Complete Vintner_ | 1721
” ” |_Bacchanalia_ | 1698
Ward, George |_The Opinions of Medical Men_ | 1868
Warner, R. |_Antiquitates Culinariæ_ | 1791
Weston, Agnes |_Temperance Work in the Navy_ | 1879
Whistlecraft, W. |_The Monks and the Giants_ | 1818
Whitaker, T. |_The Blood of the Grape_ | 1638
White, G. |_Hints, Moral and Medical_ | 1840
Whitewell, E. |_Evidence on Sunday-Closing_ | 1880
Wightman, Mrs. |_Arrest the Destroyer’s March_ | 1877
Whyte, J. |_The Alcoholic Controversy_ | 1880
Wilson, Dr. C. |_The Pathology of Drunkenness_ | 1855
Wilson, C. H. |_The Myrtle and Vine_ | 1800
Winskill, P. T. |_History of the Temperance Reformation_| 1881
Winslow, F. |_The Death March of Drinkdom_ | 1881
Woodward, J. |_A Dissuasive from Drunkenness_ | 1798
Worlidge, J. |_Vinetum Britannicum_ | 1676
Worth, W. P. |_Cerevisiarii Comes_ | 1692
Wright, J. |_Country Conversations of Drinking, | 1694
| &c._ |
Wright, T. |_Homes of other Days_ | 1871
Whittaker, Thomas |_Life’s Battle in Temperance Armour_ | 1884
Youmans, E. |_The Basis of Prohibition_ | 1846
Young, F. |_The Epicure_ | 1815
Young, T. |_England’s Bane_ | 1617
Yonge, R. |_Blemish of Government_ | 1655
NINETEEN CENTURIES OF DRINK IN ENGLAND.
CHAPTER I.
ROMAN PERIOD.
Little is known of the manners and customs of our island inhabitants
before the Saxon period; hence, there can be no wonder that all is
obscure before the Roman invasion. For the hints that have come to
light we are indebted to such foreign historians as wrote in the
century before the Christian era, the century of the invasion, and the
age immediately subsequent.
These hints, utterly meagre, but generally consistent, are supplied by
such writers before Christ as Diodorus and Cæsar, and such historians
of the first century as Strabo, Dioscorides, and Pliny.
Diodorus (lib. v.) notes the simplicity in the manners of the British,
and their being satisfied with a frugal sustenance, and avoiding the
luxuries of wealth. He further observes:--‘Their diet was simple; their
food consisted chiefly of milk and venison. Their ordinary drink was
water. Upon extraordinary occasions they drank a kind of fermented
liquor made of barley, honey, or apples, and when intoxicated never
failed to quarrel, like the ancient Thracians.’
Cæsar (_De Bell. Gall._ v.) observes that the inhabitants of the
interior do not sow grain, but live on milk and flesh.
Strabo, whose description of Britain in his fourth book is barren,
and not apparently independent (for he seems mainly to follow Cæsar),
writes in the early part of the first century (probably about A.D. 18),
that the Britons had some slight notion of planting orchards.
Dioscorides, in the middle of the same century, affirms that the
Britons instead of wine use _curmi_, a liquor made of barley. Pliny
the Elder speaks of the drinks in vogue in his time of the beer
genus, variously called _zythum_, _celia_, _cerea_, _Cereris vinum_,
_curmi_, _cerevisia_. These, he says (lib. xiv.), were known to the
nations inhabiting the _west of Europe_. He exclaims against the
wide-spread intemperance: ‘The whole world is addicted to drunkenness;
the perverted ingenuity of man has given even to water the power of
intoxicating where wine is not procurable. Western nations intoxicate
themselves by means of moistened grain.’
It is important to add that Tacitus asserts (_Vit. Agricol._) that the
soil of this country abundantly produces all fruits except the olive,
the grape, and some others which are indigenous to a warm climate.
Putting together these scattered allusions we gather,--(1) that _wine_
was unknown to the Britons before the Roman conquest. It is absurd to
suppose that a people as simple as the Britons, and holding so little
intercourse with other nations, should as yet obtain from abroad such
an article of luxury as wine, or prepare it from a fruit not a native
of the soil. Indeed, it was only about a century before the Roman
invasion of England that vines were cultivated to any extent in the
Roman empire; so scarce had wines been previously that the libations to
the gods were directed to be made with milk.
(2) That the inhabitants of the interior used no intoxicant, unless
possibly _metheglin_. The language of Cæsar implies this. Above the
borders of the southern coast, which were inhabited by Belgæ, and by
them cultivated, there were few traces of civilisation. The midlanders
were unacquainted with agriculture, contenting themselves with pasture;
whilst the northerners depended on the produce of the chase, or upon
that which grew spontaneously. And everywhere it is the same. The
earliest savage inhabitants of any district eat without dressing what
the earth produces without cultivation, and drink water (_dwr_, ὕδωρ).
Savage nature is simple and uniform, whereas art and refinement are
infinitely various.
(3) That the southerners made some kind of intoxicant from grain, from
honey, and from apples.
Before the introduction of agriculture, _metheglin_ was the only strong
drink known to our inhabitants, and it was a favourite beverage with
them long after they had become acquainted with other drinks. The
rearing of bees became an important branch of industry; and we shall
find later on, that in the courts of the ancient princes of Wales the
mead-maker held an important position in point of dignity.
Metheglin (Welsh _Meddyglyn_), also called _hydromel_ and _mead_, was
a drink as universal as it was ancient. Testimony is afforded to this
by the Sanscrit _mathu_, Greek μέθυ and μέλι, Latin _mel_, Saxon
_medo_ and _medu_, Danish _miod_, German _meth_. And here one must
regret to demur to the suggested derivation of Metheglin from Matthew
Glinn, who possessed a large stock of bees that he wished to turn into
gain. The modes of the manufacture of this drink vary much in different
countries. In the times to which we refer, the principal ingredients
were rain-water and honey. Somewhat later it is described as wine and
honey sodden together.
After the introduction of agriculture, _ale_ (called by the Britons
_kwrw_ or _cwrw_) became a common drink. An early writer thus describes
its manufacture: ‘The grain is steeped in water and made to germinate;
it is then dried and ground; after which it is infused in a certain
quantity of water, which being fermented becomes a pleasant, warming,
strengthening, and intoxicating liquor.’
_Cider_ became known to the Britons at an early date. John Beale, a
seventeenth-century authority on orchard produce, thought _seider_ to
be a genuine British word; but it is generally referred to the Greek
σίκερα, which, curiously enough, is rendered in Wycliffe’s version of
the Bible, _sydyr_:--‘For he schal be gret before the Lord; and he
schal not drinke wyn ne sydyr.’[1] Macpherson, in his _Annals_, rightly
says that cider extracted from wild apples was early known to the
British in common with other Northern nations, whilst Whitaker
(_History of Manchester_) thinks that this beverage was introduced
by the Romans. The opinion entertained by some that it was a Norman
invention is entirely a mistake. The principal cider districts of
the present day are Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, Worcestershire,
Monmouth, Somerset, and Devon. Its medicinal qualities are variously
stated. Lord Bacon accounted it to promote long life. Sir George
Baker considered it a cure for dropsy. On the other hand, Dr. Epps
(_Journal of Health and Disease_) speaks of dropsy and insanity as
common diseases in Herefordshire, and says it is easy to understand how
diseased kidneys are produced by the acid in the cider, and how dropsy
follows from these diseased kidneys.
We next inquire what kind of _Inns_ were known to the Ancient Britons.
During the time of the Druids there was an order of people called
_Beatachs_, _Brughnibhs_, or keepers of open houses, established for
the express purpose of hospitality. These were pretty much of the same
character as the chaoultries in India, and the caravanseries in the
East. In Ireland, the _bruigh_ was a person provided with land and
stock by the prince of the territory, to keep beds, stabling, and such
amusements as backgammon boards. The character of these houses was,
as we shall find, vastly altered in Saxon times, when their names,
_Eala-hus_, _Win-hus_, &c., sufficiently betokened the rationale of
their existence.
We have seen that wine was unknown in this country before the Roman
occupation. But the tide of emigration soon set in from Rome to
Britain. The new-comers brought with them the arts and manufactures of
their own country. The importation of wines presented to our islanders
a new species of luxury. Evidently contrasting the simple habits of
her subjects with those of the Roman invaders, Queen Boadicea (A.D.
61), making ready for battle, appeals in an impassioned speech to the
heart of her troops, in which she exclaims: ‘To us, every herb and
root are food, every juice is our oil, and water is our wine.’ For
well-nigh three centuries of Roman occupation, wine continued to be
an import. It remained for a Roman emperor to give permission to the
Britons to cultivate vines and to make wine. The circumstances were
these: The Emperor Domitian (A.D. 81), in order to check the growth
of intemperance, issued an edict for the destruction of half the
vineyards, and prohibited any more planting of vines without licence
from the emperors. Probus acceded to the imperial purple, A.D. 276.
This emperor, having conquered Gaul, revoked the edict of Domitian,
and allowed the provinces to plant vines and make wine. Britain was
included in the licence. From that time the purple grape twined around
many a British homestead. But whether it ever really thrived in our
soil and climate is more than conjectural. Pliny throws doubt upon the
whole subject.[2] Camden regards the boon as affording shade rather
than produce.[3] Still there is a chain of evidence that for centuries
vineyards were planted in various districts, which would not have
been the case had they been a complete failure. Five centuries after
the edict of Probus, Bede testifies to their existence;[4] whilst
Holinshed, in the sixteenth century, writes:--‘that wine did grow here,
the old notes of tithes for wine that yet remain, besides the records
of sundry sutes commenced in diverse ecclesiastical courts; ... also
the enclosed parcels almost in every abbeie yet called vineyards, may
be a notable witnesse. The Isle of Elie also was in the first times of
the Normans called _le ile des vignes_.’[5] Nor can we wonder at the
efforts to establish the grape as a native production when we consider
the almost universal attachment to the fruit in one or other of its
forms. If mead was in general demand, still more so was wine. The
common appetite found fitting expression in a common nomenclature, and
we find the names given to wine in every country bearing a striking
similarity. Compare the English _wine_ with the Gaelic _fion_, the
French _vin_, Italian _vino_, Welsh _gwin_, Danish _viin_, German
_wein_, Latin _vinum_, Greek οἶνος, Hebrew _yayin_, the root term
conveying the notion, according to some, of _boiling up_, _ferment_,
whilst others refer it to the Hebrew verb signifying _to press out_.
Whether an advantage or otherwise, to the Romans undoubtedly we owe
_signboards_. The _bush_, which was for ages with us the sign of an
inn, we owe immediately to them. Our proverb, ‘Good wine needs no
bush,’ is of course own child to the Latin ‘_Vino vendibili suspensa
hedera non opus est_’--‘Wine that will sell needs no advertisement.’
Our sign of ‘Two Jolly Brewers’ carrying a tun slung on a long pole
is the counterpart of a relic from Pompeii representing two slaves
carrying an amphora.[6]
Again, our country owes to Roman influence the national custom of
toasting or health-drinking.
The present writer has observed elsewhere[7] that among the Romans
luxury was carried to unbounded excess. Many were their forms of
revelry; amongst these were _comissationes_, or drinking bouts pure
and simple. At these no food was taken, save as a relish to the wine.
Specimens of their toasting formalities will be found in several
classical authors.[8]
It were idle to imagine that the Britons were uninfluenced by such
marked features of social life. If these customs had not been adopted
by them before the time of Agricola, it is certain that when that most
diplomatic of governors held sway here, he would teach the _jeunesse
dorée_ to drink healths to the emperor, and to toast the British belles
of the hour in brimming bumpers. Sensual banquets, with their attendant
revelry, no less than spacious baths and elegant villas, speedily
became as palatable to the new subjects as to their corrupt masters.[9]
Intemperance was no stranger to any rank of society. Not even the
imperial purple was stainless.[10] Thus was the soil prepared for the
seed so abundantly to be sown when the Saxon, the Roman’s successor,
should incorporate himself with our British population.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] σίκερα is of course akin to the Hebrew shâkar שֵׁכָר, and it is at
least curious that the three important potables may be referred to
Hebrew origin: _Wine_, to the Greek οἶνος, Hebrew יַיִן _Yayin_, and
_Beer_ possibly to the Hebrew בר _corn_ without the vowel point.
[2] _Natural History_, iv. 17.
[3] _Britannia_, London, 1590. ‘Quas in Britannia ex Probi Imperatoris
tempore umbraculi magis quam fructus gratiâ habuimus.’
[4] ‘Vineas etiam quibusdam in locis germinant.’
[5] _Chronicles_, i. 186.
[6] A mass of information upon the subject of signboards has been
collected by Messrs. Larwood and Hotten in their _History of
Signboards_.
[7] _History of Toasting_; London, 1881.
[8] _E.g._--‘Te nominatim voco in bibendo.’
‘Bene te! Bene tibi!’
‘Salutem tibi propino.’
‘Bacchi tibi sumimus haustus.’
Compare also Tibul. II. i. 33: ‘Bene Messalam! sua quisque ad pocula
dicat.’
Plautus. _Curcul._ ii. 3, 8: ‘Propino poculum magnum, ille ebibit.’
Cicero. _Tuscul. Disput._ i. 40: ‘Propino hoc pulcro Critiæ, qui in eum
fuerat teterrimus; Græci enim in conviviis solent nominare cui poculum
tradituri sint.’
Zumpt interprets ‘Græco more’ as ‘Mos propinandi,’ or the custom of
addressing the person to whom you wish well, and offering him a glass
to empty, after having first put it to your lips.--Cf. Martial, lib. i.
Ep. 72, Horace iii. Ode 19.
[9] The moral depravity and social degradation of the Roman world at
this time is forcibly described by Salvian, the Bishop of Marseilles,
in his _De Gubernatione Dei_. This treatise was translated into
English, London, 1700.
[10] It is recorded of the Emperor Bonosus that so notorious a drinker
was he that when he committed suicide, A.D. 281, after his defeat in
Banffshire, it was the common jest with the soldiers that there hung a
tankard and not a man.