454 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2'"i S. X. Dec. 8. '60, 



The similarity of these distinctions to those in use 

 in our own day (double and treble X) is somewhat 

 remarkable.* Previous correspondents have shown 

 (2""* S. ii. 392.) that hops were used in the manu- 

 facture of beer in England in the fifteenth century, 

 prior to the date assigned to their introduction in 

 the well-known couplet quoted by Mr. Cakey ; 

 and the inquiry is not without interest at what 

 period their use became general for both ale and 

 beer. In a useful treatise on the Theorxj and Prac- 

 tice of Brewings by W. L. Tizard, London, 1843, 

 the author, quoting Lance's Hop Farmer, 1838, 

 mentions, among eai'ly writers on the manufac- 

 ture of beer, lleynolde Scot (who wrote in 1578), 

 and in 1616 in the improved edition of the Maison 

 Hustique, I glean from another source that the 

 "industrious Gervase Marhliam" among other 

 " useful remarks," has the following : — 



" The general! use is by no means to put any hops into 

 ale, making that the difference betwixt it and beere . , . 

 but the wiser huswives do find an error in that opinion, 

 and say the utter want of hops is the reason why ale lasteth 

 so little a time, but either dyeth or soureth, and therefore 

 they will to every barrell of the best ale allowe halfe a 

 poimd of good hops." 



Reynolde Scot says : — 



" You cannot make above viii. or ix, gallons of indif- 

 ferent ale out of one bushell of mault, j-et j'ou maj' with 

 the assistance of hoppe (make) xviii. or xx. gallons of 

 very good beere, neither is the hoppe more profitable to 

 enlarge the quantity of your drinke than necessary to 

 prolong the continuance thereof; for if 3'our ale may'eii- 

 dure 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 that have sense in their 

 mouthes ; and if the controversie be betwixt beere and ale 

 which of them two shall j'e place in preheminetice, it 

 sufficeth for the glorie and commendation of tlie beere, that 

 here in our own countrye ale giveth place unto it ; and 

 that most of our countrymen doe abhore and abandon 

 ale as lothsome drincke : in other nations beere is of great 

 estimation, and of strayngers entertayned as their most 

 choice and delicate drinke; without hoppejt wanteth its 

 chiefe grace and verdur." 



I have quoted these extracts as marking the 

 probable period of a permanent improvement in 

 public taste, and the abandonment of the " un- 

 hopped" liquor, — " the pure wine of the malt," — 

 consequent, no doubt, on the importation of the 

 manufactured article (both of hops and beer) 

 from abroad in the earlier part of the century ; 

 and that under the latter term, malt liquor, as now 



* In 1606, the brewers of this town were ordered by 

 the mayor and justices " not to brewe any beere but good 

 beere, and wholesome for man's bodie," and to sell their 

 " double beere " at 3s. 4J. the barrel, and their " ordinarie 

 beere " at 2s. per barrel. They were also forbidden to 

 carrj' their "beere" in "iron-bound carts," because "it 

 tendeth to make it worke up in such a sorte that though 

 the barrells seem to be full when they are broughte yet 

 when they are settled, they lack some a gallon of beere, to 

 the enriching of the brewers, and the great defeat and 

 hindrance of the towne." It is observable that prices had 

 not varied in the course of the previous century. 



known, had attained some celebrity even among 

 the upper classes, as the instructions of " good 

 old" Bishop Neale of Durham to his officers 

 Wright and Corny n in 1622 tend to show : — 



" I wishe there was a brewery of beare at Awkeland, 

 in regard of my purpose of living there some part of this 

 somer ; and I wishe it would be well hopt, for keeping it 

 the better from sowering," &c. 



I can assure A. A. that notwithstanding our 

 metropolitan and other leading brewers of " pale 

 and bitter ales " have well-nigh discarded " beer " 

 from their vocabulary, one large firm, in their 

 published price-list, enumerating several varieties 

 of ale only (which seems now to rule as the classic 

 term for all malt liquors under present discus- 

 sion), yet in the provinces " strong beer " is still 

 esteemed by our worthy yeomen as their " most 

 choice and delicate drinke," and is reserved on 

 almost all occasions of social feasting as the crown- 

 ing grace of the board. 



VVhile on this subject I may be permitted to 

 place on record the origin of the beverage known 

 in London as " Porter : " — 



" Before the year 1730, the malt liquors in general use 

 in London were ale, beer, and twopennj-, and it was cus- 

 tomary for the drinkers of malt liquor to call for a pint or 

 tankard of half-and-half of two of the -three named. In 

 course of time it also became the practice to call for a 

 pint or tankard of three-threads, meaning a third of each, 

 and the publican had thus to go to three casks for a pint 

 of liquor. To avoid this inconvenience, a brewer of the 

 name of Harwood conceived the idea of making a liquor 

 partaking of the united flavours of ale, beer, and twopenny, 

 and called it Entire, or Entire-hutt ; and, as it was a very 

 hearty and nourishing liquor, it was very suitable for 

 porters and other working people, hence it obtained the 

 name of ' Porter.' " * 



I have copied the foregoing from a little work 

 without title-page, and have never seen it before 

 in print. Henhv W. S. Taylok. 



COLCHICUM AUTUMNALB (2"^ S. X. 418.) — Will 



p. p. inform me where near Cambridge he saw 

 this plant ? If he will add his name, I shall be 

 the more obliged, I have long studied the botany 

 of the county, and failed in finding it. See Flora 

 of Cambridgeshire, p. 237. C. C. Babington. 



St. John's College, Cambridge. 



Savoy and Saxe-Cobourg Gotiia (2°'* S. x. 

 409.) — The family name of the one is Savoy, and 

 of the other Saxe-Cohourg Gotha : for these are 

 additional or surnames to the baptismal ones, 

 given for the purpose of distinguishing one Victor 

 Emmanuel, or one Albert from another. So in 

 these families, where the baptismal names are the 

 same, and where the regSl or ducal dignity is as- 

 sumed, the numerals are now commonly used in 

 addition to the baptismal name, whilst formerly 

 they were distinguished by some personal pecu- 



[* See "X. & Q." 1'' S. viii. 9. ; x. 123,] 



