178 Corn and Corn Products Trades 



of relative travel. The towns, Boston and St. Albans had 2)2) and 55 

 drinking places, respectively.^ These inordinate numbers give evi- 

 dence that the scale of business per retailer must have been quite 

 limited and not enough to support him wholly. The inference is 

 supported by statistical data of 1587, when in Nottingham town 

 there were 115 traders who combined the manufacture or sale of ale 

 or spirits with other occupations.- Agriculture, brewing and retail- 

 ing ale were a frequent combination. Much of the ale was retailed 

 directly at a "tap" or "brasserie" in the brewery.^ It is very prob- 

 able that the brewers did a custom trade, in whole or part, as the 

 above-quoted 1760 authority affirmed to be the practice before 1689. 

 But the wars from 1689 to 1713 brought excessive taxation, espe- 

 cially excises on malt, hops and coal. Since the duty on hops was less 

 than that on malt, the brewers de\dsed the drink "beer" which would 

 use more hops and less malt. The prohibition of French wines also 

 gave added stimulus to brewing "the finest malt Hquors in the king- 

 dom."^ Beer-drinking became the fashion, and brewers began to pro- 

 duce large quantities. This larger production went hand in hand with 

 the development of a special moneyed class of beer-traders, who 

 bought up large stocks of beer from the brewers, stored them for some 

 time, and sold it as "stale beer." Stale beer gradually gave place 

 after 1722 to "porter," the period of storage of which, in the maxim 

 of trade, became four to five months.^ The beers of certain counties 

 and tOAATis became famous throughout the Island. Pococke found, 

 for instance, Cerne Abbas in Dorset "more famous for beer than in 

 any other place in this country;" Dorchester also had " incomparable" 

 beer; great quantities were sold in London and some was sent to 

 various parts of the world.** The trade was therefore taking on i^ro- 

 portions and ramifications that necessitated and employed bigger 

 middlemen. Three factors were cooperating to de\elop a separation 

 of employments in the Hquor trade: (a) the rise of travelling and 

 communication caused an increase in the number of taverns, inns, 

 and places of drinking, which became retailing places for brewer>- 

 products; (6) the increasing consumption made a larger trade possible 

 and certain parts of the trade able to sustain a speciaUzed middle- 



1 Statistics reported in Hall, Eliz. Soc, 163. 

 ■= S. P. Dom. Eliz., CXCVIII, 57; V. C. H.. Xott. II, 289. 

 3 Hazlitt, Liv. Cos., 384. 

 * Cox, Mag., 1720, p. 67. 

 ^Gent. Mag. 1760: 527-28. 



"Pococke, Travels; "Eng. Displayed," 1769, p. 67; "Deser. of Eng. & Wales," 

 1769, 229; V. C. H., Dorset, II, 368. 



