134 URTICACE^— NETTLE TRIBE 



"Hops, reformation, bays and beer, 

 Came into England all in one year." 



But there is no evidence to show that the wild plant was not then in our 

 hedges. Our English name of the plant is derived from the Anglo-Saxon 

 hoppan, to climb, and is very expressive of its habit. It is called also Hopfen, 

 in Germany ; and Hoppe, in Holland. 



In the " Promptorium Parvulorum," or Anglo-Latin Dictionary, we find 

 the word Hoppe described as " sede for here "; and the learned Editor, 

 Mr. Albert Way, remarks on this : *' It should seem that the Eala or Swafan 

 of the Anglo-Saxon was not compounded with any bitter condiment, which 

 was essential to the concoction of beer, a drink of Flemish or German origin, 

 and, until the sixteenth century, imported from the Continent, or brewed by 

 foreigners only in this country. The ' Promptorium ' gives Bere, cervisia 

 hummulina, as distinguished from ale, which was not hopped. Caxton, in 

 his 'Boke for Travellers,' speaking of drinks, makes the distinction, 'Ale of 

 England, Byre of Alemayne ;' and it appears, by the ' Customs of London,' 

 Arnold's Chronicle, 87, that beer was first made in London by ' byere brewars, 

 straungers, Flemyngis, Duchemen,' etc. A recipe for maldng single beer with 

 malt and Hops is given (p. 24). It has been asserted that the use of Hops 

 was forbidden by Henry VI., in consequence of a petition of the Commons, 

 mentioned by Fuller iu his 'Worthies,' under Essex, against the 'wicked 

 weed called hops ;' but no record of the prohibition has been found, and the 

 petition does not appear in the rolls of Parliament." It is well known that 

 in the time of Henry VIIL, and for many years later, a prejudice was enter- 

 tained against Hops ; and Evelyn laments that their use was " transmuting 

 our wholesome ale into beer." In 1531, when "sundry misuses" in the 

 royal household were considered to need reform, an injunction was given to 

 the brewer not to put any Hops or brimstone into the ale. Mr. Way remarks : 

 "Bullein, in the 'Bulwarke of Defence,' written about 1550, speaks of Hops 

 as growing in Suffolk. They are mentioned in the Statutes of Edward VI. 

 (1552), as cultivated in England. Among the privileges conceded to the 

 strangers from the Low Countries, who settled at Stamford in 1572, is a 

 clause regarding the free exercise of husbandry, in which are specified Hops, 

 and all things necessary to gardens." Some of our early proverbs also refer 

 to the plant. Thus — 



' ' Till St. James's Day be come and gone, 

 There may be Hops, or there may be none." 



The opinion of our forefathers that Hops "would spoyle the taste of 

 drink and endanger the people," has long since passed away. Lupulin, or 

 the principle of the Hop, is now known not only to impart an agreeable and 

 aromatic flavour to beer, but also to possess tonic and soporific properties, as 

 well as to prevent, by arresting fermentation, th3 liquor from becoming sour. 

 The narcotic properties of the Hop have a soothing eflFect ; and Hop-pillows 

 have long been in use in cases of sleeplessness, nor can we spend many hours 

 in the Hop-garden without being conscious of this eft'ect of the fragrance. 

 The young tops of the wild Hop are gathered, tied in bundles, and boiled ; 

 and we know from long experience that they form a pleasant vegetable, 



