78 WILD FLOWERS. 



Too many, I wis, with their death proved this, 

 And, therefore (if ancient records do not fail), 



He that first brewed with hop was rewarded with a rope, 

 And found his beer far more bitter than ale," &c., &c. 



Thomas Howell (brother of the Bishop of Bristol 

 of that name), writing from Poissy in the year 1622, 

 says : " some of the doctors and chirurgeons, that 

 tended me, gave me a visit, and among other things 

 they fell into discussion of wines, and one doctor 

 in the company, who had been in England, told me 

 that we have a drink in England called ale, which 

 he thought was the wholesomest liquid that could 

 go into one ; for whereas the body of man is sup- 

 ported by two columns, namely the natural heat 

 and radical moisture, he said, there is no drink con- 

 duceth more to the preservation of the one and the 

 increase of the other than ale, for while the English 

 drank ale they were strong and brawny able men, 

 and could draw an arrow an ell long ; but when 

 they fall to wine and beer they are found to be 

 much impaired in their strength and age, so the 

 ale bore away the bell among the doctors/' 



Ale appears to have been used in this island at 

 a very early period ;* and Kemble, in his " Saxons 

 in England/' states that, "between 791 and 796, 

 eighty hides of land at Westbury and Hanbury 

 were relieved by Offa from the dues to kings, 

 dukes, and their subordinates, except these pay- 

 ments, that is to say, the gafol at Westbury (sixty 

 hides) two tons full of light ale, and a comb full 

 of smooth ale, and a comb full of Welsh ale, and 



* V. infra, "Heath." 



