14 HOP. 



as wolves the shepherd's flock. The Anglo-Saxon hoppnn, to 

 climb, is the parent of our modern word hop. 



Several varieties of Hop are distinguished by cultivators, such as 

 the garlic, the long white, and the oval Hop ; the Flemish, Gold- 

 ings, Canterbury, &c. The female plant is alone cultivated in 

 hop-grounds. 



The first mention of Hops occurs in a letter of donation by King 

 Pepin, which speaks of Humuloraiag ; meaning, probably, hop- 

 gardens. Beckmann does not find the word Lupulus to occur 

 earlier than the 11th century. About the beginning of the fol- 

 lowing century, Hops were introduced into the breweries of the 

 Netherlands. They seem to have been unknown in England till 

 brought from Artois about the year 1524 * 



Ale, the common drink of our Saxon ancestors, was made gene- 

 rally from malt alone, or clarified with ground-ivy, hence called 

 alehoof, which was thought to render the liquor more whole- 

 some. Parkinson says, " The ale which our forefathers were ac- 

 customed only to drink, being a kind of thicker drink than beere, 

 is now almost quite left off to be made, the use of Hoppes to be 

 put therein, altering the quality thereof to be much more health- 

 full." And Gerard makes a distinction between ale and beer : 

 " The manifold vertues of Hops do manifestly argue the whole- 

 somenesse of beere above ale ; for the Hops rather make it a 

 physicall drinke to keepe the body in health, than an ordinary 

 drinke for the quenching of our thirst." For several years after 

 the introduction of Hops, there was a strong popular prejudice 

 against them. Henry VIII. issued an injunction! (dated Eltham, 

 mense, January 22) to the brewers not to put any Hops or Brim- 

 stone into the ale. Walter Blith, in his " Improver Improved," 

 published in 1649, informs us, "That not many years since, the 

 famous City of London petitioned the Parliament against two 

 nuisances; and these were, Newcastle coals, in regard of their 

 stench, &c , and Hops, in regard they would spoyl the taste of 

 drink, and endanger the people." Now, however, severe penalties 

 are inflicted on brewers who use any other bitters for preserving 



* Sir J. E. Smith quotes an old distich, which has some reference to 

 the date of its introduction, viz., that — 



" Turkeys, carp, hops, pickerel and beer, 

 Came into England all in one year." 

 f See a quotation from this MS. in Archaeologia iii. p. 157. 



