EARLY HISTORY. 349 



found necessary to order marks to be made in their cups 

 at a certain height, beyond which they were forbidden to 

 fill, under a severe penalty. This probably gave rise to 

 the peg tankard, of which specimens are to be met with 

 still remaining at the present day. This peg tankard 

 held two quarts, and had on the inside a row of eight pegs, 

 one above another, from top to bottom, so that the space 

 between each contained half a pint. The law of compo- 

 tation was, that every one who drank was to empty the 

 exact space between peg and peg, and if he either exceeded 

 or fell short of his measure, he was bound to drink down 

 to the next. In Archbishop Anselm's canons, made in the 

 council of London, A.D. 1102, we find an order by which 

 priests were enjoined not to go to drinking bouts, nor to 

 drink to pegs. And again, indeed, at a much later period, 

 we find the city of London petitioning the parliament 

 against the use of hops, "in regard that they would spoyl 

 the taste of drinkes and endanger the people/' 1 In the 

 English laws hops are directly mentioned for the first time 

 in the fifth year of the reign of Edward VI. (1552), at 

 which period we find encouragement was given to their 

 cultivation in the shape of certain privileges granted to 

 hop grounds. The cultivation of hops, however, which, 

 like the art of brewing, has been carried to perhaps greater 

 perfection in this than in any other country, was very 

 limited even in the beginning of the seventeenth century; 

 for James I., in the fifth year of his reign (A,D. 1603), 

 found it necessary to forbid, under very severe penalties, 

 the introduction and use of spoiled and adulterated hops. 

 At that time, therefore, it would appear that this country 

 did not produce a quantity sufficient for its own consump- 

 tion. They were then placed under the supervision of the 

 excise, and several statutes and regulations were made for 

 their harvesting and treatment. 



1 Walter Blithe's Improver Improved. London, 1649. 



