( 2 5 8 ) 
CHAP. VII. 
Vinum Britan nicum, 
Of the Antiquity of Malt Liquors . 
T HE Art of Brewing, or extra&ing 
fermentable Liquors from Grain, is 
generally thought much more modern than 
that of prefiing and preparing Wine from 
the Grape ; as this latter is commonly re- 
puted lefs antient than perhaps it really is, 
Buchanan , in his Scotch Hiftory, makes 
mention of the Ufe of that Liquor very 
early in that Country, and calls it Vinum 
ex Frugibus corruptis. Galen, who lived at 
Rome, and flouriihed in the Reigns of An- 
toninus Pius , Antoninus Philofophus , and 
Commodus • and Diofcorides , who was fa- 
miliar with Mark Anthony and Cleopatra , 
were neither of them Strangers to Ale ; but 
1 it muft have been Ale unhopp’d, and ill 
fermented : For they charge it with injur- 
ing Mens Health, prejudicing their Heads, 
Nerves, and membraneous Parts ; vitiating 
the animal Juices, and cauling a Drunken- 
nefs more obftinate and painful than Wine. 
Herodotus , who wrote five hundred Years 
before 
