Sharp County record., 1877-11-09
Food and Drink in Queen Bess's Time.

Food and Drink in queen BessS Ilihe'
1t is not only in solid food, but also
in sweets and kickshaws, that the En-
glish table of the 10th century abound
ed. Gentlemen and merchants had five
or six dishes followed by jellies, march
paine, tarts, and confectiOnS. "Of the
potato and such venerOus roots as are
brought out of Spain, Portingale, and
the Indies to furnish up our Blankets, "
Harrison, in his description, forbears to
speak. Of tea and coffee he is quite 81
lent, though he has something to say of
tobacco, the use of which was spread
ing rapidly, so that few years later
Hentzner, the German traveller, could
say, "The English are constantly SmOk-
ing tobacco" We have Onl y to reflect
what life in England would be without
tea, coffee, and potatoes to be con-
vinced how entirely different life in
Elizabeth'S days was from ours. 1t is,
however, with something like pang
that we record the fact that 5000 tunS
of homegrown wine were made in Eng
! land in HarriSon'S time; but we remem-
Der the Grunberger still made near Ber-
lin, and pass on holding our dia-
phragms. That the English drank guam
titles of foreign wines is plain from the
fact that 80 kinds of strong and % OF
light wines were to be had in London.
The strongest were best liked, and the
strongest of all was called, Harrison
tells us, TheOlOgicuna, answering to the
"Priest" of Madeira and the Pfatfen-
vein of the Germans. The merit OF
such wine was that it was both strong
and genuine, for, as Harrison tells us,
"the merchant thought his soule should
have gone straightwaie to the dwell if
he should have served them (the priests)
with other than the best" 1t is to be
considered whether a great part of the
loss of influence of the English clergy at
the present day may not be ascribed to
their abandonment of orthodox theo-
logical port. As for the lower classes,
they made good cheer wherever they
could get it, and though their daily fare
was hard, they had frequent opportuni-
ties of feasting and carousing at bride
ales, and drinking, and other occasions,
each guest bringing a dish, and the good
man of the house where the feast was
held only finding drink and house-room.
The workingmen in town always ate
butchers meat, and, though they were
more frugal in the country, they saw
fresh meat far more often than the
modern laborer. On such
festive occasions, though their
talk was coarse, they had one
merit in which the modern workman as
rule has no share; they were very
much ashamed at being overtaken by
drink, or "cupshotten," as Harrison
calls it. As to bread, the rich ate wheat
en- bread, and the poor bread made of
rye or barley, and in times of scarcity of
beans, oats, or even acOrns; nay, says
Harrison, they ate these even in times
of plenty, for though "never has there
been so much land cared, THAT is,
titled" never has corn been so dear.
SO that without famine the old proverb
has been verified that hunger setteth
his first foot into the horse-manger.'
I" If the world lasts awhile at this rate,
wheat and rye will be no graine for poore
men to feed on, and some catterpillcrs
there are that is to say, the dodgers,
or two-legged catterpillers, the middle
men who bought up corn and regrated
bread can sale so much already"
All this food was not digested without
drank. We have seen that the rich
drink wine, but in Harrison's England
the drink of the common man
was beer made of barley, water,
and hops. Those were not the
days of great brewers, nor was there
any exciseman to stand in the way of
private brewing. English "home-
brewed" was then the national bever-
age, and Harrison not only gives us an
excellent recipe for making beer " as
yellow as gold,n but tells us how his
thrifty wife brewed him 200 gallons OF
beer for 20 shillings. In our days it
would seem strange if country clergy
man on poor preferment not only brew
ed but consumed 200 gallons of beer in
the year, and this glimpse out of Har-
rison's daily life is perhaps as great a
proof as any to be found in his book Of
the liberal way in which all classes lived
in the days of Elizabeth. But it must
be remembered that in that age it was
beer for breakfasts, when there were any
breakfasts, beer for dinner, and beer
for supper. The tap of the beer barrel
must have been forever running at a
time when there were no water-drinkers
and temperance societies, and when
there were no substitutes except milk
for malt liquors, such as we possess in
tea and coffee, not to mention our aerat-
ed waters. s.-EdSn5@rg Rerieo0.