Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-07-08
DRINKING IN ENGLAND
OF THE USE OF IN
ToxICATING LIQUORS.
Some of the Famous Old Topers Of By
gone Days Who Left Records
Behind Them.
From the London Globe.

FROM the lTouuon Uiopc.
I'VE shall probably outlive." said Dis
raeli, 1.-The custom of hard drinking, which
was so long one of our national vices" and
the astute statesman would seem to have
been a true prophet to judge by the con-
tinual decline in the growth of revenue
from alcohol" which so impresses the chan
cellor of the exchequer. The enthusiastic
temperance reformer must be gratified. too.
that the city of London corporation includes
no fewer than eighteen total abstainers.
But we have still sad deal to do before
we can wipe out our unpleasant reputation.
Your Dane your German and your swag-
beliied Hollander are nothing to your Eng
ljsh" said Iago, when explaining that he
learned how to drink deep in England.
why, he drinks you with facility your
Dane dead drunk" and we shrewdly sus-
pect that Shakespeare had an eye to coun-
tries other than Denmark when he made
Claudius so potent in potting as to dis
gust Hamlet. Certainly the Elizabethan
and Jacobte periods saw an abundance of
hard drinking in England. and the worthy
Camden Is doubtless correct in asserting
that we got the custom in our long wars
in the Netherlands, land by drinking other
peoples healths impaired our own" Till
them he says, we had been of all northern
nations the most sober. Truly We must
have been apt pupils to outdrink them all
so soon. 1t was out-Heroding Herod.
Pleasant Monasteries.
But William of Malmesbury has left IT on
record that already under Henry ii the
English were great drinkers, and that mon
asteries especially were remarkable for the
strength and purity of their ale. We i'm
agine that in England, as well as in other
countries, the church took to heart the ad-
vice of St Paul to take little wine for the
stomachs sake; nor should they be blamed.
for good wine Is a good. familiar creature
incidence that on the continent the most
famous monastertes were situated in the
best wine districts, and in England the
abbots seem to have controlled much of the
ale trade Before the Romans introduced
mailing and the use OF beer in England
mead was the common drink of the coun-
try. and this honey beverage still retained
it's popularity in Elzabethan days. when
1t was mixed with hops and brandy and
called sack" Hops had been introduced
from Flanders about the time of Henry
", but We're not altogether held in favor
for an edict OF Henry VIII forbade their
use in beer while as late as 1919 the city
of London petitioned parliament to the same
effect. urging that this wicked weed would
spoil the drink and endanger the lives of
the people," By the end of Elizabeth's
reign however 1t was already commonly
used The aristoeracy did not despfse ale
and beer in those days, for. as Shakespeare
said "a quart of ale is dish for king
oned at Tudbury Castle her secretary asked
"at what place near Tudbury beer may be
provided for her majestys use- He was
told that 1t could be had at Burton-on-
Trent which town had already been famous
three centuries for its brewing.
Favorite Beverages.
Other favorite drinks of the English at