Malmsbury, marked with the luxury and vicious manners of the English. Much pains were taken in the preparation of their drinks, which principally consisted of Mead, Ale, Cyder, and similar fermented liquors. The conquest of England by the Normans appears to have been less owing to the prowess of arms than to the effects of intemperance. Previous to the battle of Hastings, the victorious Normans passed the night in fasting and prayer; the Anglo-Saxons devoted the same period to drunkenness and debauch. The Norman soldiers were as inferior to the English in numbers, as the latter sunk in comparison with their invaders in point of temperance. "For," remarks a quaint writer,*"the English, being revelling before, had in the morning their brains arrested for the arrearages of the indigested fumes of the former night, and were no better than drunk when they came to fight."† In succeeding reigns, there is sufficient evidence upon record, that the English did not lose their relish for intoxicating liquors. Wines in particular, became important articles of commerce; and a considerable revenue was derived from their importation. The marriage of Henry II. with a French princess, who possessed extensive vineyards in the south of France, contributed not a little to the increase of this branch of commerce. In the reign of King John, it had become so important, as to cause the appointment of officers in every town, to regulate the prices of wines, and other matters connected with their sale. Hoveden, the historian of those times remarks, that "by this means, the land was filled with drink and drunkards." The Norman conquerors of England were, it appears, of comparatively sober and temperate habits, until vitiated by their intercourse with the less sober English. William of Malmsbury, who may be considered as the most correct historian of that age, writes thus: "The English were much addicted to excessive eating and drinking, in which they sometimes spend both day night, without intermission. The Normans were very unlike them in this respect, being delicate in the choice of their meats and drinks, but seldom exceeding the bounds of temperance. By this means, the Normans lived with greater elegance and at less expense, than the English."§ Fuller's Church History of Britain. B. iii. sect. 1. Manè adhuc ebrii contra hostes incunctanter procedunt.-M. PARIS. Hoveden Annals, § W. Malmsbury, b. iii, ards they met with, and ravage the country near their dwellings."* Similar practices are found among the Araucano Indians in South America. A recent observer says: "On their great feasts they drink large quantities of a very intoxicating liquor called Chicha, made from maize, which they sow for this purpose, although no other signs of agricultural cultivation are to be found among them. The elder females of the tribe prepare this beverage by chewing the maize, which they afterward collect in a trough resembling a canoe, and having added a sufficient quantity of water to the masticated roots, leave it to ferment, covering the trough carefully with mats. Previous to these feasts which end in premeditated intoxication, they voluntarily surrender their spears and knives to the women, who secrete them in the woods, as they are conscious of their propensity to quarrelling and fighting when excited by liquor. A guard is always appointed from among the warriors, who retain their weapons and taste no chicha until the next day. On particular occasions of rejoicing they drink this beverage mingled with horse's blood, which they believe endows them with preternatural strength and agility."+ The Russians are very much addicted to the free use of ardent spirits. Brandy is their favourite liquor. Distillation is encouraged by the Government of that country, and forms a fruitful source of revenue. Morewood‡ calculates its annual consumption at 5,500,000 vedros,§ or 27,500,000 gallons. The same author relates, that in one province and the adjoining districts called Penza, there are no less than 397 stills at work, which are wrought by 982 men. The natives of Kamschatka are exceedingly attached to inebriating liquors, and the traders frequently tempt them to part with valuable sables and other furs for small quantities of brandy. This infamous practice has been successfully adopted by designing and avaricious traders. The Swedes have a strong propensity to intoxicating liquors, and indulge in them freely. This may be in a great measure attributed to the injurious patronage of the Raynal's Hist. of East and West Indies. London, 1788, vol. iv. p. 209. Campaigns and Cruises in Venezuela and New Grenada, p. 391. Morewood's Essay on Intoxicating Liquors, p. 248. Vedro, a measure containing from 15 to 20 quarts. time so many leaped into it, that it sunk, and every one on board perished. The ship soon disappeared under the waves with all its crew, 300 in number, excepting two persons, a young nobleman and a butcher, who held clinging to the top of the mast.' The butcher only, however, escaped to tell the woful disaster to the king, who is said to have been so depressed by the news as to have “never smiled again." During several centuries immediately succeeding this period, it does not appear that the English became more temperate in their habits. The immense quantities of food and drink consumed at feasts, which were frequently held, appear almost incredible, were it not for authentic records, wherein an accurate description of them is given. Henry II., A.D. 1216, issued a proclamation wherein it is stated that "the outrageous and excessive multitude of meats and dishes which the great men of our kingdom have used and still use, in their castles and by persons of inferior rank, imitating their examples beyond what their stations require, and their circumstances can afford, many great evils have come upon our kingdom, the health of our subjects has been injured, their goods have been consumed, and they have been reduced to poverty." This ordinance restricted the number of dishes to be used by the great men of the land, and attached severe penalties to every transgression. In the reign of Edward III., A.D. 1363, sumptuary laws were enacted for arresting the progress of extravagant living among various ranks, but historians remark that they produced little beneficial effect. Immense quantities of wines were consumed at these feasts, and the utmost care was taken to procure them of the richest quality. It appears from Hollinshed, that the strongest wines were in most repute at this period, the weaker sort, such as claret, not being in common demand. At a later period, Sir John Fortescue, while illustrating the diet of the rich, and with the view of exhibiting the comparative comforts and privileges enjoyed by the English people, thus remarks: "They drink no water, except when they abstain from other drinks, by way of penance, and from a principle of devotion." At this period, the clergy in particular indulged in luxurious habits, and converted religious festivals into intemperate carousals. In the Northumberland Family Book, are found the following curious items, for the Earl and Countess, during the Lent fast-days, viz.: a loaf of bread on trenchers, two man แ chetts, (small loaves of white bread) a quart of beer, a quart of wine, half a chyne of mutton, or a chyne of beef boiled." The evening repast of the same lady and lord, was as follows: "Two manchetts, a loaf of household bread, a gallon of beer, and a quart of wine." The feasts which were held at this period, on all particular occasions, displayed great magnificence, and profusion of provisions of various sorts; and were plentifully supplied with intoxicating liquors. It can scarcely be supposed that temperance was a virtue practised on these occasions.* At a magnificent feast given to Queen Elizabeth, by the Earl of Leicester, at Kenilworth Castle, in addition to other stores of intoxicating liquors, 365 hogsheads of beer † alone were drunk. Sumptuary laws were made at this time to restrain excesses; but when the highest authorities in the land set so bad an example, the more humble classes of society might naturally be expected to imitate them. In fact, during a considerable portion of the sixteenth century, intemperance appears to have been the common vice of the country. The citizens of those days were much addicted to drunkenness. Some writers of that period, strongly advert to this fact. The most noted taverns are even named, with their situations and qualifications. ‡ Stubbs, in his "Anatomie of Abuse,"§ asserts that the public-houses in London were crowded from morning to night with inveterate drunkards. A French writer in a similar account, states, that the artizans, such as hatters and joiners, on holidays, were perpetually feasting in taverns, on rabbits, hares, and such sorts of meat. The tippling propensity, with its evil consequences, moral and physical, is well described in a song, published A.D. 1551, and said to have been the first drinking song of merit, written in this country. The two first verses of this song are inserted for the information of the reader : I cannot eat but little meat, My stomach is not good; The following were the items for drink at the installation feast of George Nevill, Archbishop of York. A. D. 1466. for the installation feast," &c. Twenty-three thousand gallons. "Goodly provision, made Vide Contin. to Henry's Hist. of England, vol. ii. p. 269. § Page 73. Henry's Contin. vol. ii. p. 287. Vide Warton's History of English Poetry, vol. iii. 300 100 But sure, I think, that I can drink, I stuff my skin, so full within, CHORUS. Backe and side, go bare go bare, But belly, God send thee, good ale enoughe, In the following verse, the delicate appetite of the drunkard is still further portrayed. The last verse, in reference to those "good soules, that have scoured bowles," concludes thus: 'God save the lives of them and their wives, Whether they be younge or olde." Camden and Baker, both agree that the English indulged more in intemperance after the Dutch war. Baker states, that after this war, the English learned to be drunkards, and so much deluged the kingdom with this vice, that laws were obliged to be enacted for repressing it.* From the following statement of Camden, it may be inferred, that that learned writer looked upon the vices of the English, at a previous period, as not so venial as others have represented. "The English, who hitherto had, of all the northern nations, shown themselves least addicted to immoderate drinking, and been commended for their sobriety, first learned, in these wars in the Netherlands, to swallow large quantities of intoxicating liquors, and to destroy their own health, by drinking that of others.† Similar luxurious habits existed in succeeding reigns. Many and severe complaints were made against the clergy, in particular, some of whom are described as having led dissolute lives. This bad example, may be supposed to have had a corresponding influence on the people, who in general have been found but too willing to imitate vices • Baker's Chronicle, † Camden's Annals, 1581. |