1903 The Flowing Bowl by Edward Spencer

CHAPTER VI

ALL ALE

Waste not, want not—The right hand for the froth—Arthur Roberts and Phyllis Broughton—A landlord's perquisites— Marc Antony and hot coppers—Introduction of ale into Britain — Burton-on-Trent—Formerly a cotton-spinning centre—^A few statistics—Michael Thomas Bass—A grand old man—Malting barleys—Porter and stout—Lager beer— Origin of bottled ale—An ancient recipe—Lead-poisoning— The poor man's beer. In a speech made some years ago Sir Michael Hicks-Beach observed that nearly one million sterling's worth of tobacco was wasted annually by throwing away cigarette-ends and the stumps of cigars. But what would you, Sir Michael ? Are the lieges to cremate their lips and singe their moustaches by smoking on to the (literally) bitter end ? Whether or no, it is tolerably cer tain that there is an enormous daily waste in the matter of intoxicating drinks — without counting the wanton, although conscientious, destruction made by teetotal magnates. Accord ing to statistics—I shall not madden my readers with many of these—more than ,^138,000,000