the beer, and spirits, which are consumed in these only. is little short of three millions sterling a year. It has been lately discovered that clubs of apprentice boys are harboured in public houses, for the purpose of supporting their brethren who have run away from their masters, and of indulging themselves early in scenes of lewdness, and drunkenness, which they generally do, by pilfering their masters property, and disposing of it at the old iron shops. In a recent publication, the consumption of ale and porter, annually, in the Metropolis and its environs, is stated to be 1,132,147 barrels, equal to 36,625,145 gallons, making 158,400,580 pots at 31d.-£2,311,466, 15s. 10d. And by another calculation, the average consumption of gin and compounds, in public houses, previous to the stoppage of the distillery, about 3,000,000 gallons, £975,000. Total, £3,286,496, 15s. 10d.

During the dark days just preceding the passing of the century, when there was revolution at home and rebellion abroad, when the richest colonies the world has ever known went apart by themselves, and when, like the coils about Laocoon and his sons, the alehouse and tavern had Britain helpless in the gutter, attempts at better things practically ceased. What little restrictive legislation there was on the statute books was in the main ignored.

*See Appendix I, Chap. II.

CHAPTER III.

DRINK IN THE NORTH AMERICAN COLONIES.

IN the beginning of the colonisation of America. the vines of European debauchery were transplanted into American soil and diligently cultivated by the fathers, to set the children's teeth on edge in future years.

Every ship that sailed for the new world brought an abundance of liquors, in many cases drink being the chief feature of the cargo. The ship "Arabella," which brought Governor Winthrop to Massachusetts Bay in the year 1629, had among its supplies:

"42 tuns of beer,

14 tuns of water,

1 hogshead of vinegar,
2 hogsheads of cider and

4 pumps for water and beer.”

The result of having three times as much beer as water aboard for drinking purposes had a natural result. Even this quantity of malt liquors did not prevent repeated and prolonged attacks upon the ship's supply of "hot waters," for on March 3, 1630, Governor Winthrop wrote in his famous diary regarding the trip: "We observed as a common fault with our own grown people that they gave themselves to drink hot waters very immoderately." Notwith

standing the influence of Governor Winthrop * the evil flourished, almost from the start, and the first crop had scarce been harvested when it became necessary to inflict strange punishments upon those found guilty of becoming drunk. Fines were inflicted, the stocks set up and the scarlet letter introduced. As early as the year 1633, Governor Winthrop found occasion to record: "Robert Cole, having been oft punished for drunkenness, was now ordered to wear a red D about his neck for a year."

But from the first beer was encouraged, partly as an antidote for "hot waters," partly on account of the expense of wine and partly because the people liked it. In 1637, the first brewery in the colony, and probably the first on American soil, was set up. Captain Sedgwick was the first brewer, and, four years later, John Appleton became the first maltster. This encouragement of the consumption of beer even took the form of legislation. In 1649, the colonial authorities decreed that: "Every victualler, ordinary keeper, or taverner shall always keep provided with good and wholesome beer for the entertainment of strangers, who, for want thereof, are necessitated to much needless expense in wine."

Extortion in the matter of drink prices invariably excited the ire of the pilgrim fathers as well as the pioneers of Massachusetts. We read among the court orders of Plymouth Colony under date of June 5, 1638:

"Mr. Stephen Hopkins is presented for selling beere for 2d. a quart, not worth 1d. a quart.

"Witnesse, KENELME WINSLOW. "Item, for selling wine at such excessive rates, to * See Apper.dix A, Chap. III.

the oppressing and impoverishing of the colony. Kenelme Winslow and John Winslow, witnesse.*

The growth of beer drinking almost supplanted the beverage use of water in the early days. Wood, in his New England Prospects, written in those times, says of the New England water:

"I dare not prefer it before good Beere as some have done, but any man could choose it before Bad Beere, Wheay or Buttermilk."

In 1629, Higginson, the famous Salem preacher, boasted:

"Whereas, my stomach could only digest and did require such drink as was both strong and stale, I can and ofttimes do drink New England water very well."

In the seventeenth century, Boston's trade with Spain and the Canary Islands did much toward stimulating the consumption of wine in the colony. Spain wanted fish, which New England had in abundance. So Boston sent ships laden with casks and fish. Spain returned the casks filled with wines. The trade was fostered by the authorities. In 1642, the office of" gauger of casks" was created to insure the proper size. Four years later, inspectors began to be appointed to search these same casks for worm holes, for the reason that the coopers were becoming dishonest, and it was desired to avoid offending the Spanish wine growers and so injuring trade. Wine became the drink of the more polite classes. In 1647, when the ministers and elders met at Cambridge, the General Court passed this vote:

* Plymouth Colonial Records, Vol. I., p. 87.