_Improver Improved_, published in 1649, (3rd edit. 1653) has a chapter
upon improvements by plantations of hops, which has this striking
passage. He observes that "hops were then grown to be a national
commodity; but that it was not many years since the famous city of
London petitioned the Parliament of England against two nuisances; and
these were, Newcastle coals, in regard to their stench, &c., and hops,
in regard they would _spoyl the taste of drink_, and endanger the
people: and, had the Parliament been no wiser than they, we had in a
measure pined, and in a great measure starved; which is just
answerable to the principles of those men who cry down all devices, or
ingenious discoveries, as projects, and therefore stifle and choak
improvements." According to a late writer, in the year 1830, there
were 46,727 acres occupied in the cultivation of hops in Great Britain
alone.

Thirty millions of bushels of barley are annually converted into malt
by the breweries of Great Britain; and upwards of eight millions of
barrels of beer (of which more than four-fifths are strong) are brewed
annually. This enormous consumption attests the fondness of the people
for the beverage of their forefathers.

E.J.H.

* * * * *


A PERSIAN FABLE.

_Imitated from the Latin of Sir W. Jones._