A HISTORY BY RICHARD VALPY FRENCH D.C.L., LL.D., F.S.A. RECTOR OF LLANMARTIN AND RURAL DEAN AUTHOR OF ‘THE HISTORY OF TOASTING’ ETC. SECOND EDITION—ENLARGED AND REVISED LONDON NATIONAL TEMPERANCE PUBLICATION DEPOT 33 PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C. All rights reserved EDINBURGH: PRINTED BY LORIMER AND GILLIES, 31 ST. ANDREW SQUARE....

The earlier part of this slight contribution to the literature of an inexhaustible subject has already appeared in a series of numbers in a London weekly journal. The best acknowledgment of the writer is due to the Rev. Arthur Richard Shillito , M.A. (late Scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge), who has from time to time during the progress of this work most kindly furnished him with valuable notes....

The object of this work is to ascertain the part which Drink has played in the individual and national life of the English people. To this end, an inquiry is instituted into the beverages which have been in use, the customs in connection with their use, the drinking vessels in vogue, the various efforts made to control or prohibit the use, sale, manufacture, or importation of strong drink, whether proceeding from Church, or State, or both: the connection of the drink traffic with the revenue, to

NINETEEN CENTURIES OF DRINK IN ENGLAND. ROMAN PERIOD. Little is known of the manners and customs of our island inhabitants before the Saxon period; hence, there can be no wonder that all is obscure before the Roman invasion. For the hints that have come to light we are indebted to such foreign historians as wrote in the century before the Christian era, the century of the invasion, and the age immediately subsequent. These hints, utterly meagre, but generally consistent, are supplied by such wri