Even the history of brewing in New England is not entirely free from this legendary element, although there is, indeed, no dearth of well-authenticated historical facts from the very moment when the new communities emerged from the primitive conditions of the earliest camp-life. There can be no doubt that on the soil of New England beer was consumed by people of European origin long before the landing of the Pilgrims. On their adventurous voyage of exploration, which resulted in the discovery of Vineland, the Vikings, it may safely be assumed, carried with them a supply of their favorite beverage; and there is more than an ordinary degree of internal probability in the assumption that Bartholomew Gosnold, who in 1602 landed at the point which he named Cape Cod, brought with him from Falmouth an ample supply of ale, which in those days was deemed an indispensable commissary article of every ship destined for the New World. The fact that Gosnold’s party—the first Englishmen who trod upon Massachusetts soil—looked forward to a permanent settlement, lends additional force to our view. It may also be safely assumed that malt liquor was brought by all the exploring expeditions that touched the coast, or attempted settlements thereon; and this certainly applies to the party of John Smith, to whom we owe both the name and a printed description of New England. [Sidenote: THE MAYFLOWER’S ALE] Concerning the Pilgrims of the “Mayflower,” history affords ample evidence that they carried with them a supply of good old English ale, the brewing of which they had continued in Holland, according to their own method and formula. At this point, however, legendary fiction appears to have invaded the sacred domain of Clio. It is said that this supply of beer was exhausted somewhat earlier than the organizers of the migration scheme had anticipated, and that, therefore, a landing was effected at the rather uninviting spot since then immortalized in song and story as Plymouth Rock. Whether conceived in a facetious spirit, prompted by a knowledge of the Puritans’ well-known appreciation of liquid cheer, or based, as it is claimed, upon the semi-historical authority of a private diary, the story is characteristic enough in all its bearings to be true; and, if it were so, what a splendid illustration it would be of the old axiom, that in history very insignificant causes sometimes produce most marvelous effects!