The brewing of _porter_ began about the year 1722. It is a drink which chiefly differs from beer by being made with higher dried malt. It was then the common practice in taverns to call for a pot of _half-and-half_, meaning half ale and half twopenny, or sometimes an equal portion of ale, beer, and twopenny, which was called _three threads_. To avoid the trouble of drawing these liquors from their respective casks, a person named Harwood formed the plan of brewing a drink that would at once yield the flavour of these combined ingredients. He effected his object, calling the beverage ‘entire,’ or _entire butt_, because it was taken from one butt or vessel. And inasmuch as it was purchased by porters and such like persons, it became ever afterwards distinguished by the name of _porter_. The drink called _saloop_ came into vogue at this time. Reide’s coffee-house, in Fleet Street, was one of the first houses in which it was sold. Called also _salep_, and _salop_; it was a greasy-looking beverage, sold much on stalls in the early morning. It was prepared from a powder made of the root of the _Orchis mascula_, and from the green-winged meadow orchis. Salep was long imported from the Levant, till it was discovered that our native plants could supply it, specially the early purple orchis. It used, like porter, to be a favourite drink of porters, coal-heavers, &c. It is said to contain more nutritious matter in proportion to its bulk than any other known root: an ounce of salep was thought to be support for a man for a day. It is still much used in the East. In Hindoostanee it is called _salab-ee-misree_, in Persian _sahleb_. In the present century it has been superseded by coffee-barrows; but Charles Lamb has left some account of this drinkable, which he says was of all preparations the most grateful to the stomachs of young chimney-sweeps.[207] Ales commonly became known by the name of the _district_ that produced them--e.g. _Dorset_ beer, _Oxford_ ale. Thus, John Byrom writes:-- _May 18, 1725._--I found the effect of last night’s drinking that foolish _Dorset_, which was pleasant enough, but did not at all agree with me, for it made me very stupid all day.[208] _Oxford Ale_ was the subject of a panegyric written by Warton in 1720--and a panegyric from such a man would be, in the opinion of many, a boon of immortality. The drinking at this time has already been spoken of as an epidemic. Wine was necessary on all occasions. The _marriage_ ceremony was incomplete without it, as is abundantly evident from contemporary verse. More than one ridiculed the notion so prevalent, that Wine must seal the marriage-bands. But the Church had long since sanctioned a belief in its spell. The Sarum Missal had taught that the bridal cup must be blessed by the priest:-- Post missam, panis et vinum, vel aliud bonum potabile, in vasculo proferatur. And so the hallowing of wine and sops was usual from the court to the cottage.