Of the manufacture of Ale and Beer we have a record of the fifth century, directing it to be made without hops, instead of which various bitters were used. Ale is next mentioned in the laws of Ina, King of Wessex, who ascended, the throne about the year 680. It was the favourite drink of the Saxons and Danes; and so attentive were the Saxons to its quality, that in their time it was a custom in the city of Chester to place any person who brewed bad ale in a ducking-chair, to be plunged into a pool of muddy water, or be fined 4_s_. In the Saxon Dialogues, in the Cotton Library, a boy, in answer to the question, what he drank, replies, "Ale, if I have it; or water, if I have it not." He adds, that wine is the drink of the elders and the wise. Ale was sold to the people at this time, in houses of entertainment; but a priest was forbidden by law to eat or drink at places where ale was sold. About the middle of the eleventh century, ale was one of the articles of a royal banquet provided for Edward the Confessor. At this time the best ale could be bought for 8_d_. the gallon. This was spiced, and double the price of common ale, and mead was double the price of spiced ale. One of the vessels out of which ale was drunk was the Saxon _nap_, now the _neap_, or _nip_, out of which we drink Burton ale. The Saxons had also cups of wood, ornamented with gold, besides the peg tankards introduced by King Edgar, to check excessive drinking. In Northamptonshire--a famous ale county--a small public-house is to this day called an _ale-hus_, the original Saxon _hus_ being retained.[20] As the monasteries were in ancient times reputed for ale, which the monks brewed for themselves with such remarkable care, so colleges, which rose upon the Dissolution, became famous for ale, and their celebrity continues to this day. Warton, poet-laureate in 1748, has left a panegyric on Oxford ale (which he dearly loved), and thus apostrophises:-- "Balm of my cares, sweet solace of my toils, Hail, juice benignant! "My sober evening let the tankard bless, With toast embrown'd, and fragrant nutmeg fraught. What though me sore ills Oppress, dire want of chill-dispelling coals Or cheerful candle, save the make-weight's gleam Haply remaining, heart-rejoicing ale Cheers the sad scene, and every want supplies. "Be mine each morn, with eager appetite And hunger undissembled, to repair To friendly buttery; there on smoking crust And foaming ale to banquet unrestrain'd, Material breakfast. Thus, in ancient days Our ancestors, robust with liberal cups Usher'd the morn, unlike the squeamish sons Of modern times; nor ever had the might Of Britons brave decay'd, had thus they fed, With British ale improving British worth." They who recollect the ale of Magdalen and Queen's will acknowledge that Oxford well maintains its character for our national drink.