Be mine each morn with eager appetite And hunger undissembled to repair To friendly buttery; there on smoking crust And foaming Ale to banquet unrestrained; Material breakfast! Thus in ancient days Our ancestors robust with liberal cups Usher’d the morn, unlike the squeamish sons Of modern times. _Panegyric on Oxford Ale._ _THE ALES. — ALE AT BREAKFAST. — BEQUESTS OF ALE. — DRINKING CUSTOMS. — A SERMON ON MALT. — EXCESSES OF THE CLERGY. — ANECDOTES._ So far we have only considered those merry-makings which were peculiar to certain seasons of the year. It need hardly be said that there were also a number of festivals in which ale figured as the chief beverage, in no way related to any particular day, and these, together with a variety of curious customs connected with ale and beer, will be now treated of. Prominent among the many convivial meetings indulged in by our ancestors were the _Ales_, at which, as their name indicates, malt liquor was largely consumed. Such a feast is referred to in Chaucer: “And make him grete feestes atte _nale_.” And in _Two Gentlemen of Verona_, Launce says to Speed, “Thou hast not so much charity in thee as to go to the _Ale_ with a Christian.” Ben Jonson also mentions Wakes and Ales in his _Tale of a Tub_:— {267} And all the neighbourhood from old records Of antique proverbs, drawn from Whitson-lords, And their authorities at Wakes and Ales, With country precedents and old wives’ tales, We bring you now to show what different things The cotes of clowns are from the courts of kings.