Mr. William Bass, finding that his new undertaking was proving a success, sold his carrying business to the well-known house of Pickford & Co. The brewery did not, however, begin to take any important place in the trade until the beginning of the present century, some few years after Mr. Michael Thomas Bass, grandson of the founder, had been taken into the business, which then soon began to increase with marvellous rapidity, owing, there can be no doubt, to the fact that Mr. Michael Bass’s principal aim was to brew the very best beer that could possibly be brewed. In 1834 Mr. Ratcliff was taken into partnership, and a few years later Mr. Gretton joined the firm. In 1853 was built the middle brewery, between Guild Street and Station Street. In 1864 a third brewhouse was opened in Station Street, only thirty-six weeks after the foundations were commenced. Both the Middle Brewery and the New Brewery have been greatly enlarged within the last few years, and the Old Brewery has been entirely rebuilt. In 1884 Mr. M. T. Bass died, and was probably more deeply lamented than any other inhabitant of Burton since that place became a town. In 1880 the {344} business was turned into a private Limited Company, of which the eldest son of Mr. M. T. Bass is the chairman.[66] [66] Created (1886) Baron Burton of Rangemore and of Burton-on-Trent, in the county of Stafford. Before attempting to give any idea of the enormous business transacted by Messrs. Bass & Co., a few words respecting the man by whose strict integrity, business qualifications, and persistent and successful efforts to produce the best possible article, and none other, the name of Bass has been rendered a familiar word throughout the whole civilised world. He was born in 1799, and entered the business immediately after leaving school. The trade then done was so limited that he had for a time to act as a traveller; but year by year the demand for Bass’s Ale became greater and greater, and for a considerable period before his death Mr. Bass was at the head of the greatest pale ale brewery in the world. He was a genial, kindly man, and had a genuine pride in the success of his great undertaking. Those who had the pleasure of being his guests will no doubt remember his translation of two lines from _Martial_, Book vi. Epigram 69:— Non Miror quod potat aquam tua Bassa, Catulle! Miror quod _Bassi filia_ potat aquam. “I am not the least surprised, O Catullus, that your nymph Bassa drinks water; what I _am_ surprised at is that Bass’s daughter drinks water.” The epigram has also been rendered into English verse:— Not strange, my friend, I’m thinking, Thy Bassa water drinking, Most strange that Bass’s daughter Should think of drinking water.