It used to be a popular fallacy that the beer made at Burton-on-Trent was brewed from Trent water, instead of, as was and is the case, from spring-water, which is eminently suited to the purpose. The chief industry at Burton was, originally, cotton-spinning, but fifty years ago this industry was discontinued owing to the triumphal march of John Barleycorn. Why spin cotton when the manufacture of beer is not only a much healthier occupation but is far more lucrative? So Burton stuck to its beer-making, a trade which was originally established {65} there—in a very small way—in the sixteenth century. There appears to have been a demand for Burton ale in London, during the reign of Charles I.; although details are missing as to whether the demand extended to the royal palaces. It is certain, however, that more than one hundred years ago Burton-on-Trent did a considerable export trade with the Baltic. In 1791 there were nine breweries here, and in 1851 sixteen. But at the beginning of the present century, until the last-named year, when the great Exhibition attracted all the world and his wife to England, the breweries at Burton were not all in a flourishing condition; and I have more than once heard my grandfather—who spoke from personal knowledge—tell the story of how the late Mr. Michael Thomas Bass most magnanimously offered to “prop up” another large firm, with the remark, “There’s room enough for us both here!” At present there are thirty breweries in Burton-on-Trent, and employed in these are some 8000 men and boys. After the opening of the Midland Railway in 1839 the brewing trade here began to improve, but it was mainly due to the energy and practical knowledge of Mr. _Bass_