and copperas for the salt of steel, but these ingredients being noxious and unwholesome, have been discontinued.

As the colour of porter is chiefly to be attributed to the quantity of brown or roasted malt used, care is taken to infuse such a quantity of that material as will produce the degree of colour required, and fining is effected by isinglass dissolved in stale beer, till it becomes of a glutinous consistence, a pint of which is the usual allowance for a barrel, but sometimes more is necessary.

A good colouring article is procured by moistening a quantity of brown sugar with water, spreading it in a frying-pan to about an inch deep, placed on a fire, and stirred until it is ignited; when it is burned sufficiently, the flame is extinguished, and water is added to the residuum till it has the consistency of molasses, and it is then mixed with the worts in the copper in such quantity as the depth of colour requires.

In Ireland, the brewing trade, though not so extensive as in England, is, notwithstanding, conducted on a respectable scale. In Cork, Bandon, Limerick, Fermoy, Waterford, Clogheen, Clonmel, Kilkenny, and Carlow, are the principal establishments of the south. That of Beamish and Crawford, situated in the South Main-street, Cork, is the most considerable; it is elegantly fitted up, having appropriate machinery, with vessels on an extensive scale, and is capable of brewing upwards of 150,000 barrels of porter annually. The concerns of Messrs. Lane and Co., W. Cashman and Sons, W. Condon and Co., in that city, are respectably conducted, and the liquor produced is of superior quality. In the north, there are many highly respectable breweries, viz. Drogheda, Castlebellingham, Dundalk, Newry, Armagh, Monaghan, Dungannon, Donoughmore, Lurgan, Belfast, and Derry, where malt drink is manufactured to great perfection. The ales of Drogheda, Castlebellingham, Lurgan and Belfast, have obtained a high character, while the porter and ales of Dublin are accounted equal to any brewed in the empire: the extensive exportation of these articles is a proof of this assertion, for, until within these few years, there was not any export of porter to England, the British manufacturers supplying that commodity; and such was the force of prejudice, that nothing but an English beverage could satisfy an Irish palate. The house of Messrs. Arthur Guinness, Sons, & Co., was the first to open the trade of exportation, and they have been successfully followed by several other respectable houses in Dublin. The premises of this most enterprising firm are situated at James's Gate, in the west of the city. The range of buildings covers nearly four acres; the arrangement and machinery are upon the most complete and efficient plan, and every department is so systematic and well

managed, that the work proceeds with the utmost precision and regularity; no confusion, bustle, nor disorder ensues; the grain is taken up, and weighed in its passage to the lofts, by ingenious mechanical contrivances. There are three mash-tuns capable of mashing 600 barrels at a brewing, with three coppers containing 2,040 barrels. The mashing is performed by rakes worked by steam-engines, of which there are two of fifteen horse-power that work all the machinery on the premises.

Under the bottom of the mash-keives there is a screw fixed in a trough, so contrived as to draw off all the grains into an adjoining yard, where they are disposed of to the public. The labour of one man is sufficient for a keive, through a hole between the real and artificial bottom of which he is employed to discharge the grains, to be carried off by the screw. This aperture is secured and rendered water-tight by means of a cover fastened down to prevent the egress of the liquid. There are three immense fermenting tuns, and fortyfour vats calculated to hold from 350 to nearly 3,000 barrels; three of which contain the latter quantity.

In one apartment are an immense number of fixed casks in which the liquor undergoes the process of cleansing, and in another a number of cylindrical vessels, termed rounds; there are 100 of these, holding six barrels each, so arranged in rows as to admit between them large and deep troughs to hold the discharge of the barm, as it works off from each vessel.

The number of persons employed is very great, among which are no less than eighty coopers. The concern is lighted with gas, and to secure it from fire, there are pipes so contrived that any quantity of water can be instantaneously conveyed to every part of the premises; these pipes are supplied from a cistern holding 1,100 barrels, and so elevated as to command the entire establishment. The quantity of porter capable of being sent out annually, is, at an average, upwards of 100,000 barrels, that of the other brewers of the city is equally respectable in proportion to the magnitude of their concerns. reputation of the Dublin double X porter being so high, the demand for it in England is almost incredible; and it is said to be improved by the voyage, the motion of which is thought to operate upon it, in the same manner, as Madeira-wine is acted on by the agitation of the ship. The export houses are Messrs. Arthur Guinness, Sons, and Co., Manders and Powell, Watkins, D'Arcy and Co., O'Connell and Co., L. Finn, Messrs. Sweetman, and the Messrs. Conlan, &c. &c. Besides the places already mentioned, there are several breweries in Ireland which manufacture excellent malt-drink; of these, the esta

blishment of Mr. Cassidy at Monasterevan, and that of Darley & Co. at Stillorgan, are eminent, while the neat concern worked by Mr. Colgan at Kilcock, endeavours to rival more extensive houses in the quality of its liquors.

The practice of domestic brewing is not carried on to any extent in Ireland, the making of malt-drink being almost exclusively confined to the public establishments. The art of extracting a good ale, or beer, from malt is very simple, and it is surprising this has been so long overlooked when the means are sufficiently ample for the purpose. Many have neglected it on account of their ignorance of the process, others from a fear of the revenue laws, and some from not having proper apparatus, and the public drink being so easily procured. From a careful perusal, however, of what has been just written as well as the account given of domestic brewing in England, it will be seen that it might be to the advantage of the landlords and farmers to brew for themselves. This practice could not fail at all times to produce a pleasing, wholesome beverage, alike acceptable to the poor and to the rich.

To persons desirous of more minute and extensive knowledge on this subject, the following works may be consulted to advantage, viz: Shannon's Treatise on Practical Brewing, Richardson's Philosophical Principles of the Science of Brewing, Combrune's Theory and Practice of Brewing, Baverstock on Brewing, the Art of Brewing in the Library of Useful Knowledge, and the several articles on the subject. in the different Encyclopædias, &c.

From the first period of the introduction of aqua vitæ, the distillation of ardent spirits, with the exceptions noticed, remained uncontroled by duty till the Restoration, at which time it had acquired sufficient magnitude to be deemed a productive article of revenue. On the 25th December, 1661, a duty of four-pence was established on every gallon of aqua vita distilled in the kingdom.

This duty was collected by means of a system of survey calculated to ascertain the quantities of wash, low-wines, and spirits produced in a given period, and as the distiller was not obliged to shew any stated quantity of work in the month, (that being the period for making up the accounts,) the increase or decrease depended, in a great measure, on the vigilance and integrity of the officer, whose business it was to attend the distillery.

Shortly after the accession of George III. a specific quantum of work in the way of charges or doublings was laid on the stills of this kingdom, which, in 1779, the time at which the principal change took place,* numbered 1,152, producing a revenue of £63,818. In 1782,

* 19 Geo. 3.

on a five hundred gallón still there were four doublings, and the following year eight, the duty being fourteen-pence per gallon; while in 1792, there were sixteen charges on two hundred gallon stills, the general size wrought at that time. The charges gradually increased until 1806, when the trade assumed a degree of importance that it had not previously possessed, being then principally confined to a few individuals of weighty capital.*

At this period, the government refused to license stills under five hundred gallons, and, in the same year, all the laws relating to the distillery trade in the kingdom were compressed into one act,† in which every thing relating to the business was fully defined. Among other matters, it was found to be necessary to fix the dimensions of stills, to place the process on an equitable footing, as it was obvious that if these dimensions were not determined, the distillers could produce a much greater quantity than the law required, by making the bottoms of their stills as large as possible, so as to have the advantage of exposing more surface to the heat of the furnace.

It was ordained, that the diameter of every still, taken in the middle part, most remote from the bottom, should be to the altitude of each still, taken in a perpendicular line from the centre of the diameter to the bottom, in the proportion of not more than three to one-i. e., for every inch of altitude, the diameter should not exceed three inches, and so on in proportion.

This law ceased to operate on the 10th of October, 1823. It was soon discovered that the ingenuity of the Irish distillers, like that of their Scotch neighbours, when the license system prevailed, far outstript the enactments of the legislature in the extent of work. In 1807, it was considered prudent to license stills of two hundred gallons and upwards; the work was then considerably increased on all stills from 200 to 1250 gallons' capacity, but no addition was made at that time to the work of larger stills. In 1815, there were 5,675 per cent. added, on an average to the proportions of work previously required; and, in the same year, an act was passed allowing stills of from fortyfour to one hundred gallons to be licensed. Considerable advantages were granted to these, in expectation that they might tend to the suppression of illicit distillation, it being intended that they should be confined to those districts of country in which that baneful practice prevailed.

The charges on those small stills were far short of the proportion allotted to the larger ones. A still of one hundred gallons' contents

* Vide Addenda for the number of stills and their contents for some years prior to 1806, with a scale of work required by stills in that year.

† 46 Geo. 3. c. 88.

was also obliged to perform ninety charges monthly. Under this regulation also, it was soon discovered that the distillers turned the advantages thus granted them to their own private emoluments, instead of preparing whiskey similar to the illicit spirit commonly called Innishowen, or Potheen, which was the intention and expectation of government. In consequence of this, their work was increased in 1817, to two hundred doublings monthly; notwithstanding this great addition, the proprietors of large distilleries were jealous of the superior advantages which they imputed to the smaller stills. In 1816, twenty per cent, was again added to the work of stills exceeding one hundred gallons, and in 1817, ten per cent. more.

To gratify the curious, there is given in a table of the Addenda, a correct list of all the stills that were at work in Ireland in the month of February 1818, with the quantity of spirits produced by them weekly, in proportion to their doublings or charges :--also the average consumption of grain and coals in each, specifying such as were obliged, from their local situation, to use turf. On comparing that table with the scale of work for 1806, as exhibited in the table of the Addenda, the increase appears prodigious, and indeed almost incredible It is a striking instance of the results produced by the ingenuity and activity of man when powerfully excited; for it is a well-known fact, that when work in distilleries was not half so great as it then was, much more difficulty was experienced in its performance. Such was the skill acquired by practice, that four doublings could be worked off in less than an hour, which at one time was the lengthened labour of twenty-eight days.

To the Scotch distillers who had established themselves in the country, and whose experience enabled them to introduce improvements, previously unknown, this increase, in a great measure, may be attributed. But great as the quantity unquestionably was, the market was clandestinely supplied with a very considerable surplus, which by some has been stated as a fifth, but by others, to approach nearly to a half of the whole consumption.

At various times, plans have been suggested for the improvement of distilleries. Among the many, one of a curious nature was proposed by Mr. Birch, of Roscrea, calculated to obviate the difficulty of procuring fuel in the interior of the country. That gentleman shewed that it was practicable to work a still by the application of steam much more advantageously than by the use of either turf or

Innishowen is a barony in the county of Donegal, pre-eminent for illicit dis tillation, and the superior quality of its spirits, and Potheen was a name given to this drink on account of its being distilled in a small pot.