Chapter 4

[1] It was approved by Clement VII. and Paul III., and permitted as a substitute for the unrevised Breviary, until Pius V. in 1568 excluded it as too short and too modern, and issued a reformed edition (_Breviarium Pianum_, Pian Breviary) of the old Breviary.

[2] The Sarum Rite was much favoured in Scotland as a kind of protest against the jurisdiction claimed by the church of York.

BREVIARY OF ALARIC (_Breviarium Alaricanum_), a collection of Roman law, compiled by order of Alaric II., king of the Visigoths, with the advice of his bishops and nobles, in the twenty-second year of his reign (A.D. 506). It comprises sixteen books of the Theodosian code; the Novels of Theodosius II., Valentinian III., Marcian, Majorianus and Severus; the Institutes of Gaius; five books of the _Sententiae Receptae_ of Julius Paulus; thirteen titles of the Gregorian code; two titles of the Hermogenian code; and a fragment of the first book of the _Responsa Papiniani_. It is termed a code (codex), in the certificate of Anianus, the king's referendary, but unlike the code of Justinian, from which the writings of jurists were excluded, it comprises both imperial constitutions (_leges_) and juridical treatises (_jura_). From the circumstance that the Breviarium has prefixed to it a royal rescript (_commonitorium_) directing that copies of it, certified under the hand of Anianus, should be received exclusively as law throughout the kingdom of the Visigoths, the compilation of the code has been attributed to Anianus by many writers, and it is frequently designated the Breviary of Anianus (Breviarium Aniani). The code, however, appears to have been known amongst the Visigoths by the title of "Lex Romana," or "Lex Theodosii," and it was not until the 16th century that the title of "Breviarium" was introduced to distinguish it from a recast of the code, which was introduced into northern Italy in the 9th century for the use of the Romans in Lombardy. This recast of the Visigothic code has been preserved in a MS. known as the Codex Utinensis, which was formerly kept in the archives of the cathedral of Udine, but is now lost; and it was published in the 18th century for the first time by P. Canciani in his collection of ancient laws entitled _Barbarorum Leges Antiquae_. Another MS. of this Lombard recast of the Visigothic code was discovered by Hänel in the library of St Gall. The chief value of the Visigothic code consists in the fact that it is the only collection of Roman Law in which the five first books of the Theodosian code and five books of the _Sententiae Receptae_ of Julius Paulus have been preserved, and until the discovery of a MS. in the chapter library in Verona, which contained the greater part of the Institutes of Gaius, it was the only work in which any portion of the institutional writings of that great jurist had come down to us.

The most complete edition of the Breviarium will be found in the collection of Roman law published under the title of _Jus Civile Ante-Justinianum_ (Berlin, 1815). See also G. Hänel's _Lex Romana Visigothorum_ (Berlin, 1847-1849).

BREWER, JOHN SHERREN (1810-1879), English historian, was born in Norwich in 1810, the son of a Baptist schoolmaster. He was educated at Queen's College, Oxford, was ordained in the Church of England in 1837, and became chaplain to a central London workhouse. In 1839 he was appointed lecturer in classical literature at King's College, London, and in 1855 he became professor of English language and literature and lecturer in modern history, succeeding F.D. Maurice. Meanwhile from 1854 onwards he was also engaged in journalistic work on the _Morning Herald_, _Morning Post_ and _Standard_. In 1856 he was commissioned by the master of the rolls to prepare a calendar of the state papers of Henry VIII., a work demanding a vast amount of research. He was also made reader at the Rolls, and subsequently preacher. In 1877 Disraeli secured for him the crown living of Toppesfield, Essex. There he had time to continue his task of preparing his _Letters and Papers of the Reign of King Henry VIII_., the Introductions to which (published separately, under the title _The Reign of Henry VIII_., in 1884) form a scholarly and authoritative history of Henry VIII.'s reign. New editions of several standard historical works were also produced under Brewer's direction. He died at Toppesfield in February 1879.

[v.04 p.0506] BREWING, in the modern acceptation of the term, a series of operations the object of which is to prepare an alcoholic beverage of a certain kind--to wit, beer--mainly from cereals (chiefly malted barley), hops and water. Although the art of preparing beer (_q.v._) or ale is a very ancient one, there is very little information in the literature of the subject as to the apparatus and methods employed in early times. It seems fairly certain, however, that up to the 18th century these were of the most primitive kind. With regard to _materials_, we know that prior to the general introduction of the hop (see ALE) as a preservative and astringent, a number of other bitter and aromatic plants had been employed with this end in view. Thus J.L. Baker (_The Brewing Industry_) points out that the Cimbri used the _Tamarix germanica_, the Scandinavians the fruit of the sweet gale (_Myrica gale_), the Cauchi the fruit and the twigs of the chaste tree (_Vitex agrius castus_), and the Icelanders the yarrow (_Achillea millefolium_).

The preparation of beer on anything approaching to a manufacturing scale appears, until about the 12th or 13th century, to have been carried on in England chiefly in the monasteries; but as the brewers of London combined to form an association in the reign of Henry IV., and were granted a charter in 1445, it is evident that brewing as a special trade or industry must have developed with some rapidity. After the Reformation the ranks of the trade brewers were swelled by numbers of monks from the expropriated monasteries. Until the 18th century the professional brewers, or brewers for sale, as they are now called, brewed chiefly for the masses, the wealthier classes preparing their own beer, but it then became gradually apparent to the latter (owing no doubt to improved methods of brewing, and for others reasons) that it was more economical and less troublesome to have their beer brewed for them at a regular brewery. The usual charge was 30s. per barrel for bitter ale, and 8s. or so for small beer. This tendency to centralize brewing operations became more and more marked with each succeeding decade. Thus during 1895-1905 the number of private brewers declined from 17,041 to 9930. Of the private brewers still existing, about four-fifths were in the class exempted from beer duty, _i.e._ farmers occupying houses not exceeding £10 annual value who brew for their labourers, and other persons occupying houses not exceeding £15 annual value. The private houses subject to both beer and licence duty produced less than 20,000 barrels annually. There are no official figures as to the number of "cottage brewers," that is, occupiers of dwellings not exceeding £8 annual value; but taking everything into consideration it is probable that more than 99% of the beer produced in the United Kingdom is brewed by public brewers (brewers for sale). The disappearance of the smaller public brewers or their absorption by the larger concerns has gone hand-in-hand with the gradual extinction of the private brewer. In the year 1894-1895 8863 licences were issued to brewers for sale, and by 1904-1905 this number had been reduced to 5164. There are numerous reasons for these changes in the constitution of the brewing industry, chief among them being (a) the increasing difficulty, owing partly to licensing legislation and its administration, and partly to the competition of the great breweries, of obtaining an adequate outlet for retail sale in the shape of licensed houses; and (b) the fact that brewing has continuously become a more scientific and specialized industry, requiring costly and complicated plant and expert manipulation. It is only by employing the most up-to-date machinery and expert knowledge that the modern brewer can hope to produce good beer in the short time which competition and high taxation, &c., have forced upon him. Under these conditions the small brewer tends to extinction, and the public are ultimately the gainers. The relatively non-alcoholic, lightly hopped and bright modern beers, which the small brewer has not the means of producing, are a great advance on the muddy, highly hopped and alcoholized beverages to which our ancestors were accustomed.

The brewing trade has reached vast proportions in the United Kingdom. The maximum production was 37,090,986 barrels in 1900, and while there has been a steady decline since that year, the figures for 1905-1906--34,109,263 barrels--were in excess of those for any year preceding 1897. It is interesting in this connexion to note that the writer of the article on Brewing in the 9th edition of the _Encyclopaedia Britannica_ was of the opinion that the brewing industry--which was then (1875) producing, roughly, 25,000,000 barrels--had attained its maximum development. In the year ending 30th September 1905 the beer duty received by the exchequer amounted to £13,156,053. The number of brewers for sale was 5180. Of these one firm, namely, Messrs Guinness, owning the largest brewery in the world, brewed upwards of two million barrels, paying a sum of, roughly, one million sterling to the revenue. Three other firms brewed close on a million barrels or upwards. The quantity of malt used was 51,818,697 bushels; of unmalted corn, 125,671 bushels; of rice, flaked maize and similar materials, 1,348,558 cwt.; of sugar, 2,746,615 cwt.; of hops, 62,360,817 lb; and of hop substitutes, 49,202 lb. The average specific gravity of the beer produced in 1905-1906 was 1053.24. The quantity of beer exported was 520,826; of beer imported, 57,194 barrels. It is curious to note that the figures for exports and imports had remained almost stationary for the last thirty years. By far the greater part of the beer brewed is consumed in England. Thus of the total quantity retained for consumption in 1905-1906, 28,590,563 barrels were consumed in England, 1,648,463 in Scotland, and 3,265,084 in Ireland. In 1871 it was calculated by Professor Leone Levi that the capital invested in the liquor trade in the United Kingdom was £117,000,000. In 1908 this figure might be safely doubled. A writer in the _Brewers' Almanack_ for 1906 placed the capital invested in limited liability breweries alone at £185,000,000. If we allow for over-capitalization, it seems fairly safe to say that, prior to the introduction of the Licensing Bill of 1908, the market value of the breweries in the United Kingdom, together with their licensed property, was in the neighbourhood of £120,000,000, to which might be added another £20,000,000 for the value of licences not included in the above calculation; the total capital actually sunk in the whole liquor trade (including the wine and spirit industries and trades) being probably not far short of £250,000,000, and the number of persons directly engaged in or dependent on the liquor trade being under-estimated at 2,000,000. (For comparative production and consumption see BEER.)

_Taxation and Regulations_.--The development of the brewing industry in England is intimately interwoven with the history of its taxation, and the regulations which have from time to time been formed for the safeguarding of the revenue. The first duty on beer in the United Kingdom was imposed in the reign of Charles II. (1660), namely 2s. 6d. per barrel on strong and 6d. per barrel on weak beer. This was gradually increased, amounting to 4s. 9d. on strong and 1s. 3d. on weak beer in the last decade of the 17th century, and to 8s. to 10s. in the year 1800, at which rate it continued until the repeal of the beer duty in 1830. A duty on malt was first imposed in the reign of William III. (1697), and from that date until 1830 both beer duty and malt tax were charged. The rate at first was under 7d. per bushel, but this was increased up to 2s. 7d. prior to the first repeal of the beer duty (1830), and to 4s. 6d. after the repeal. In 1829 the joint beer and malt taxes amounted to no less than 13s. 8d. per barrel, or 4½d. per gallon, as against 2½d. at the present day. From 1856 until the abolition of the malt tax, the latter remained constant at a fraction under 2s. 8½d. A _hop duty_ varying from 1d. to 2½d. per pound was in existence between 1711 and 1862. One of the main reasons for the abolition of the hop duty was the fact that, owing to the uncertainty of the crop, the amount paid to the revenue was subject to wide fluctuations. Thus in 1855 the revenue from this source amounted to £728,183, in 1861 to only £149,700.

It was not until 1847 that the use of sugar in brewing was permitted, and in 1850 the first sugar tax, amounting to 1s. 4d. per cwt., was imposed. It varied from this figure up to 6s. 6d. in 1854, and in 1874, when the general duty on sugar was repealed, it was raised to 11s. 6d., at which rate it remained until 1880, when it was repealed simultaneously with the malt duty. In 1901 a general sugar tax of 4s. 2d. and under (according to the percentage of actual sugar contained) was imposed, but no drawback was allowed to brewers using sugar, and therefore--and this obtains at the present day--sugar used in brewing pays the general tax and also the beer duty.

By the Free Mash-Tun Act of 1880, the duty was taken off the malt and placed on the beer, or, more properly speaking, on the wort; maltsters' and brewers' licences were repealed, and in lieu thereof an annual licence duty of £1 payable by every brewer for sale was [v.04 p.0507] imposed. The chief feature of this act was that, on and after the 1st of October 1880, a beer duty was imposed in lieu of the old malt tax, at the rate of 6s. 3d. per barrel of 36 gallons, at a specific gravity of 1.057, and the regulations for charging the duty were so framed as to leave the brewer practically unrestricted as to the description of malt or corn and sugar, or other description of saccharine substitutes (other than deleterious articles or drugs), which he might use in the manufacture or colouring of beer. This freedom in the choice of materials has continued down to the present time, except that the use of "saccharin" (a product derived from coal-tar) was prohibited in 1888, the reason being that this substance gives an apparent palate-fulness to beer equal to roughly 4° in excess of its real gravity, the revenue suffering thereby. In 1889 the duty on beer was increased by a reduction in the standard of gravity from 1.057 to 1.055, and in 1894 a further 6d. per barrel was added. The duty thus became 6s. 9d. per barrel, at a gravity of 1.055, which was further increased to 7s. 9d. per barrel by the war budget of 1900, at which figure it stood in 1909. (See also LIQUOR LAWS.)

Prior to 1896, rice, flaked maize (see below), and other similar preparations had been classed as malt or corn in reference to their wort-producing powers, but after that date they were deemed sugar[1] in that regard. By the new act (1880) 42 lb weight of corn, or 28 lb weight of sugar, were to be deemed the equivalent of a bushel of malt, and a brewer was expected by one of the modes of charge to have brewed at least a barrel (36 gallons) of worts (less 4% allowed for wastage) at the standard gravity for every two bushels of malt (or its equivalents) used by him in brewing; but where, owing to lack of skill or inferior machinery, a brewer cannot obtain the standard quantity of wort from the standard equivalent of material, the charge is made not on the wort, but directly on the material. By the new act, licences at the annual duty of £1 on brewers for sale, and of 6s. (subsequently modified by 44 Vict. c. 12, and 48 and 49 Vict. c. 5, &c., to 4s.) or 9s., as the case might be, on any other brewers, were required. The regulations dealing with the mashing operations are very stringent. Twenty-four hours at least before mashing the brewer must enter in his brewing book (provided by the Inland Revenue) the day and hour for commencing to mash malt, corn, &c., or to dissolve sugar; and the date of making such entry; and also, two hours at least before the notice hour for mashing, the quantity of malt, corn, &c., and sugar to be used, and the day and hour when all the worts will be drawn off the grains in the mash-tun. The worts of each brewing must be collected within twelve hours of the commencement of the collection, and the brewer must within a given time enter in his book the quantity and gravity of the worts before fermentation, the number and name of the vessel, and the date of the entry. The worts must remain in the same vessel undisturbed for twelve hours after being collected, unless previously taken account of by the officer. There are other regulations, _e.g._ those prohibiting the mixing of worts of different brewings unless account has been taken of each separately, the alteration of the size or shape of any gauged vessel without notice, and so on.

_Taxation of Beer in Foreign Countries_.--The following table shows the nature of the tax and the amount of the same calculated to English barrels.

Country. Nature of Tax. Amount per English Barrel (round numbers) United States Beer tax 5s. 9d. Germany -- ---- N. German Customs Malt tax 1s. 6d Union ---- Bavaria Malt tax 3s. 5d. to 4s. 8d., according to quantity produced Belgium Malt tax 2s. 9d. France On Wort 4s. 1d. Holland On cubic About 1s. 9d. to 3s. contents of 3d., according to Mash-Tun or on quality Malt Austro-Hungarian Empire On Wort 6s. 8d. Russia Malt tax 5s. to 6s. 8d.

MATERIALS USED IN BREWING.--These are water, malt (_q.v._), hops (_q.v._), various substitutes for the two latter, and preservatives.

_Water_.--A satisfactory supply of water--which, it may here be mentioned, is always called _liquor_ in the brewery--is a matter of great importance to the brewer. Certain waters, for instance, those contaminated to any extent with organic matter, cannot be used at all in brewing, as they give rise to unsatisfactory fermentation, cloudiness and abnormal flavour. Others again, although suited to the production of one type of beer, are quite unfit for the brewing of another. For black beers a soft water is a desideratum, for ales of the Burton type a hard water is a necessity. For the brewing of mild ales, again, a water containing a certain proportion of chlorides is required. The presence or absence of certain mineral substances as such in the finished beer is not, apparently, a matter of any moment as regards flavour or appearance, but the importance of the rôle played by these substances in the brewing process is due to the influence which they exert on the solvent action of the water on the various constituents of the malt, and possibly of the hops. The excellent quality of the Burton ales was long ago surmised to be due mainly to the well water obtainable in that town. On analysing Burton water it was found to contain a considerable quantity of calcium sulphate--gypsum--and of other calcium and magnesium salts, and it is now a well-known fact that good bitter ales cannot be brewed except with waters containing these substances in sufficient quantities. Similarly, good mild ale waters should contain a certain quantity of sodium chloride, and waters for stout very little mineral matter, excepting perhaps the carbonates of the alkaline earths, which are precipitated on boiling.

The following analyses (from W.J. Sykes, _The Principles and Practice of Brewing_) are fairly illustrative of typical brewing waters.

_Burton Water_ (Pale Ale) Grains per Gallon Sodium Chloride 3.90 Potassium Sulphate 1.59 Sodium Nitrate 1.97 Calcium Sulphate 77.87 Calcium Carbonate 7.62 Magnesium Carbonate 21.31 Silica and Alumina 0.98 _Dublin Water_ (Stout). Sodium Chloride 1.83 Calcium Sulphate 4.45 Calcium Carbonate 14.21 Magnesium Carbonate 0.90 Iron Oxide and 0.24 Alumina Silica 0.26 _Mild Ale Water_. Sodium Chloride 35.14 Calcium Chloride 3.88 Calcium Sulphate 6.23 Calcium Carbonate 4.01 Iron Oxide and 0.24 Alumina Silica 0.22

Our knowledge of the essential chemical constituents of brewing waters enables brewers in many cases to treat an unsatisfactory supply artificially in such a manner as to modify its character in a favourable sense. Thus, if a soft water only is to hand, and it is desired to brew a bitter ale, all that is necessary is to add a sufficiency of gypsum, magnesium sulphate and calcium chloride. If it is desired to convert a soft water lacking in chlorides into a satisfactory mild ale liquor, the addition of 30-40 grains of sodium chloride will be necessary. On the other hand, to convert a hard water into a soft supply is scarcely feasible for brewing purposes. To the substances used for treating brewing liquors already mentioned we may add kainite, a naturally deposited composite salt containing potassium and magnesium sulphates and magnesium chloride.

_Malt Substitutes._--Prior to the repeal of the Malt Acts, the only substitute for malt allowed in the United Kingdom was sugar. The quantity of the latter employed was 295,865 cwt. in 1870, 1,136,434 cwt. in 1880, and 2,746,615 cwt. in 1905; that is to say, that the quantity used had been practically trebled during the last twenty-five years, although the quantity of malt employed had not materially increased. At the same time other substitutes, such as unmalted corn and preparations of rice and maize, had come into favour, the quantity of these substances used being in 1905 125,671 bushels of unmalted corn and 1,348,558 cwt. of rice, maize, &c.

The following statistics with regard to the use of malt substitutes in the United Kingdom are not without interest.

[v.04 p.0508]

Year. Quantities of Quantities of Percentage Malt and Corn Sugar, Rice, of used in Maize, &c. used Substitutes Brewing. in Brewing. to Total Material. Bushels. Bushels. 1878 59,388,905 3,825,148 6.05 1883 [2]51,331,451 [3]4,503,680 8.06 1890 [2]55,359,964 [3]7,904,708 12.48 1895 53,731,177 10,754,510 16.66 1905 51,942,368 15,706,413 23.22