69. In Paragraph 76, in Paragraph 108, and perhaps in another place or two (of the last edition,) I spoke of the _machine_ for brewing. The work being _stereotyped_, it would have been troublesome to alter those paragraphs; but, of course, the public, in reading them, will bear in mind what has been _now_ said relative to the _machine_. The inventor of that machine deserves great praise for his efforts to promote private brewing; and, as I said before, in certain confined situations, and where the beer is to be merely _small beer_, and for _immediate use_, and where _time_ and _room_ are of such importance as to make the _cost_ of the machine comparatively of trifling consideration, the machine may possibly be found to be an useful utensil.
70. Having stated the inducements to the brewing of beer, and given the plainest directions that I was able to give for the doing of the thing, I shall, next, proceed to the subject of _bread_. But this subject is too large and of too much moment to be treated with brevity, and must, therefore, be put off till my next Number. I cannot, in the mean while, dismiss the subject of _brewing beer_ without once more adverting to its many advantages, as set forth in the foregoing Number of this work.
71. The following instructions for the making of _porter_, will clearly show what sort of stuff is sold at _public-houses_ in London; and we may pretty fairly suppose that the public-house beer in the country is not superior to it in quality, "A quarter of malt, with these ingredients, will make _five barrels of good porter_. Take one quarter of high-coloured malt, eight pounds of hops, nine pounds of _treacle_, eight pounds of _colour_, eight pounds of sliced _liquorice-root_, two drams of _salt of tartar_, two ounces of _Spanish-liquorice_, and half an ounce of _capsicum_." The author says, that he merely gives the ingredients, as _used by many persons_.
72. This extract is taken from a _book on brewing_, recently published in London. What a curious composition! What a mess of drugs! But, if the brewers _openly avow_ this, what have we to expect from the _secret practices_ of them, and the _retailers_ of the article! When we know, that _beer-doctor_ and _brewers'-druggist_ are professions, practised as openly as those of _bug-man_ and _rat-killer_, are we simple enough to suppose that the above-named are the _only_ drugs that people swallow in those potions, which they call _pots of beer_? Indeed, we know the contrary; for scarcely a week passes without witnessing the detection of some greedy wretch, who has used, in making or in _doctoring_ his beer, drugs, forbidden by the law. And, it is not many weeks since one of these was convicted, in the Court of Excise, for using potent and dangerous drugs, by the means of which, and a suitable quantity of water, he made _two buts of beer into three_. Upon this occasion, it appeared that no less than _ninety_ of these worthies were in the habit of pursuing the same practices. The drugs are not unpleasant to the taste; they sting the palate: they give a present relish: they communicate a momentary exhilaration: but, they give no force to the body, which, on the contrary, they enfeeble, and, in many instances, with time, destroy; producing diseases from which the drinker would otherwise have been free to the end of his days.