First the brewer produces therefrom those excellent beverages called beer and porter, and so contributes to our refreshment, enjoyment, and strength.  These beverages are, in one shape or other, nearly in universal demand, and the money spent upon the consumption of Bass and XX almost passes belief.  They are exported into every zone of the world, and consumed by every class.  And then the distiller takes the grain in the same form, and, by slow evaporation and subsequent condensation, extracts the pure, subtle, and potent spirit we have referred to, and which, in more or less diluted form, we call whisky, or Scotch drink.  And this article also, in spite of cautions, is in large demand and extensively exported, though perhaps not so much is consumed among us as was fifty years ago.  It is not by any means so bad an article as it has a bad name; for when of good quality, and moderately indulged in, it is perfectly wholesome; only when the quality is bad, or the indulgence excessive, do evil results follow.  And indeed such are its merits when good, that it is said dealers sometimes export it to France and other parts, from which it is imported again to this country, transfused into splendidly labelled brandy bottles, and sold untransformed as best brandy!

Little do we think, when eating our quiet dinner at a Scottish country inn, what power and wealth are represented in the hodge-podge which belike forms one of the dishes, and which, by suggestion and in the style of the housewife, we are now analysing.  As we disintegrate the mess, and resolve it into its elements, we may well bethink ourselves of the cost of our board on the planet, and of the value of the articles we are daily consuming.  To help you to a clearer idea of this, in regard to the article barley alone in the form of malt, let me commend to your attention the following statistical statement:—­

A Parliamentary return of 1876 shows that the quantity of malt charged with duty during the year was—­

BUSHELS.             DUTY. 
England,                       54,655,274        L7,412,621
Scotland,                       2,927,763           396,241
Ireland,                        3,346,606           453,883
----------        ----------
Total of United Kingdom,       60,929,633        L8,262,746

The quantity of barley imported into the United Kingdom during the year was equivalent to 2,736,425 quarters.  See how great a fire a little spark, hodge-podge, kindleth!

So much for the quantity of malt produced, and the revenue derived from it, in a year in the United Kingdom.  I have spoken of this malt as being convertible into a form which possesses, among other virtues, the power of quenching our thirst.  I wish it did not also quench our thirst for the knowledge we all ought to have of its production and really serviceable qualities; that it would stimulate inquiry after such things, and not smother it, as it is too apt to do; and, in