“And so, you see, ’twas beautiful ale, and I wished to value his kindness…and not to be so ill-mannered as to drink only a thimbleful, which would have been insulting the man’s generosity. And so I used to eat a lot of salt fish afore going, and then by the time I got there I was as dry as a lime-basket so thorough dry that ale would slip-ah, ‘twould slip down sweet! Happy times! Heavenly times! Such lovely drunks as I used to have at that house!” — Thomas Hardy, Far From The Maddening Crowd