prived of it by the sheikh of the
Montefik (Montafiq) Arabs. The town was in the October following recovered
by Suleiman Pasha, who encountered the sheikh on the banks of the Euphrates
and put him to flight; it has since remained in the hands of the Turks.

(J. P. PE.)

BASS, the name of a family of English brewers. The founder of the firm,
William Bass (b. 1720), was originally a carrier, one of his chief clients
being Benjamin Printon, a Burton-on-Trent brewer. By 1777 Bass had saved a
little money, and seeing the growing demand for Burton beer he started as a
brewer himself. The principal market for Burton beer at that time was in St
Petersburg, whither the beer could be sent by water direct from Burton via
the Trent and Hull, and William Bass managed to secure a tolerable share of
the large Russian orders. But in 1822 the Russian government placed a
prohibitory duty on Burton ales, and the Burton brewers were forced into
cultivating the home market. William Bass opened up a connexion with
London, and established a fairly profitable home trade. A misunderstanding
between the East India Company and the London brewers who were the
proprietors of Hodgson's India [v.03 p.0490] Pale Ale, at that time the
standard drink of Englishmen in the East, resulted in Bass being asked to
supply a beer which would withstand the Indian climate and be generally
suitable to the Indian market. After a series of experiments he produced
what is still known as Bass's pale ale. This new and lighter beer at once
became popular all over India, and Bass's firm became the largest in
Burton. After William Bass's death the business was carried on by his son,
M. T. Bass, and then by his grandson, Michael Thomas Bass (1799-1884). In
1827 a vessel laden with Bass's beer was wrecked in the Irish Channel. A
large proportion of the cargo was however salved and sold at Liverpool,
where it met with great approval in the local market, and through this
chance circumstance the firm opened up a regular trade in the north-west of
England and Ireland. "Bass" was, however, little drunk in London till 1851,
when it was supplied on draught at the Exhibition of that year, since which
time its reputation has been world-wide. In 1880 the business was turned
into a limited liability company. Michael Thomas Bass, besides actively
conducting and extending the firm's operations, was a man of great public
spirit and philanthropy, and the towns of Burton and Derby are large