The New International Encyclopædia/Barleycorn, John

BARLEYCORN, John. A personification of the spirit of barley or malt liquor, used jocularly, and also in humorous poetical effusions, as by Robert Burns. There exists a whimsical English tract of old date, under the title of The Arraigning and Indicting of Sir John Barleycorn, Knt., printed for Timothy Tosspot, in which Sir John is described as of "noble blood, well beloved in England, a great support of the Crown, and a maintainer of both rich and poor."