ject, by which a graduated scale was established for the price of ale throughout England. It declared that "when a quarter of wheat was sold for three shillings, or three shillings and four-pence, and a quarter of barley for twenty pence or twenty-four pence, and a quarter of oats for fifteen pence, brewers in cities could afford to sell two gallons of ale for a penny, and out of cities three gallons for a penny; and when in a town (in burgo) three gallons are sold for a penny, out of a town they may and ought to sell four." In process of time this uniform scale of price became extremely inconvenient; and by the statute 23 Henry VIII. c. 4, it was enacted that alebrewers should charge for their ale such prices as might appear convenient and sufficient in the discretion of the justices of the peace or mayors within whose jurisdiction such ale-brewers should dwell. The price of ale was regulated by rules like those above stated, and the quality was ascertained by officers appointed for the purpose. [ALE-CONNER.] ALE-CONNER. An ale-conner is an ale-kenner, one who kens or knows what good ale is. The office of ale-taster or ale-conner is one of great antiquity. Those who held it were called "gustatores cervisiæ." Ale-conners or aletasters were regularly chosen every year in the court-leet of each manor, and were sworn to examine and assay the beer and ale, and to take care that they were good and wholesome, and sold at proper prices according to the assize; and also to present all defaults of brewers to the next court-leet. Similar officers were also appointed in boroughs and towns corporate; and in many places, in compliance with charters or ancient custom, ale-tasters are, at the present day, annually chosen and sworn, though the duties of the office are fallen into disuse. In the manor of Tottenham, and in many others, it was the duty of the ale-conner to prevent unwholesome or adulterated provisions being offered for sale, and to see that false balances were not used. In 4 Jac. I. c. 5, which was intended for the prevention of drunkenness, the officers more especially charged with presenting offences against the act were constables, churchwardens, head-boroughs, tithing-men, ale-conners, and sidesmen. The duty of the ale-conners appointed by the corporation of the City of London is to ascertain that the beer sold in the city is wholesome, and that the measures in which it is given are fair. For this purpose they may enter into the houses of all victuallers and sellers of beer within the city. The investigation is made four times in the year; and on each occasion it occupies about fourteen days. The days are not publicly known beforehand. Southwark is not visited. The investigation into the wholesomeness of the article has fallen into disuse. Fairness in the measures is ensured by requiring all pots to be stamped with the city arms, and the ale-conners report to the aldermen such houses as do not comply with the rule, and such as have pots with forged stamps. The number of pots annually stamped in the five years from 1829 to 1833 averaged 5599 dozen. In 1829 there were 760 houses on the ale-conners' lists, and in 1833 there were 780. The Commissioners of Corporation Inquiry state that in some instances the owners of the houses have refused to allow the officers to inspect; and that "till very recently the visit of the ale-conners to the several houses took place without any inspection being made." Each of the ale-conners has an annual salary of 10l.; and besides this, "either by right or courtesy," they receive a small sum at each house where they visit, varying from 2s. 6d. to 1s. The sums given in this way have become smaller, since the duty has been more carefully performed. In the first quarter of 1833 the ale-conners collected 391. 178.; and in the second quarter, 377. 10s. 6d. The commissioners state that the income from this source is decreasing. Each ale-conner had, therefore, at the time of the inquiry, a salary of about 351. a year, paid by the City. (Second Report of Commissioners of Corporation Inquiry, 1837.) In the municipal boroughs of England and Wales, to which the inquiries of the commissioners extended (234 in number), there were found in twenty-five boroughs officers called "AleTasters;" in six they were termed "AleFounders ;" and in four " Ale-Conners.” The ancient regulations which the aleconners were appointed to carry into effect appear to have been dictated by a regard to public health; but in modern times, when ale and beer had become exciseable commodities, the restrictions and provisions introduced from time to time had for their object principally the security of the revenue and the convenient collection of duties. [ADULTERATION.] ALE-FOUNDER. [ALE-CONNER.] ALEHOUSES. By the common law of England, a person might open a house for the sale of beer and ale as freely as he might keep a shop for the purpose of selling any other commodity; subject only to a criminal prosecution for a nuisance if his house was kept in a disorderly manner, by permitting tippling or excessive drinking, or encouraging bad company to resort thither, to the danger and disturbance of the neighbourhood. But in course of time this restriction was found to be insufficient; and in the eleventh year of the reign of Henry VII. (1496) an act was passed "against vacabounds and beggers" (11 Hen. VII. c. 2), which contained a clause empowering two justices of the peace "to rejecte and put awey comen ale selling in tounes and places where they shall think convenyent, and to take suertie of the keepers of ale-houses of their gode behavyng by the discrecion of the seid justices, and in the same to be avysed and aggreed at the tyme of their sessions." This slight notice of the subject in the statute 11 Henry VII. c. 2, seems to have been entirely disregarded in practice; and a statute passed in 1552 (5 & 6 Edward VI. c. 25) recites that "intolerable hurts and troubles to the commonwealth of this realm doth daily grow and increase through such abuses and disorders as are had and used in common alehouses and other houses called tipplinghouses," and power was given to two justices to forbid the selling of beer and ale at such alehouses; and it was enacted that none should be suffered to keep alehouses unless they were publicly admitted and allowed at the sessions, or by two justices of the peace; and the justices were directed to take security, by recognizances, from all keepers of alehouses, against the using of unlawful games, and for the maintenance of good order therein; which recognizances were to be certified to the quarter-sessions and there recorded. Authority is then given to the justices at quarter-sessions to inquire whether any acts have been done by alehouse-keepers which may subject them to a forfeiture of their recognizances. It is also provided that if any person, not allowed by the justices, should keep a common alehouse, he might be committed to gaol for three days, and, before his deliverance, must enter into a recognizance not to repeat his offence; a certificate of the recognizance and the offence is to be given to the next sessions, where the offender is to be fined 20s. This statute formed the commencement of the licensing system, and was the first act of the legislature which placed alehouses expressly under the control and direction of the local magistrates; and alehouses continued to be regulated by its provisions, without any further interference of the legislature, for upwards of fifty years. In 1604 a statute was passed (2 Jac. I. c. 9) expressly, as the preamble states, for the purpose of restraining the "inordinate haunting and tippling in inns, alehouses, and other victualling houses." This act of parliament recites, that "the ancient, true, and principal use of such houses was for the lodging of wayfaring people, and for the supply of the wants of such as were not able, by greater quantities, to make their provision of victuals, and not for entertainment and harbouring of lewd and idle people, to spend their money and their time in lewd and drunken manner;" and then enacts "that any alehouse-keeper suffering the inhabitants of any city, town, or village, in which his alehouse is situ ated (excepting persons invited by any traveller as his companion during his abode there; excepting also labourers and handicraftsmen, on working-days, for one hour at dinner time to take their diet, and occasional workmen in cities, by the day, or by the great (by the piece), lodging at such alehouses during the time of their working), to continue drinking or tippling therein, shall forfeit 10s. to the poor of the parish for each offence." From the exceptions introduced into this statute, and also from the preamble, it is clear that, in the time of James I., it was common for country labourers both to eat their meals and to lodge in alehouses. The operation of the last-mentioned statute was limited to the end of the next session of parliament, in the course of which a statute (4 Jac. I. c. 4) was passed, imposing a penalty upon persons selling beer or ale to unlicensed alehouse-keepers; and by another statute (4 Jac. I. c. 5) of the same parliament, it was enacted that "every person convicted, upon the view of a magistrate, of remaining drinking or tippling in an alehouse, should pay a penalty of 38. 4d. for each offence, and in default of payment be placed in the stocks for four hours." The latter statute further directs that "all offences relating to alehouses shall be diligently presented and inquired of before justices of assize, and justices of the peace, and corporate magistrates; and that all constables, ale-conners [ALE-CONNER], and other officers, in their official oaths shall be charged to present such offences within their respective jurisdictions." The next legislative notice of alehouses is in the 7 Jac. I. c. 10, which, after reciting that "notwithstanding former laws, the vice of excessive drinking and drunkenness did more and more abound," enacts, as an additional punishment upon alehouse-keepers offending against former statutes, that, "for the space of three years, they should be utterly disabled from keeping an alehouse." The 21 Jac. I. c. 7, declares that the above-mentioned statutes, having been found by experience to be good and necessary laws, shall, with some additions to the penalties, and other trifling alterations, be put in due execution, and continue for ever. A short statute was passed soon after the accession of Charles I. (1 Car. I. c. 4), which supplied an accidental omission in the statutes of James; and a second (3 Car. I. c. 3) facilitates the recovery of the 208. penalty imposed by the statute of Edward VI., and provides an additional punishment, by imprisonment, for a second and third offence. At this point all legislative interference for the regulation and restriction of alehouses was suspended for more than a century. The circumstances which led to the passing of the above-mentioned statutes in the early part of the reign of James I., and the precise nature of the evils alluded to in such strong language in the preambles, are not described by any contemporaneous writers. It appears, however, from the Journals, that these statutes gave rise to much discussion in both houses of parliament, and were not passed without considerable opposition. These laws never appear to have produced the full advantage which was expected. During the reign of Charles I. the complaints against alehouses were loud and frequent. In the year 1635 we find the Lord Keeper Coventry, in his charge to the judges in the Star Chamber previously to the circuits, inveighing in strong terms against them. (Howell's State Trials, vol. iii. p. 835.) He says, "I account alehouses and tippling-houses the greatest pests in the kingdom. I give it you in charge to take a course that none be permitted unless they be licensed; and, for the licensed alehouses, let them be but a few, and in fit places; if they be in private corners and ill places, they become the dens of thieves-they are the public stages of drunkenness and disorder; in market-towns, or in great places or roads, where travellers come, they are necessary." He goes on to recommend it to the judges to "let care be taken in the choice of alehouse-keepers, that it be not appointed to be the livelihood of a great family; one or two is enough to draw drink and serve the people in an alehouse; but if six, eight, ten, or twelve must be maintained by alehouse-keeping, it cannot choose but be an exceeding disorder, and the family, by this means, is unfit for any other good work or employment. many places they swarm by default of the justices of the peace, that set up too many; but if the justices will not obey your charge herein, certify their default and names, and I assure you they shall be discharged. I once did discharge two justices for setting up one alehouse, and shall be glad to do the like again upon the same occasion." In During the Commonwealth, the complaints against alehouses still continued, and were of precisely the same nature as those which are recited in the statutes of James I. At the London sessions, in August, 1654, the court made an order for the regulation of licences, in which it is stated that the "number of alehouses in the city were great and unnecessary, whereby lewd and idle people were harboured, felonies were plotted and contrived, and disorders and disturbances of the public peace promoted. Among several rules directed by the court on this occasion for the removal of the evil, it was ordered that "no new licences shall be granted for two years." habits of a civilized nation. Various evasions of the provisions of the licensing acts were readily suggested to meet this inordinate demand; and in 1733 it became necessary to enforce, by penalty, the discontinuance of the practice of "hawking spirits about the streets in wheelbarrows, and of exposing them for sale on bulks, sheds, or stalls." (See 6 Geo. II. c. 11.) From this time alehouses became the shops for spirits, as well as for ale and beer; in consequence of which their due regulation became a subject of much greater difficulty than formerly; and this difficulty was increased by the growing importance of a large consumption of these articles to the revenue. Besides this, all regulations for the prevention of evils in the management of alehouses were now embarrassed by the arrangements which had become necessary for the facility and certainty of collecting the Excise duties. In 1753 a statute was passed (26 Geo. II. c. 31) by the provisions of which, with some trifling modifications by later statutes, the licensing of alehouses continued to be regulated for the remainder of the last century. This statute, after During the reign of Charles II. the subject of alehouses was not brought in any shape under the consideration of the legislature; and no notice is taken by writers of that period of any peculiar inconveniences sustained from them, though in 1682 it was ordered by the court, at the London sessions, that no license should in future be granted to alehouse-keepers who frequented conventicles. Locke, in his Second Letter on Toleration,' published in 1690, alludes to their having been driven to take the sacrament for the sake of their places, or "to obtain licences to sell ale." The next act of parliament on the sub-reciting that "the laws concerning aleject passed in the year 1729, when the statute 2 Geo. II. c. 28, § 11, after reciting that "inconveniences had arisen in consequence of licences being granted to alehouse-keepers by justices living at a distance, and therefore not truly informed of the occasion or want of alehouses in the neighbourhood, or the characters of those who apply for licences, enacts that "no licence shall in future be granted but at a general meeting of the magistrates acting in the division in which the applicant dwells." At this period the sale of spirituous liquors had become common; and in the statute which we have just mentioned a clause is contained, placing the keepers of liquor or brandy-shops under the same regulations as to licences as alehouse-keepers. The eagerness with which spirits were consumed at this period by the lower orders of the people in England, and especially in London and other large towns, appears to have resembled rather the brutal intemperance of a tribe of savages than the | houses, and the licensing thereof, were insufficient for correcting and suppressing the abuses and disorders frequently committed therein," contains, among others, the following enactments:-1. That upon granting a licence to any person to keep an alehouse, such person should enter into a recognizance in the sum of 10l. with sufficient sureties, for the maintenance of good order therein. 2. That no licence should be granted to any person not licensed the preceding year, unless he produced a certificate of good character from the clergyman and the majority of the parish officers, or from three or four respectable and substantial inhabitants, of the place in which such alehouse is to be. 3. That no licence should be granted but at a meeting of magistrates, to be held on the 1st of September in every year, or within twenty days afterwards, and should be made for one year only. 4. Authority is given to any magistrate to require an alehousekeeper, charged upon the information of any person with a breach of his recog- | tending to apply for a licence must afflx a nizance, to appear at the next quarter-notice of his intention, with the name, sessions, where the fact may be tried by a jury, and in case it is found that the condition of the recognizance has been broken, the recognizance is to be estreated into the Exchequer, and the party is utterly disabled from selling ale or other liquors for three years. By a statute passed in 1808 (48 Geo. III. c. 143) a difference was introduced into the mode of licensing, not with a view to the internal regulation of alehouses, but for purposes connected with the collection of the revenue. The licence, which was formerly obtained from the magistrates, was, by that act, to be granted by the commissioners, collectors, or supervisors of Excise, under certain specific directions, and upon the production by the applicant of a previous licence or allowance, granted by the magistrates, according to the provisions of the former statutes respecting licensing. The next act of parliament upon this subject was passed in 1822 (3 Geo. IV. c. 77), but as that statute continued in operation for only a few years, it is unnecessary to specify its provisions further than to notice that the preamble states the insufficiency of the laws previously in force respecting alehouses, and that one of its provisions is considerably to increase the amount of the recognizances required both from the alehouse-keeper and his sureties. In 1828 a general act to regulate the granting of alehouse licences was passed (9 Geo. IV. c. 61), which repealed all former statutes on this subject, and enacts a variety of provisions, of which the following are the most important:- -1. Licences are to be granted annually, at a special session of magistrates, appointed and summoned in a manner particularly directed, and to be called the General Annual Licensing Meeting, to be holden in Middlesex and Surrey, within the first ten days of March, and in every other place between the 20th of August and the 14th of September. Any person who is refused a licence may appeal to the quarter-sessions; and no justice is to act in an appeal who was concerned in the refusal of the licence. 2. Every person in abode, and calling of the applicant, on the door of the house which he wishes to open as an alehouse, and on the door of the church or chapel of the place in which it is situated, on three several Sundays, and must serve a copy of it upon one of the overseers, and one of the peace-officers. 3. If a riot or tumult happens, or is expected to happen, two justices may direct any licensed alehouse-keeper to close his house; and if this order be disobeyed, the keeper of the alehouse is to be deemed not to have maintained good order therein. 4. The licence is subjected to an express stipulation that the keeper of the house shall not adulterate his liquors; that he shall not use false measures; that he shall not permit drunkenness, gaming, or disorderly conduct in his house; that he shall not suffer persons of notoriously bad character to assemble therein; and that (except for the reception of travellers) he shall not open his house during divine service on Sundays and holidays. 5. Heavy and increasing penalties for repeated offences against the tenor of the licence are imposed; and magistrates at sessions are empowered to punish an alehouse keeper, convicted by a jury of a third offence against the tenor of his licence, by a fine of 100l., or to adjudge his licence to be forfeited. Under the Metropolitan Police Act (2 & 3 Vict. c. 47), which under certain conditions may be extended to within fifteen miles of Charing Cross, all publichouses are to be shut on Sundays until one o'clock in the afternoon, except for refreshment of travellers; and publicans are prohibited from supplying distilled liquors to persons under sixteen years of age, under a penalty for the first, second, and third offences of 20l., 40l., and 50%. This latter clause does not appear to be enforced. The closing of public-houses on Sunday mornings within the metropolitan police district has met with general approbation. Taking the average of the first five months in the years 1838-39, the total number of drunken persons apprehended on the Sunday by the police was 2301, and in the first five months after the new act H |