DORSET ASSIZES IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 29 



them, but the number of alehouses increased by leaps and 

 bounds. In 1632 Thomas Bartlett, of Puddletown, was dis- 

 tinguished by the illrule and drunkenness in his alehouse, 

 which was to be suppressed. But Bartlett was not an easy 

 man to deal with. He abused the constables who came to 

 carry out the orders and successfully resisted them, no doubt 

 with the assistance of some of the villagers, for Puddletown 

 possessed only this one alehouse, and its suppression would 

 have meant total abstinence from beer on the part of most of 

 the smaller householders. After the lapse of several months, 

 and when another man was ready to take his place, Bartlett 

 was removed, but little was gained by getting rid of this 

 particular offender. A very few years later, Puddletown 

 was able to boast of four alehouses, besides an inn, and the 

 place was then said to be very disorderly. There were few 

 parts of the county where similar measures were not required. 

 Wambrook, Chardstock, Hawkchurch, Netherbury, the Hun- 

 dred of Buckland, Sturminster Newton, Shaftesbury, and 

 Wareham all earned especial orders from the Court. Also, in 

 a petition from the ministers of Yetminster and adjacent 

 parishes, complaint was made that the excessive number of 

 alehouses occasioned much drunkenness on the Sabbath as 

 well as on weekdays. They add that from this cause " the 

 word of God looseth its fruit, God is dishonoured, men's 

 estate exhausted wch should be spent on their families, and 

 for the intollerable abuse of the Creatures a famine, without 

 God's especial mercy, is justly to be feared." But nothing 

 effectual was accomplished. Subsequent to all these orders 

 for suppression comes the old complaint, this time from the 

 Grand Jury in 1646, of the multiplication of alehouses and the 

 increase of abuses and disorders ; and there are still later 

 entries in the Order Books showing that the want of a licence 

 did not always deter an alehouse keeper from carrying on his 

 business. So far as the Assizes were concerned, the campaign 

 against alehouses was abandoned soon after 1650. It would 

 appear that the people wished to drink to excess, and no 

 power on earth could stop them. 



