PRICES OF ALE AND BEER. 547 



different quantity. Thus the barrel is twenty-seven gallons in 

 the Countess of Warwick's household (1405), and fifteen gallons 

 in 1408 at Windsor. It is difficult to believe that the pipe at 

 Wfittle, which cost on an average i is., though it seems to be 

 four barrels or two hogsheads, was the same as the pipe at 

 Dartmouth in 1438, a very dear year, when it cost 8s., or that 

 in the Howard account of 1463, 1465, and 1468, though probably 

 the Writtle quantity was the same as the pipe of the Wardrobe 

 account in 1492. 



Ale is sold by the coule at Salisbury, where we are told that 

 the measure was of 28 gallons ; by the cestra or sestre at Per- 

 shore and Allesburgh ; by the kilderkin or half barrel, and firkin 

 or quarter barrel at many places ; by the tun, pipe, and hogshead 

 in various parts ; by the quarter at Oxford ; and by the dozen on 

 Sampkyn's lands, in London, and in the Howard account. It is 

 described as good and inferior, as best and small, as single or 

 double, as penny and three-halfpenny, and occasionally as six- 

 teens. The quarter is also found at Writtle in 1547. 



It is plain that sometimes the barrels were very small, as 

 might indeed be expected, when one reflects that ale without 

 hops would, if it were not speedily consumed, or exceedingly 

 strong, pass rapidly into vinegar. 



The Countess of Warwick's ale in 1405 must have been very 

 strong. This is a cheap year for malt, for the price is only 

 3^. 3 \d. But the 2 7 -gallon barrel is put at 35. 8</., the Countess 

 buying malt at a great deal above the average, viz. 4.$-. id. 

 But making all allowances for the cost of brewing, it seems as 

 though the house ale took from five to six bushels the barrel. 

 The Salisbury ale of 1406 is much thinner. In 1438 the Dart- 

 mouth pipe of ale is only 8s., and this was the dearest year of 

 the century, though barley did not rise so much as wheat. In 

 1443 malt is cheap, being exactly at the price of 1405, and 

 barley is always cheap in Sutton-at-Hone. But the barrel is 

 35-. 9^., 2J. 3</., and of better ale 5.$-. ^d. 



The distinction between ale and beer occurs first at Writtle 

 in 1444, and next at Sion in 1448, the nuns of this religious 



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