CHAPTER III. 



" Yet spare I not to ply the potte 

 Of jolly goode ale and olde."- 



Bishop Still — Gammnr Gurton's Needle. 



" A nose he had that gan show, 



What liquor he loved I trow ; 



For he had before long seven yeare, 



Beene of the towne the ale-conner." 



— The Coblcr of Ciinterburie. 



" He was a man, take him for all in all, 

 1 shall not look upon his like again." 



Sh.^kespe.ire — Hamlet. 



TN addition to the Greave of the Forest, other officers are 

 -'- annually appointed at the October sitting of the Halmot 

 Court, — such as a Butcher, a Market-Looker, a Fence-Keeper, a 

 Bellman, and an Ale-Taster. 



The office of Ale-taster, or Ale-Conner, as is well known, is a 

 very ancient one, extending as far back as Saxon times. Doubtless, 

 it had its origin with that shrewd, frugal, calculating, paunch- 

 loving people. There is nothing of the Celtic or devil-may-care 

 element in its character. The Celt, to this day, is too spiritualistic, 

 too precipitate, too mercurial, to cater largely for the stomach ; the 

 Saxon is of the earth, earthy. 



It was the business of those who filled the post to insure that 

 the ale and beer (a) brewed and sold or offered for sale within their 



(a) Andrew Boorde, in his " Dyetary," says : " Ale is made of malte and 



water Bere is made of malte, of hoppes and water." This 



distinction would scarcely hold good at the present day. 



