Forest of Rossendale. 143 



important office to a beer-imbibing population ought not to be 

 suffered to fall into disrepute or oblivion. 



"In Rossendale there are countless numbers of practical 

 followers of the school to which that illustrious Dutchman, Mynheer 

 Van Dunck, belonged, and while they imbibe less brandy, they 

 make up for it in beer. To some Rossendale men, indeed, beer is 

 meat, drink, washing, and lodging ; and do away with the office of 

 Ale-taster, an inferior quality of the beverage may be sold, and 

 the consequent waste of tissue among the working classes would 

 be something awful to contemplate. Your honourable court, then, 

 cannot but perceive the vast importance of my office. 



" W'ith the spread of intelligence in Rossendale there has 

 been a proportionate increase of licensed public-houses and 

 beerhouses, which has created a corresponding amount of respon- 

 sibility in my duties. At the time when Rossendale was in 

 reality a forest, and a squirrel could jump from one tree to another 

 firom Sharneyford to Rawtenstall without touching the ground, the 

 office of Ale-taster was no doubt a sinecure, but it is so no longer. 

 For three years I have upheld the dignity of your honourable court 

 as Ale-taster without emolument, stipend, fee, or perquisite of any 

 kind. I have even been dragged before a subordinate court and 

 fined five shillings and costs whilst fulfilling the duties of my office. 

 My great services should receive some slight acknowledgment at 

 your hands, and thus would be secured the upright discharge of 

 those duties you expect me to fulfil ; and my imperial gill measure, 

 which I carry along with me as my baton of office, should bear the 

 seal of your honourable court. 



" Praying for your kind consideration, I beg to submit this my 

 third annual report : 



" In my district are fifty-five licensed public-houses and sixty- 

 five beerhouses. The quality of the beer retailed at these houses 

 is generally good, and calculated to prevent the deterioration of 

 tissue, and I do not detect any signs of adulteration. The only 

 complaint I have to make is of the quality of the ales sold at New- 

 church during the week in which Kirk Fair is held ; they are not 



