662 



PROHIBITION. 



was considered monstrous, and Cato could 

 speak " of any shameful act " on the part of 

 a wife, " such as drinking wine or commit- 

 ting adultery." Cato further says that his 

 countrymen were accustomed to kiss their 

 wives, for the purpose of discovering whether 

 they had been drinking ; and Pliny, who as- 

 cribes to Romulus the authorship of this pro- 

 hibitory law as applied to women, mentions 

 two instances in which offending wives were 



Eut to death for their transgressions. Later, 

 eneca made bitter complaint of the drinking 

 habits of women ; and the prohibition had 

 grown quite obsolete in the time of Tertullian. 

 In the early days of Rome, wine was also for- 

 bidden to men until their thirtieth year. 



According to Hector Boetius, the sellers of 

 strong drink, in the earlier ages of Scottish 

 history, were looked upon as public enemies, 

 who, for profit, enticed men to a vicious life; 

 and Argadus, administrator of the realm, A. D. 

 160, confiscated their goods, pulled down 

 their houses, and banished them. At a later 

 period, when the evils of drink had revived, 

 Constantine II re-enacted this law (A. D. 861), 

 adding the penalty of death, " in case the ta- 

 vernier refused to depart, or resisted the execu- 

 tion of the decree." In the reign of Philip 

 and Mary an act was passed suppressing in 

 Ireland the traffic in builcann, a spirit distilled 

 from fermented black oats, its manufacture 

 being regarded as a sinful and dangerous de- 

 struction of the food of the people. 



Between the fifth and the fifteenth centu- 

 ries, when the Church of Rome bore absolute 

 sway over England, Ireland, and Scotland, 

 many laws, enactments, decrees, canons, and 

 pastorals were leveled at intemperance. One 

 of the canons enacted by the bishops, in synod 

 assembled by St. David, A. D. 569, affirmed 

 that " he who forces another to get drunk, out 

 of hospitality, must do penance, as if he had 

 got drunk himself." Under St. Dunstan it 

 was ordered that no drinking should be al- 

 lowed in the church. Soon after (A. D. 970) 

 a canon was passed forbidding priests to drink 

 in taverns like laymen, Still later (A. D. 1215) 

 the clergy, both of England and Ireland, were 

 strictly forbidden to frequent taverns. 



The brewing and selling of ale and mead be- 

 came a considerable business in Scotland and 

 England at a very early day, but from the 

 first it was regulated, restricted, or partially 

 prohibited by Government. The earliest re- 

 corded excise was a tax of fourpence, paid in 

 Scotland for a yearly license to brew and sell 

 ale; and prohibition was linked with it by the 

 one licensed being forbidden to carry the ale 

 into another town for sale. All public offi- 

 cials were prohibited from brewing for sale ; 

 and public tasters were appointed, to test and 

 appraise the ale sold, most of which was 

 brewed by women. Any woman might brew 

 who should pay the tax ; but she must brew the 

 whole year through or forfeit her permit; and 

 she must ' put her ale-wand outside her house, 



at her window or above her door," or be sub- 

 ject to fine. Ale-drinking increased rapidly, 

 and in A. D. 728 public booths were erected, 

 wherein to sell the popular drink. In the lat- 

 ter part of the tenth century King Edgar put 

 down all ale-houses, except one in each bor- 

 ough or small town. The price of ale was 

 regulated by the Norman kings, and by statute 

 (A. D. 1272) it was ordered that a brewer should 

 sell two gallons for one penny, in cities, and 

 three or four for that price in the country. 

 In the reign of Edward I (A. D. 1285) it was 

 enacted that taverns should not be open for 

 the sale of wine and beer after the tolling of 

 the curfew ; and in the reign of Edward III 

 but three taverns were allowed in the metrop- 

 olis. Hop plantations were established in 1552, 

 and were accorded special privileges in the 

 fifth year of Edward VI; and in 1649 the city 

 of London petitioned Parliament against "hop- 

 pers," urging that " this wicked weed would 

 spoil the drink and endanger the lives of the 

 people." In 1552 power was given to justices 

 of the peace to abolish ale-houses, and it was 

 ordered that none should be opened without 

 license ; two years later taverns for the sale of 

 wine were limited by act of Parliament to a 

 certain number in the different cities, London 

 being allowed forty, and none was permitted 

 to be sold to be drunk on the premises ; and in 

 1643 a tax was laid upon home-made ale and 

 beer, which was then first called an excise-tax. 

 The same statute imposed an excise of two- 

 pence a gallon upon aqua vitce, or strong wa- 

 ters, distilled within the Commonwealth, which 

 revenue was granted Charles II, and continued 

 to his successors, with various modifications, 

 until 1830, and since then upon nearly all alco- 

 holic liquors. In 1689 the importation of spir- 

 its was prohibited, and distillation, not known 

 in Europe until the thirteenth century, was 

 thrown open to all English subjects. At once 

 the increase of distilled liquors became enor- 

 mous, their consumption kept equal pace, and 

 within fifty years drunkenness was an ac- 

 knowledged national curse. Gin took the 

 place of ale everywhere, to an alarming ex- 

 tent ; and a common advertisement among the 

 retailers of it* was, "Drunk for a penny dead- 

 drunk for twopence. Clean straw for noth- 

 ing." Lecky says that this fact of gin-drink- 

 ing, small as it appears in English history, was 

 probably the most momentous of the eight- 

 eenth century. It brought on an era of fright- 

 ful intemperance, which vigorous parliament- 

 ary measures did not terminate. Between 

 1684 and 1736 the distillation of spirits rose 

 from half a million gallons to 5,394,000 gal- 

 lons, and this increase was scarcely checked 

 by imposing a duty of twenty shillings a gallon 

 on all spirituous liquors, and by prohibiting 

 their sale in less quantities than two gallons, 

 without, paying 50 a year tax, in the latter 

 year named. The law was not enforced, but 

 fearful riots followed its attempted enforce- 

 ment. Crime and immorality of all descrip- 



