Wiltshire Quarter Sessions. 



327 



in r kett or els here it home again And that the poorer sort of the Towne and 

 I County shall first be sufferyd to buy before badgers and other strangers And 

 \ that no Badger shall house any corn in the Town of Warm'' or in eny other 

 I m r kett towne on the ni r kett day within the county And that the Justices of peace 

 I within eny division or the Township of eny Mrkett Towne do appoint ij to vewe 

 j whether the prmisses be observyd on the mkett day yea or no." 



In later years the enormities of regrating butter and cheese, and 

 j of buying corn in the fields were visited with appropriate penalties. 



That the clerk of the peace regarded the licensing of badgers as 

 | no mere matter of form is clear from the memoranda which he 

 ' entered for his own information and instruction. 



He writes in October, 1576 : — 



" Md. that I take order of the Badgers that they do name the places where the 

 j Badgers do use to badge before they resieve their lycens." 



And again at the same date : — 



" Md. to make pees [process] against all the Badgers that doe badge without 

 ! licence." 



Such faithful compliance with current legislation may not have 

 been wholly disinterested : the Act gave the clerk of the peace a 

 fee of one shilling for each licence, eightpence for each recognizance, 

 and fourpence for registering. 



IV. — Tippling- Houses and Taverns. 

 This praiseworthy vigilance concerning the more substantial 

 articles of a Wiltshireman's diet was accompanied by an equal care- 

 fulness in the control and regulation, under the licensing law of the 

 j day, of breweries, malt-houses, ale-honses, and victualling-houses. 

 A few extracts will best illustrate this branch of magisterial action. 



Epiphany, 18th Elizabeth : — 



I " Md qd ad hanc Sess pacis concess : et concordat : fuit p r p r fatos Justiciar 

 j adtunc et ibm existentes modo sequente videlt That where the said J ustices did 

 < well allowe that Anne Maple of Downton in the said County widowe shoulde 

 j contynewe her kepeing of her Inne in Downton aforesaid for that the said Court 

 I was enformed that shee was meete therfore in respect of her well useiug thereof 

 I And therfore it was comanded to all the rest that toke upon them to kepe eny 

 j Inne in Downton aforesaid That they and ev r y of them shoulde leve of and 

 ' receave no more horses nor horsemen nor other persons thereafter uppon payne 

 to be grevouslye amerced if they did contrary to this order And that none do 

 reseive eny to lodge unles they be assigned by the OlTyccrs of the Towne." 



