Wiltshire Quarter Sessions. 



339 



the cloth as appraised by the court. With two exceptions only the 

 fines were paid — in one of these the delinquent is noted as being* in 

 krrear, without further observation. A less fortunate offender from 

 Westbury (whose piece was deficient by 5 lbs.) was amerced in the 

 sum of 52^. Out of this sum 12s. (viz, 3 lbs. at 4*.) went to the 

 overseers ; for the remaining 21bs. the fine was 40s., half of which 

 went to the overseers and half to the poor of Westbury. The de- 

 fendant is noted as not paying the fine, and the entry closes with 

 the ominous words, " pro quibus committitur." 



At the last sessions in Elizabeth's reign, the number of these 

 cases (either original or adjourned) fell scarcely short of one hundred. 



Other offences under the Acts relating to woollen cloths also came 

 before the court. William Cooke, of Quemerford, was indicted for 

 using a tenter with seven lower bars (pro occupatione tenture cum 

 vij inferioribus trabibus) . Nicholas Parkyn, of Westbury, was 

 charged with refusing to allow an inspection by the overseers. John 

 Ussher, of the same place, " pro extensione, Anglice stretchinge " a 

 piece of cloth made for sale ; while among neighbouring places, 

 Westbury Leigh, Brook and Chapmanslade, Steeple Ashton, Hinton 

 and Pollesholt, all at one time or another contributed their quota to 

 such minor offences (presented nevertheless by the grand inquest) as 

 keeping a loom or practising the craft of a weaver not having been 

 thereunto duly apprenticed. 



VIII. — Appkenticeship. 



This last offence was not confined to the cloth trade ; it related 

 to all manual occupations. In the fifth year of Elizabeth's reign 

 was passed the statute of labourers, &c, which dealt exhaustively 

 with the employment of labour. Any man under thirty years of 

 age, unless already employed in some manner prescribed by the Act, 

 and even above that age if he were unmarried, was liable to be 

 marched off to service in a very summary fashion, and the juvenile 

 pauper, numbering at last sufficient years for manual occupation, 

 was handed over with eager alacrity to the first person who would 

 accept his services. 



" Md." writes the clerk of the peace at the Trinity Sessions, 1579, 



