268 MERRIE ENGLAND
Literature tells us of many of these tavern-haunters: Glutton,
or the good wife and her gossips who frequent the tavern since
"Whatsoever many man thynk, we com for nowght but for good
drynk"; or that other roisterer who sang so lustily:
Back and side, go bare, go bare,
Both hand and foot go cold,
But belly, God send thee good ale enough,
Whether it be new or old I1
Documents, on the other hand, do not help us so much. After
all, the ale-house was outside the manorial scheme (save for a
tax on ale brewed and a general supervision of its quality), and
unless strife and bloodshed arose there, the lord cared little how
his men spent their time lounging on the tavern-bench, and
drinking and merrymaking "till the stars 'gan to appear".2
We must not exaggerate the number of such ales and drinking
bouts, and we must also take account of the convivial
meetings which marked various stages of the agricultural year.
The Abbot of Ramsey, for example, on the day that the men on
various of his manors completed the mowing of "the Haycroft",
gave them 8d. or izd. from his purse for a drinking festivity
called Scythale.3
The conclusion of the hay-cutting seems to have been the
occasion for a widespread custom by which the lord released into
the field a sheep or ram, and it was the business of the peasants
to catch it before it could escape from them. If they were
successful in this it formed a major part in the feast they held to
celebrate the end of their labours, and evidently the whole affair
was an enjoyable bit of rough hurly-burly, once the last load of
hay had been taken from the field.4 Again, on St John's Eve,
we hear of a ram being given to the villagers for their feast, as at
East Monkton, where a procession round the corn was made, the
men carrying brands of fire in their hands.5 Agricultural opera-
1 Chambers and Sidgwick, Early English Lyrics, 22,9; cf. 222-8.
8 Cust. Rents, 37; Wynslowe Rolls, passim-, Hales Rolls, passim. See Selden
Soc. i, 27, for false measure; Wakefield Rolls, n, 3, 4, 6, 45, etc. for weak
beer; Hales Rolls, xxxiv, 128, 149, 372 for ale-tasters.
8 Ramsey Cart. I, 49, 286, 301, 311; n, 18, 45; in, 61; Wore. Priory Reg.
146, 340,43 *» 6S o.
4 Ramsey Cart. I, 298, 307, 476; Glouc. Cart, in, 64.
B Law Mag. N.S. xiv, 350, and other references given there; Paroch.
Antiq. II, 137; Inquis. Post Mortem, Ed. I, vol. II, 313; Cust. Rents, 56.