working life of women seventeenth century - School of Economics ...

CRAFTS AND TRADESalso defended as a means for maintaining the qualityof the beer brewed. It was ordayned in the Assize forBrewers, Anno 23, H. 8, that " Forasmuch as the misterieof brewing as a thing very needful1 and necessariefor the common wealth, hath been alwaies by auncientcustom & good orders practised & maintained withinCitties, Corporate Boroughs and market Townesof this Realm, by such expert and skilfull persons,as eyther were traded and brought up therein, by thespace of seuen yeares, and as prentizes therin accepted :accordingly as in all other Trades and occupations,or else well knowne to be such menof skill and honestie,in that misterie, as could and would alwaie yeeld untoher Maiesties subiects in the commonwealth, suchgood and holsome Ale and Beere, as both in thequalitie & for the quantitie thereof, did euer agreewith the good lawes of the Realme. And especiallieto the comfort of the poorer sort of subiectes, whomost need it, until1 of late yeares, sondrie persons. . . . rather seeking their owne private gaine,then the publike profite of their countrie, haue notonelie erected and set uppe small brewhouses at theirpleasures : but also brew and utter such Ales and Beere,for want of skill in that misterie as both in the prices& holesomnes thereof, doth utterlie disagree withthe good lawes and orders of this Realm ; therebyalso ouerthrowing the greater and more auncientbrewhouses." It is therefore recommended thatthese modern brewhouses should be suppressed inthe interest of the old and hetter ones.'The argument reads curiously when one reflectshow universal had been the small brewhouses in formerdays. The advantages from the excise point ofview which would be gained by the concentrationof the trade in a few hands is discussed in a pamphletwhich remarks that " there is much Mault made inPowell, John. The Assize of Bread,CRAFTS AND TRADESprivate Families, in some Counties half, if not twothirds of the Maults spent, are privately made, andundoubtedly as soon as an Imposition is laid upon it,much more will, for the advantage they shall gainby saving the Excise . . . . if Mault couldbe forbidden upon a great penalty to be made by anypersons, but by certain publick Maulsters, this mightbe of availe to increase the Excise."' The actualconditions prevailing in the brewing industry at thistime are described as follows in another pamphlet.Brewers are divided into two classes, " The Brewerwho brews to sell by great measures, and wholly servesother Families by the same ; which sort of Brewersare only \in some few great Cities and Towns, notabove twenty through the land . . . . TheBrewers who brews to sell by retail . . . . thissort of Brewers charges almost only such as drinkthesame in those houses where the same is brewed andsold . . . . and therefore supplies but a smallproportion of the rest of the land, being that in almostall Market Towns, Villages, Hamlets, and privatehouses in the Countrey throughout the land, all theInhabitants brew for themselves, at least by much thegreatest proportion of what they use."'In order to extend and strengthen their monopolythe " Common Brewers " brought forward a schemein 1620, asking for a certain number of commonbrewers to be licensed throughout the kingdom, tobrew according to assize. All other inn-keepers,alehouse keepers and victuallers to be forbidden tobrew, " these brew irregularly without control," andcc offering to pay the King qd. on every quart ofmalt brewed." The scheme was referred to the Councilwho recommended " that a proclamation be issuedforbidding ' taverners, innkeepers, etc. to sell any beerConsiderations 7oucbing th Excise, p. 7.' Roddey, Francis.