is the "alewife." No wonder ale drinking proved so large a factor in
the jokes of the fraternity, for the rate at which it was consumed,
in this age when it took the place of both tea and coffee, was
enormous. The inmates of St. Cross Hospital, Winchester, who were
alluded to as "impotents," received daily one gallon of beer each,
with two extra quarts on holidays! If this were the allowance of
pensioners, what must have been the proportion among the well-to-do?
In 1558 there is a record of a dishonest beer seller who gave only a
pint for a penny drink, instead of the customary quart! The subject
of the alewife who had cheated her customers, being dragged to hell
by demons, is often treated by the carvers with much relish, in
the sacred precincts of the church choir!

[Illustration: MISERERE STALL; THE FATE OF THE ALE-WIFE]

At Ludlow there is a relief which shows the unlucky lady carried
on the back of a demon, hanging with her head upside down, while a
smiling "recording imp" is making notes in a scroll concerning her!
In one of the Chester Mysteries, the Ale Wife is made to confess
her own shortcomings:

"Some time I was a taverner,
A gentle gossip and a tapster,
Of wine and ale a trusty brewer,
Which woe hath me wrought.

Of cans I kept no true measure,
My cups I sold at my pleasure,
Deceiving many a creature,
Though my ale were nought!"