A rather curious regulation in bygone times was the one which enforced the baker of white bread not to make brown, and the baker of brown bread not to make white. Very heavy fines used to be inflicted on persons selling short weight of bread. "A baker was convicted yesterday," says the _Times_ of July 8th, 1795, "at the Public Office, Whitechapel, of making bread to the amount of 307 ounces deficient in weight, and fined a penalty of £64 7s." In the same journal, three days later, we read, "A baker was yesterday convicted in the penalty of £106 5s. on 420 ounces of bread, deficient in weight." The market records, week after week, in 1795, as a rule, record an increased price of grain, and by the middle of the year the matter had become serious. The members of the Privy Council gave the subject careful consideration, and strongly recommended that families should refrain from having puddings, pies, and other articles made of flour. With the following paragraph from the _Times_ of July 22nd, 1795, we close our notes on bread in bygone days:--"His Majesty has given orders for the bread used in his household to be made of meal and rye mixed. No other sort is to be permitted to be baked, and the Royal Family eat bread of the same quality as their servants do." Arise, Mistress, Arise! In the olden time in many places in the provinces it was the practice on Christmas-day morning to permit the servants and apprentices to remain in bed, and for the mistress to get up and attend to the household duties. The bellman at Bewdley used to go round the town, and after ringing his bell and saying, "Good-morning, masters, mistresses, and all, I wish you a merry Christmas," he sang the following: "Arise, mistress, arise, And make your tarts and pies, And let your maids lie still; For if they should rise and spoil your pies, You'd take it very ill. Whilst you are sleeping in your bed, I the cold wintry nights must tread Past twelve o'clock, &c." Bewdley was famous for its ringers and singers, and its town crier was a man of note. An old couplet says: "For ringers, singers, and a crier Bewdley excelled all Worcestershire." In Lancashire was heard the following, proclaimed in the towns and villages: "Get up old wives, And bake your pies, 'Tis Christmas-day in the morning; The bells shall ring, The birds shall sing, 'Tis Christmas-day in the morning." At Morley, near Leeds, a man was formerly paid for blowing a horn at 5 a.m. to make known the time for commencing, and at 8 p.m. the hour for giving up work. His blast was heard daily except on Sundays. On Christmas-day morning he blew his horn and sang: "Dames arise and bake your pies, And let your maids lie still; For they have risen all the year, Sore against their will." The Turnspit.