They drink deeply, joke coarsely and quarrels ensue. Finally the glutton is hopelessly intoxicated. “He myghte neither steppe ne stande, er his staffe hadde; And thanne gan he go, liche a glewmannes biche, Somme tyme aside, and somme tyme arrere, As who-so leyth lynes for to lache foules.” His wife and maid carry him home between them and he lies helpless through Saturday and Sunday, waking in bitter repentance at having missed his duties.[10] From Skelton we learn how women came to pledge their wedding rings and husbands’ clothes “Because the ale is good.” Hence the necessity for an Act in Henry VII’s reign which empowered justices to close alehouses notorious for bad conduct, and later, the first Licensing Act of 1552, requiring every alehouse-keeper to obtain the licence of two justices, and regulating the manner in which the business is to be carried on. By an Act of 1627, a fine of twenty-one shillings, or in default a whipping, was inflicted on the keepers of unlicensed alehouses, and on a second conviction imprisonment for one month. But none of these measures were enforced throughout the country, and they were easily evaded. Anyone was still free to sell ale in booths at fair time, and many trades had by custom the privilege to sell ale as a part of their business: for example, barbers and blacksmiths, whose customers required entertainment while waiting their turn. Two centuries after the first Licensing Act, the nation was still unconvinced on the subject of free trade in liquor. In a report on an inquiry made by Justices of the Peace for the County of Middlesex in 1736, it was shown that within the limits of Westminster, Holborn, The Tower and Finsbury (exclusive of London and Southwark), there were no less than 2,105 unlicensed houses. Spirits were retailed by above eighty other trades, particularly chandlers, weavers, tobacconists, shoemakers, carpenters, barbers, tailors, dyers, etc. Barbers’ shops were once resorted to by idlers, in order to pass away their time, and a system of forfeits prevailed, nominally to enforce order, but in practice to promote the sale of drink. They are referred to in “Measure for Measure.” “Laws for all faults, But laws so countenanced that the strong statutes Stand like the forfeits in a barber’s shop As much in mock as mark.” Dr. Kenrick professes to have copied the following list of forfeits in a shop near Northallerton: “RULES FOR SEEMLY BEHAVIOUR First come, first served--then come not late; And when arrived keep your state; For he who from these rules shall swerve Must pay the forfeits--so observe. 1. Who enters here with boots and spurs, Must keep his nook; for if he stirs, And gives with armed heel a kick, A pint he pays for every prick. 2. Who rudely takes another’s turn, A forfeit mug may manners learn. 3. Who reverentless shall swear or curse, Must lug seven farthings from his purse. 4.