The Glutton-masses of the secular clergy, as described by Henry in his _History of England_, “were celebrated five times a year, in honour of the Virgin Mary, in this manner. Early in the morning the people of the parish assembled in the church, loaded with ample stores of meats and drinks of all kinds. As soon as mass ended, the feast began, in which the clergy and laity engaged with equal ardour. The church was turned into a tavern, and became a scene of excessive riot and intemperance. The priests and people of different parishes entered into formal contests, which of them should have the greatest glutton mass, _i.e._, which of them should devour the greatest quantity of meat and drink in honour of the Holy Virgin.” The Tudor period seems to have produced but little amendment in this respect. Satirists of the day make constant allusion to the fondness of ecclesiastics, both exalted and humble, for strong drink and every kind of sensual indulgence. Skelton, in _Colin Clout_, speaking of the angry disputes of churchmen when under the influence of drink, says:— Such logic men will chop, And in their fury hop When the good ale-sop Doth dance in their foretop. In the old Comedy of _Gammer Gurton’s Needle_, already referred to, the parson is wanted, and the old Gammer gives the boy the following directions for finding him:— Hence swithe to Doctor Rat, hye thee that thou were gone, And pray him come speke with me, cham not well at ease, Shall find him at his chamber, or els at Mother Bees, Els seek him at _Hobfilcher’s_ shop; for as charde it reported There _is the best Ale in the Town, and now is most resorted_. {287} The boy goes forth to seek him as he is ordered; and when he returns, Gammer thus inquires:— _Gammer_: “Where did’st thou finde him, Boy? was he not wher I told thee?” _Cock_: “Yes, yes, even at _Hobfilcher’s_ house, by him that bought and sold me: A _cup of ale_ had in his hand, and a _crab_ lay in the fier . .” Drunkenness amongst the clergy was probably at this period too common for much mention of it to be made in the various records of ecclesiastical offences. An occasional prosecution, however, seems to have been instituted before the Ordinary. One such may be found in the Records of the Ecclesiastical Court of Chester, 1575, where the Vicar of Whalley is charged with being “a common dronker and ale-knight.” The time has happily gone by when a Swift could write of “Three or four parsons full of October, Three or four squires between drunk and sober,” or a Pope of “a parson much bemused with beer,” or when the following old Ballad could be supposed to give a true picture of the habits of village clergymen:— THE PARSON. A parson who had the remarkable foible Of minding the bottle much more than the Bible, Was deemed by his neighbours to be less perplex’d In handling a tankard than handling a text.