Gef thou havest bred and ale Ne put thou nout al in thy male[12], Thou del hit sum aboute. Be thou fre of thy meeles, Wherso me eny mete deles, Gest thou nout with-oute.[13] “_Betere is appel y-geve then y-ete,_” _Quoth Hendyng_. In the fourteenth century taxes seem to have been occasionally levied on ale for certain specific purposes. In 1363 the inhabitants of Abbeville were granted a tax on ale for the purpose of repairing their fortifications. For each _lotus of ale of gramville_ the tax was one penny _Parisien_; for each _lotus of god-ale_ the tax was ½d. (Rhymer 2. 712.). In a curious old poem of the early part of the fourteenth century entitled _De Baptismo_, by William of Shoreham, it appears to the poet, necessary to lay down that ale must not be used for purposes of baptism, but “kende water” (_i.e._, natural water) only. The verse is as follows:— Therefore ine wine me ne may, Inne sithere ne inne pereye, Ne inne thing that neuere water nes Thory cristning man may reneye, Ne inne ale; For thei hight were water ferst, Of water neth hit tale.[14] [12] Male = bag or wallet. [13] Whether men give any meat away or no, Go thou not without (giving). [14] See p. 401. This old English requires some little explanation, and may be rendered thus:—Therefore man may not renounce (his sins) through christening in wine, in cider, nor in perry, nor in anything that never was water, nor yet in ale, for though this (_i.e._, ale) was water first, it is acounted water no longer. {39} Whilst Christmas, as far as eating was concerned, always had its specialities, its liquor _carte_ seems even in the thirteenth century to have been of a very varied character. An old carolist of the period thus sings (we follow Douce’s translation):— Lordlings, Christmas loves good drinking, Wines of Gascoigne, France, Anjou, English ale that drives out thinking, Prince of liquors, old or new, Every neighbour shares the bowl, Drinks of the spicy liquor deep; Drinks his fill without control, Till he drowns his care in sleep. _Piers the Ploughman_, a poem by William Longland, written towards the close of the fourteenth century, contains a curious confession of the tricks played by the ale-sellers upon their customers:— I boughte hire Barly heo breuh hit to sulle; Peni-ale and piriwhit heo pourede to-gedere For laborers and louh folk that liuen be hem-seluen. The Beste in the Bed-chaumbre lay bi the wowe, Hose Bummede therof Boughte hit ther-after, A galoun for a grote, God wot, no lasse, Whon hit com in Cuppemel; such craftes me usede.