This, being interpreted, in modern English would read somewhat as follows:—I bought her barley they brew it to sell; Peny ale (_i.e._, ale at a penny a gallon) and small perry she poured together for labourers and poor folk that live by themselves. The best lay in the bed chamber by the wall, whoso drank thereof bought it (_i.e._, the penny ale) by the sample (_i.e._, of the best) a gallon for a groat, God knows, no less, when it came in by cupfulls; such craft I used. Piers the Ploughman, in describing the scarcity of labour after the great plague in the fourteenth century and the independence of the labouring men that arose from the high wages they were enabled to demand, says that after harvest they would eat none but the finest bread, Ne non half-penny Ale In none wyse drynke, Bote of the Beste and the Brouneste that Brewesters sullen. * * * * * Mai no peny-Ale hem paye ne no pece of Bacun, {40} Bote hit weore Fresch Flesch or elles Fisch y-Friyet, Both chaud and plus chaud for chele of heore mawe.[15] [15] As we should say, “hot and hot,” for chill of their stomach. Chaucer has many references to ale. The Cook, who was no mean proficient in his proper art, was a judge of ale as well:— A coke thei hadde with them for the nones, To boyle the chickens, and the marrie bones, And pouder marchaunt tarte, and galengale, Well coude he know a pot of London ale. The Miller prepares himself to tell his tale aright by swallowing mighty draughts of the same liquor. He knows he is drunk, and is not ashamed, thinking it quite sufficient excuse to lay the blame upon that seductive fluid, “the ale of Southwerk”:— Now herkeneth, quod the miller, all and some But first I make a protestatioun, That I am dronke, I know it by my soun; And therefore if that I misspeke or say, Wite it the ale of Southwerk, I you pray. The two Cambridge students who lodge a night at the miller of Trompington’s are feasted by their host in this wise:— The miller the toun his daughter sent For ale and bred, and roasted hem a goos, * * * * * They soupen and they speken of solace, And drinken ever strong ale at the best. Abouten midnight wente they to rest. Before they went, however, they had “dronken all that was in crouke,” and the miller, who appears to have had the lion’s share, had decidedly imbibed too much. Well hath this miller vernished his hed, Full pale he was, for-dronken, and nought red. * * * * * This miller hath so wisely bibbed ale, That as an hors he snorteth in his slepe. Geoffrey Chaucer, along with other poets and writers of his times, was unsparing in his denunciations of the vices of the clergy, their sloth, gluttony, drunkenness and other grievous lapses.