THE STAFF OF LIFE.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1510, 5 August 1912, Page 5

THE STAFF OF LIFE.

t OLD HISTORY. SOME QUAINT ENGLISH USAGES CUMOUS PUNISHMENTS. Mr. ir. V. Allen, of Wellington, seerer tary of tho Master Bakers' Association ol New Zealand, is in receipt of a very interesting publication, which has been issued by the Worshipful Company of Bakers, London, more a= matter of historical curiosity than for any practical purpose it would serve. Tho matter, which has been compiled by Sidney Young, F.S.A., appears under tiirco headings—"The Assiwi of Bread," "Tht> Court of Holy Mole," and "Storcr's Hcmombraneia Concerning tho Company." "Tho Assize, of lircad" deals with tho manner in which bread was "assized" for sale, in tho days prior to open competition. Before the. year ISIS, a baker was not "a freo agent in fixing the price of tho article which he made and sold. He was required by law for centuries to make his various kinds of loaves of different weights, oftentimes calculated to fractions of a pennyweight, and tlieso constantly varying from week to week or month to •month, with each rise or fall of Gd. in the quarter of wheat. To detect any infringement of the. law, the wardens of the company were continually "going in search" with weights and scales.nt any hour of the day and in all parts of tho city and suburbs. They indeed appeared to have had some direct interest in endeavouring to keep tho fraternity honest, for the company's'records still preserve the particulars of thousands of fines inflicted for light weight?, most of which money went into the coffers of the guild. "It is indeed a subject of curiosity," snys tho writer, "to ascertain how it was that bakers could make their loaves to the exact nicety of the minimum weight required. Kiluontion was not then, as now, for very few indeed except lawyers, ecclesiastics, and officials could either read or write, and tho closeness of the calculations required must have, been a sore, trouble and anxiety to 'the medieval baker. It is highly probable that verbal and practical instructions were constantly given by the master and wardens at Makers' iTal! ,to their freemen." How Money Cheapened, .Evidently the bnker in the middle asps whs a baker pure and simple, and did uot vend what ho baked, for an important and curiously interests series of little tables show the amount that should bo paid a baker for dealing with a quarter of wheat. According to a Henry 111 ' Statute, the following charges were made :— d. For three servants H . „ two lads 1 In salt -i For kneading i „ candle i „ wood ~ { „ his bultcl" .V 4-ld. *T)io bullel was the. bolting sieve or cloth. No mention here is made of a charge for milling the wheat, and it is also set out that tho baker got tho bran and two loaves for his advantage. In Ed-ward I's lime the statutory allow, auco had increased, and Iho charges wero a Httto inoro specific:— s. d. For growt , and furningt 0 3 „ wood 0 3 „ the journeymen 0 .3J „ two pages or apprentices 0 1\ „ salt 0 OJ „ yoast 0 ()\ „ candles '~... 0 (H „ his ty-dog i 0 O.J 1 .1 •Growt -was for grinding the wlicat and tf'irning was depreciation on oven. In 1495 money was cheaper, and tho allowance vesica*. Furnace, and wood 0 fi The miller 0 i. Two journeymen and two apprentices 0 5 Salt, 'yeast, candle, and sack bands : 0 2 Himself, his house, his wife, his dog, and his cat 0 7 2 0 With bran to his advantage. One hundred years later fin 1592), tho allowance had jumped considerably. It was as follows:— 6. d. Fuel 0 6 Two journeymen and two boys 1 8 Yeast 1 0 Candles and salt 0 4 Himself, his wife, children! and rent 2 0 Miller's toll 1 i 6 10 The chang* from a state of thralldom to freedom was brought about by fraudulent returns being niado by the bakers to tha meal-weighers of tha city—returns which had to be mado weekly to "tho Clerk of the Cocket Office,' , and were by him tabulated and averaged fer tho information of the Lord Mayor. From tho voluminous evidence given before a Cominittco of tho House of Commons in 1815, it was apparent that tho returns were fraudulent, and it repcTted lo the House:—"That it is expedient that tho Bread Assize Laws for the City of London and within ten miles of the Eoyal Exchange .should bo forthwith repealed. The repealing Act .was carried by tho llouso. of Commons:'on July 12, 1815, eineo which day it has been open for anyone to engage in tho baking industry, free from- the control of the harassing assize laws. Tho Court of Holy Mote. . Tho Court of Holy Mote was the Court which tried offonces against tho baking laws, and tho only record of jls proceedings nro token from Quest Book Xo. 51, extending from 1581 to 1031. According to tho Articles of the Inquest, the offences covered a wide scope. It was not permitted for a baker to bake bread without his own brand or seal upon it: to heat his oven with any heath, rood, stubble, or straw. No baker was allowed to "nourish cay hogs within his house," and (hero were stringent laws against ndultemlion. "The principal business transacted by tho Court of Holy Mote,".says the writer on the Iwo days .in' January, was Iho exlamination of the teals, with which all linkers were compelled to stamp their bread, the whole of the company being summoned (o appear and -produce their seals, which were examined by each of Iho jurymen with a list- or roll,, and if any wero found broken, dofsccd, or lost the baker was at onco fined by tho Holy Mote Court." Some of the Fines Inflicted. In 1583 Hugh Find wm fined twelvepenco for openly abusing tho inquest and for contempt in throwing ono of his seals into tho fire. In 1589, it is recorded that Robert Colley. "for coining both the days in a leather doublet, and n pair of leather breeches," was fined cightpcncc. In 159", Mr. Douo' a;:ul twelvo others were fiiwd fourpencc each for swearing. Tn IGOS, ono Arthur Harrison (evidently a woq), "for calling Pctor Wraxnll (being a butler) Peter Butler, and for misnaming him Petor Uaseoll, for Wraxall" was mulcted to the extent of Is. Three years later, it is recorded that the same Harrison abmed Peter Wrnx-all and named him Rasca.ll, and was once moro fined 4d. Harrison was not very far out in stimmiiiir up Wraxall, for tho sumo year the Court fined Wraxall Cd. "for detaining and keeping a pair of sieves of William .Montgomery," and, in 1011, Wraxnll, grown thoroughly bad, was lined ss, for "diver.? contempts." In 1013 t.h* Court fined IJol»rt lTnnnyn<r "for snyinjr to his brother that he would see him •starve Tftlhf-rUiftn fill him any nip," but Roberl has hi« rovense. for the very next entry rocDnls o linn of Bd. aOftinst Thomas irnnnvne "l'nr pivin? counsel to conceal the stewnnlV bill which was taken up. saying. it. wo slnll have good «ncrt niinn! , " DnrinT the same session Ruliert: H:iilnvng was lined lid. "fnr l.ui-n----)\\s Thomas- Slifft>il<l in tho liiind with n rnal of five." iiml K.lwnnl Smith was finrrl •Id. "for chnrgiiv,' tho whole rojiuwuy with taking nw»y and concealing lu< <;love«." Cost of Livinn. Stow, who.in "Remembrancer" i» freeJj u&ed. wo« evidently a, line echolur and 1

antiquary, and his records are highly pri7.ee} by Iho company. Ho relates of a I supplication exhibited to tho liord-Mayor 1 and Court of Aldermen for mitigation of j the assize (in 1580). Tho text of tho peti- j tiou is: - ' I "Most humbly plioweth unto your honours and worships your poor and grieved orators iho Company of linkers That Whereas by reason cf Iho. | giont prices of wheat and meul and of tha 1 small yield of the same, your said orators . j have lung been humble suitors unto your j honours and worships for the mitigation i of tho assize of bread and as yet can iiy mo incjns obtain their raid lawful request, whereby many of your poor ora- 4 tors aro greatly impoverished, somo bo ] almost utterly undone, and some others j kive left olf linking rather than they will >„ givo away their goods or bo committed- 1 or exclaimed im as robber of the cily J (0 (heir great grief and defamation, -may -, it please your honours and worships in j tender consideration .of the promises (0 : grant such an assize of bread as by which \ your poor oraturs may live by their pain- j ful labours, and.the tame to boset,down '- { as it mav be kept, otherwise yom - said ' j orators shall be forced either, to. leave, j their vocation, to givo away their goods, ; or to fine elsewhere, for (ho obtaining Id 5 live by their labours in that vocation . whercunto God hath called them in thin , honourable city." Rather than which ; your taid orators do most humbly bo- [ seech your honours and worships, and \ that in the name of Jesus Christ, to grant , .1 their said lawful request. That both i your said orators may live by their lnlv ■ ours (and also doing wcl]), may be freed, } from imprisonment, giving away their bread, defamation, or exclamation for do- ; fault only of one ounce, so that your soul v poor grieved orators, with (heir wiws, . children, and families, liavo cause or 'nevertheless bounden botl\'to praise Clod, ;' and also to pray unto God for your lion- ; ours and worships, prosperous estate, botlv : in this life and forever." Xα notice appears to have been taken of this very, doleful position. . A Man of Guile The. numerous references lo petty fraud. ■; which tho book recalls stamps the ancient baker as a man of guile. One , case ; heard before the mayor and aldermen <n 1 June 4. 1327, is worth recording for the neat trickery it exposed in Iho days when people took their own dough to bo baked by the bnker. On that day (in London) it is recorded Hint "John Brid was attached to make answer as <to certain falsehood, malice, and deceit by him committed for fkilfully and artfully causing a certain hole to be mado uiion a (able or his called a ,'moUlingbonlo. , allor the manner- of a mouse-trap, (hero being a certain wicket warily provided for clopiiig and opening such holes and that when ■ his neighbours came with their dough l<! be baked, the said John put such donch upon the inoldiiigbordc, and over the hole. beforementioncd, tor making loaves UK-re, from to be baked, and had one of mi household Rilting-in secret beneath such , table, which servant cnrefully opcningllm said hole, craftily withdrew bit;by bit Fomo of the dough, frequently collecting ■' , great quantities falsely, wickedly, and maliciously, lo the scandal and disgrace, cf the whole" city." '"'„,' '. '' - >■ Seven bakers and anil two liakerewcs wero tried «t the same time for Minilav offences, and all were «ntcneed to the mllory "with dough hiiiis round their necks,, there In remain until Voters ; e.t St. ■ Paul's should be ended, but the two women were not placed.on tne piltorv, bein? remanded to Newgate in the custody of the sheriffs."