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.
Thei side of many manir metes, With song and solas sitting long; {41} And filleth their wombe, and fast fretes, And after mete with harp and song, And hot spices ever among; And fille their wombe with wine and ale.
Piers the Ploughman, in his Crede, which is a satire upon the clergy, makes the Franciscan say, in contrasting his own order with other religious bodies:—
We haunten not tavernes, ne hobelen abouten At merketes and miracles we medeley us never.
The frequent directions to the monks and clergy to abstain from taverns, from drinking bouts and revels, all point to the necessity then felt of tightening the bonds of church discipline, and show the laxity that had prevailed.
John Taylor, the Water Poet, frequently selected ale as his theme, and, when once mounted on his favourite hobby, soon travelled into such realms of marvellous history and miraculous philology, that it almost takes away one’s breath to follow him. The chief work in which he glorifies our English Ale has for its full title,
DRINKE AND WELCOME