THE FEMALE DRAWER, ALL SOULS, OXFORD.
There is allusion in a copy of the Chester Mystery of Christ’s Descent into Hell, among the Harleian MSS., to an ale-wife of Chester, which doubtless suggested this carving. This lady, a little-trust and a cheater in her day, laments having to dwell among the fiends; she endeavours to propitiate one of them by addressing him as “My Sweet Master Sir Sattanas,” who returns the compliment by calling her his “dear darling.” She announces that:—
“Some tyme I was a tavernere,
A gentill gossipe and a tapstere,
Of wyne and ale a trustie brewer,
Which wo hath me wroughte.
Of cannes I kepte no trewe measuer
My cuppes I soulde at my pleasuer,
Deceaving manye a creature,
Tho’ my ale were naughte.”
The Devil then delivers a short speech, which is one of the earliest temperance addresses on record. He says:—
“Welckome, dere ladye, I shall thee wedd,
For many a heavye and droncken head
Cause of thy ale were broughte to bed
Farre worse than anye beaste.”
A HORN OF ALE, ELY.
There is an old saying “pull Devil, pull Baker” connected with the representation of a baker who sold his bread short of weight, and was carried to the lower regions in his own basket; the ale-wife, of our carving, however, does not appear to have retained any power of resistance, however slight or ineffectual.
At All Souls, Oxford, there is a good carving of a woman drawing ale. It is not, apparently, the ale-wife herself, but the maid sent down into the cellar. The maid, perhaps after a good draught of the brew, seems to be blowing a whistle to convey, to the probably listening ears of her mistress upstairs, the impression that the jug has not received any improper attention from her. The artful expression of the ale-loving maid lends countenance to the conjecture that the precaution has not been entirely efficacious. It is to this day a jocular expression in Oxfordshire, and perhaps elsewhere, “You had better whistle while you are drawing that beer.”
A carving at Ely represents Pan as an appreciative imbiber from a veritable horn of ale.