. As the day approached for the opening of
the ale, which, if it were a great one, would be kept for four or five
days or more, all was bustle in the parish to prepare for a feasting
which often assumed truly Gargantuan proportions. Cuckoo kings and
princes were chosen, or lords and ladies of the games; ale-drawers
were appointed. For the brewing of the ale the wardens bought many
quarters of malt out of the church stock, but much, too, was donated
by the parishioners for the occasion. Breasts of veal, quarters of fat
lambs, fowls, eggs, butter, cheese, as well as fruit and spices, were
also purchased. Minstrels, drum players and morris-dancers were
engaged or volunteered their services. In the church-house, or church
tavern, a general-utility building found in many parishes, the great
brewing crocks were furbished, and the roasting spits cleaned. Church
trenchers and platters, pewter or earthen cups and mugs were brought
out for use; but it was the exception that a parish owned a stock of
these sufficient for a great ale. Many vessels were borrowed or hired
from the neighbors or from the wardens of near-by parishes, for, as
will presently be seen, provident churchwardens derived some income
from the hiring of the parish pewter as well as money from the loan of
parish costumes and stage properties. When the opening day arrived
people streamed in from far and wide. If any important personage or
delegation from another village were expected, the parish went forth
in a body with bag-pipes to greet them, and (with permission from the
ecclesiastical authorities) the church bells were merrily rung out. At
the long tables, when the ale was set abroach, "well is he," writes a
contemporary, "that can get the soonest to it, and spend the most at
it, for he that sitteth the closest to it, and spendes the most at it,
hee is counted the godliest man of all the rest ... because it is
spent uppon his Church forsooth."[249] The receipts from these ales
were sometimes very large. So important were they at Chagford, Devon,
that the churchwardens were sometimes called alewardens.[250] At Mere,
Wilts, out of a total wardens' receipts of L21 5s. 7-1/2d. for the two
years 1559-61, the two church-ales netted L17 3s. 1-1/2d.,[251] thus
leaving only L5 2s. 6d. as receipts from other sources for these two
years. At a later period, on the other hand, this relation of receipts
was entirely reversed. For instance, in 1582-3 the wardens secured
only