at that time Duke of Aquitaine, complained that his revenues were decreased by the absence of the English purchasers, and that large quantities of wine remained unsold, to the great loss of the Gascons, who, for the most part, subsisted on that commerce; it was decreed that any native of England, Ireland, or Wales, not being a mechanic, might go into Gascony to purchase wine, giving security to the magistrates of the port from whence he sailed that he would buy at least 100 tuns, and would not take them. into any foreign country, under pain of the confiscation of his ship and cargo, and imprisonment.

At the same time the statute of 1353 was not repealed, but was in full force, at least, in 1371. In that year, the wine merchants of Gascony, acknowledging the good reception that they met with in England, and the privileges they found there for their trade, granted to the king a duty of two sous sterling per tun, under the name of 'custume.'

In 1381, the dearness of wine having attracted the attention of the authorities, the king issued a decree on the sale of that article, by which it was prohibited to retail in any part of the kingdom any sort of sweet wine or claret, under pain of confiscation. As for other wines such as Gascon, Rochelle, Rhenish, d'Oseye, and Spanish, if any Englishman should cross the sea to procure and bring them into any part of the kingdom, he was not to sell them dearer than at the following prices, under pain of forfeiture:The best Gascon, Oseye, and Spanish wines, 100 sous per tun; and the inferior qualities, 7, 61, and 6 marks per tun; the best Rochelle wine, 6 marks and under according to value; as, for example, 51, 5, 41, and 4 marks. Pipes and other measures of less capacity were to be sold according to the size of the cask and the quality of the wine. As for the retail sale of Gascon, Oseye, and Spanish wines, the best class was not to be sold within the kingdom for more than 6d., and on the spot (e dedeins), according to quality, under pain of confiscation of the whole stock: the price of Rochelle wine was not to exceed

four deniers. With respect to Rhenish, as the vessels in which it was kept had no fixed measurement, it was decreed that a gallon of the best sort should not be sold, either wholesale or retail, at more than 6d. in any part of the kingdom, under the same penalty. These were the same prices as those fixed by the regulations of the 26th of November, 1342.

However, the prohibition on the sale of sweet wine, except by retail, until the feast of St. John, in the year 1382, and after that period, except wholesale, gave rise to complaints, which were carried to Parliament, where the king in order to give satisfaction, ordered that these sorts of wine should be placed in the same category as the rest.

In the following year, the legislation on wines was still more modified: the recent decrees respecting this commodity were repealed, and the statute of the 31 Edward III. put in force.

In 1420, the Commons petitioned that no Malvoise Romagna, or any other sort of sweet wine, should be sold by retail, under the penalty of 100 sous fine to the king for each offence, besides the forfeiture of the price of the wine. They also asked that no Gascon wine should be sold for less than 6d. per gallon, under pain of a fine of 6l. and a like forfeiture for each offence; whilst, for Rhenish and Rochelle wine, the tariff should be at least 4d. per gallon, under the same penalties, &c. The parliament replied, 'Soit-il comme est désiré par la pétition, s'il plest au roy.'

Henry IV. also busied himself with regulating the retail trade. The jubilee which took place in 1420 at Canterbury, and which attracted to the shrine of St. Thomas à Becket about 100,000 pilgrims from every part of Great Britain and Ireland, and even from the Continent, appears to have had a beneficial effect upon the commerce of Bordeaux. At least, a document of the period states that Gascon wine was so plentiful in the metropolis that a bottle of red wine was sold for 3d., and a bottle of white wine for 6d.

That war, which lasted 100 years, and which was then raging, doubtless made communication with La Rochelle and Bordeaux difficult and dangerous; but it did not however, prevent the consumption of wine by our neighbours from being greater than one would imagine. In 1410, a truce having been concluded between the two belligerents, it was stipulated that the English merchants might go to the first of these two towns, either by land or sea, to lade with wines, and return into their own country, with reciprocity to the inhabitants of La Rochelle who chose to go and sell their wines in England; and a proclamation notified this arrangement in all the ports situated to the west of that district.

A complaint, not very creditable to the wine trade of Bordeaux, was made some years later to Parliament. The petitioners declared that formerly the wines of Gascony and Guienne were well and conscientiously made, as they ought to be; they were of a good colour and quality, pleasant to the taste, kept well for four or five seasons, and had only four or five inches of dregs in the tun, and two or three in the pipe; but that now, in consequence of their dishonest manufacture, that is to say, in consequence of a deficiency of eight or nine inches in the casks in which they were placed on coming out of the press, the said wines were unable to have their natural fermentation, and throw off their scum as they ought. From whence, not only did great inconvenience and annoyance result to owners of great houses, who thought that they were sufficiently provided with this article of consumption, but also serious damage and loss to other buyers and sellers in the present and past times; and, to all appearance, it would be so for the future, unless a prompt remedy should be found for this state of things.

In order to effect this, the petitioners besought the king to direct the Seneschal of Guienne, by letters under the privy seal, addressed to all the towns and boroughs of that province, and especially to the mayor and council

of the town of Bordeaux, to order that in every place in the wine-growing districts experienced men should be appointed to investigate, or cause to be investigated, the abuses recently introduced, and to introduce again the honest system anciently used; and that it should not be lawful to bring any cask of wine from the place where it was grown to any market for the purpose of selling it for exportation, unless it had been first tested, and marked as good and genuine, with a known seal and trade mark, accompanied with the stamp of the persons commissioned to inspect and test the said casks, under pain of the confiscation of the wine exposed for sale against the said regulations. If, in any of the said towns or boroughs, the wine was found to be adulterated or spoilt, the head of the cask was to be started, and the wine publicly poured out, according to the custom of the City of London. The petitioners also desired that it should be forbidden to sell, or load with, in Gascony or Guienne, for England, any wine except that which came up to the standard, and at such times when the said wine should have been sufficiently and properly tested in the manner and form above mentioned, so that there should not be more than four or five inches of lees in the tun, and three in the pipe; and, for the satisfaction of the buyer, the gauge of each vessel was to be certified.

During the next year, or rather longer, the wine trade between Gascony and England was interrupted; at least, the English merchants were no longer allowed to cross over to buy wine at vintage-time.

In 1444, the Commons again petitioned the king in Parliament to consider the points which they submitted to him. From time immemorial, a great part of the wine grown in the Duchy of Guienne had been usually brought to the ports of Bordeaux and Bayonne, both by land and by the rivers Gironde and Dordogne, at the feast of St. Martin. This was, as it still is, said the petitioners, the best and most wholesome of all the wine grown in those districts.

At this period, a great quantity of this wine, and of that grown in the neighbourhood of these parts, came to England, and was there sold cheaper and in greater plenty than at present. There used to be also a great number of wealthy English merchants in that country, on account of their being able to buy and sell wine and other merchandise in every part of the duchy; as, also, great numbers of the Gascon merchants of Bordeaux, and other places in the said duchy, used to resort yearly to England at the vintagetime with their wine, because they were not able to sell it at Bordeaux or other places of the said duchy to the English merchants. So that, at that time, England owned more than half as many ships again than at present, which was a great source of pride and wealth for all classes; and, moreover, the power of such a marine was a great defence for the realm, and cause of fear for all its enemies. And at present,' the petitioners added, the said English merchants are obliged to buy their wine and sell their merchandise at Bordeaux or Bayonne, and at no other place, to the great loss of the whole country, and to the diminution of its trade and mercantile marine.' Further, they desired Parliament to decree that all classes of wine grown in the said duchy, under the sway of the King of England, should be admitted into the said ports; and that the English merchants should be allowed to buy and sell wine and every sort of merchandise freely throughout the whole of Guienne, as they had been wont to do of old, without let or hindrance, with a penalty of 1,000l. sterling for those who transgressed; promising for their part to pay to the king and his heirs all customs, subsidies, tolls, dues, and other rights which were customary, &c. This declaration, as well as that which terminated the petition, although it had for its object the common advantage of the realm, and a beneficial end, did not produce any effect on Henry VI. and his council; and it was answered by the formal Le roy s'advisera,' which was equivalent to a refusal.