SCOTTALES, were meetings held formerly in England for the purpose of drinking ale, of which the expence was defrayed by joint contribution. Thus the tenants of South Malling in Sussex, which belonged to the Archbishop of Canterbury, were, at the keeping of a court, to entertain the Lord or his bailiff with a drinking, or an ale; and the stated quotas towards the charge were, that a man should pay three pence halfpenny for himself and his wife, and a widow and a cottager three halfpence. In the manor of Ferring, in the same county, and under the same jurisdiction, it was the custom for the tenants named to make a scotale of sixteen pence halfpenny, and to allow out of each sixpence three halfpence for the bailiff.
Common scotales in taverns, at which the clergy were not to be present, are noticed in several ecclesiastical canons. They were not to be published in the church by the clergy or the laity; and a meeting of more than ten persons of the same parish or vicinage was a scotale that was generally prohibited. There were also common drinkings, which were denominated lett-ale, bride-ale, clerk-ale, and church-ale. To a lett-ale probably all the residents in a manorial district were contributors; and the expence of a bride-ale was defrayed by the relations and friends of a happy pair, who were not in circumstances to bear the charges of a wedding dinner. This custom prevails occasionally in some districts of Scotland even at this day, under the denomination of a penny bride-ale, and was very common fifty or sixty years ago. The clerk's ale was in the Easter holidays, and was the method taken to enable clerks of parishes to collect more readily their dues.
Mr Warton, in his History of English Poetry, has inserted the following extract from an old indenture, which shews clearly the design of a church-ale. "The parishioners of Elveton and Okebrook, in Derbyshire, agree jointly to brew four ales, and every ale of one quarter of malt, betwixt this and the feast of St John the Baptist next coming; and that every inhabitant of the said town of Okebrook shall be at the several ales. And every husband and his wife shall pay two pence, every cottager one penny; and all the inhabitants of Elveton shall have and receive all the profits and advantages coming of the said ales, to the use and behoof of the said church of Elveton."
The give-ales were the legacies of individuals; and from that circumstance entirely gratuitous. They seem to have been very numerous, and were generally left to the poor; though, from the largeness of the quantity of ale enjoined to be brewed, it must have been sometimes intended that others were to partake of them. These bequests were likewise, not unfrequently, made to the light or altar of a saint, with directions for singing masses at the obit, trental, or anniversary of the testator. Hence, though scotales were generally kept in houses of public resort, the give-ales were sometimes dispensed in the church, and often in the churchyard; by which means "Godde's house (as Sumner says in his Treatise on Gavelkind) was made a tavern of gluttons." Such certainly would be Chalk church, if in it was
Scowring was kept the give-ale of William May of that parish; for he ordered his wife to "make in bread six bushels of wheat, and in drink ten bushels of malt, and in cheese twenty-pence, to give to poor people for the health of his soul; and he ordered that, after the decease of his wife, his executors and feoffees should continue the custom for evermore."
SCOWRING or STUFFS, is an art much more generally practised than understood. It supposes, says Chapal, 1st, a knowledge of the different substances capable of staining any kind of cloth; 2d, of the substances to which recourse must be had, in order to make those deposited on the stuff to disappear; 3d, a knowledge of the effects produced on colours by those reagents, which it may be necessary to employ to destroy stains; 4th, a knowledge of the manner in which the cloth is affected by those reagents; 5th, of the art of restoring a colour changed or faded. Of those bodies which occasion spots on different kinds of cloth, some are easily distinguished by their appearance, such as greasy substances; but others have more complex effects, such as acids, alkalies, perspired matter, fruits, urine, &c. Acids redden black, fawn, violet, and puce-colour, and every shade communicated with orchilla-weed, iron, astringents, and every blue except indigo and prussian blue. They render the yellows paler, except that of arnatto, which they change into orange.
Alkalies change to violet the reds produced by Brass-wood, logwood, and cochineal. They render the greens on woollen cloth yellowish, make yellow brownish, and change the yellow produced by arnatto to aurora. Perspired matter produces the same effects as alkalies.
When the spots are produced by simple bodies on stuffs, it is easy to remove them by the means already known. Greasy substances are removed by alkalies, soaps, the yolk of eggs, fat earths; oxyds of iron, by the nitric and oxalic acids; acids by alkalies, and reciprocally. Stains of fruit on white stuffs may be removed by the sulphureous acid, and still better by the oxygenated muriatic acid. But when the spots are of a complex kind, it will be necessary to employ several means in succession. Thus, to destroy the stain of coom from carriage-wheels, after the grease has been dissolved, the oxyd of iron may be removed by the oxalic acid.
As colours are often changed by reagents, it will be necessary, in order to restore them, that the seower should possess a thorough knowledge of the art of dyeing, and how to modify the means according to circumstances. This becomes the more difficult, when it is necessary to reproduce a colour similar to that of the rest of the stuff, to apply that colour only in one place, and often to restore the mordant by which it was fixed, and which has been destroyed, or even the first tint which gave the colour its intensity. It may be readily conceived, that the means to be employed must depend on the nature of the colour and the ingredients by which it was produced; for it is known that the same colour may be obtained from very different bodies. Thus, after an alkali has been employed to destroy an acid spot on browns, violets, blues, poppies, &c. the yellow spot which remains may be made to disappear by a solution of tin; a solution of sulphat of iron restores the colour to brown stuffs which have been galled; acids restore to
their former splendour yellows which have been rendered dusky or brown by alkalies; blacks produced by logwood become red by acids; alkalies change these red spots to yellow, and a little of the astringent principle makes them again become black. A solution of one part of indigo in four parts of sulphuric acid, diluted with a sufficient quantity of water, may be employed with success to revive the blue colour of cotton or wool which has been changed. Scarlet may be revived by means of cochineal and a solution of the muriat of tin, &c.
The choice of reagents is not a matter of indifference. Vegetable acids are preferable; the sulphureous acid, however, may be employed for stains occasioned by fruit; it does not change the blue of silk nor colours produced by astringents; it does not degrade the yellow of cotton. Ammonia succeeds better than fixed alkalies in removing spots produced by acids. It is employed in vapour; its action is speedy, and seldom alters the colour.
The means of removing greasy spots are well known. This effect is produced by alkalies, fullers earth, volatile oils dissolved in alcohol, a heat proper for volatilizing grease, &c. Spots occasioned by ink, rust, or iron-mould of any kind, and all those produced by the yellow oxyd of iron, are removed by the oxalic acid: the colour may be restored by alkalies, or a solution of the muriat of tin. These spots may be removed also by the oxygenated muriatic acid, when they are on white stuffs or paper.
The action of alkalies, and that of perspired matter, are the same: their spots may be effaced by acids, or even by a weak solution of the muriat of tin. When these spots arise from several unknown causes, in order to destroy them, recourse must be had to polychrest compositions. The following may be considered as one of the most efficacious: Dissolve white soap in alcohol, and mix this solution with the yolks of from four to six eggs; add gradually essence of turpentine; and incorporate with the whole some fullers earth, in such a manner as to form balls of a suitable consistency. Moisten the spot; and having rubbed it with these balls, the spot will be removed by washing the stuff. All spots, except iron-mould and ink, may be removed in this manner.
Washing destroys the lustre, and leaves a tarnished place disagreeable to the eye; but the lustre may be restored by drawing over the washed place, and in the direction of the pile, a brush moistened in water, impregnated with a little gum. You may then apply a sheet of paper, or a piece of cloth, and a considerable weight, under which the cloth must be left to dry.