OCR Text |
Show When Peg Tankard Was Used. It is true no doubt that among the early Anglo-Saxons of the same stock as the Germans there was a great deal of hard drinking and a good deal of drunkenness, although after (he incursions of the Normans the habits of the country in this respect were greatly improved. Very quaint and very curious are some of the regulations reg-ulations which were adopted for the purpose of compelling thirsty souls to practice moderation. At the instance, it is said, of St. Dunstan, archbishop of Canterbury, King Edgar, for the purpose pur-pose of regulating the quantity a man might drink, ordained that pegs or pins should be inserted in the large drinking vessels then in use. The first person who drank emptied the tankard tank-ard to the first peg from the top, the second to the second peg, and so on. Anyone who went beyond one pin was liable to a penalty. |