Ale-knight

Come, all you brave wights, / That are dubbed ale-knights, / Now set out yourselves in sight; / And let them that crack / In the praises of sack, / Know malt is of mickle might.

Payne, for a long time, lived and worked alone in his filthy den; but towards the close of his career, he took in, as a fellow-labourer, an excellent workman named Weir. This man was a regularly 'dubbed ale-knight,' loved barley-wine to the full as much as his partner, and used to sing: […]