Hertf. ss.  At the general Quarter-Session of the public Peace of the County of Hertford, holden at Hertford, for the County aforesaid, on Monday next after the Feast of the translation of St. Thomas the Martyr: that is to say, the fourteenth and sixteenth dayes of july, in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred fifty and six.  
FOrasmuch as his Highness the Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland,& Ireland, and the Dominions thereto belonging, hath taken special notice of the mischiefs and great disorders which daily happen and are committed in Taverns, inns and Alehouses, which are extremely multiplied in this Nation;& of the great profaneness that is spread, and the many outrageous practices and wickednesses that are from time to time committed in such houses;& that very many of the Keepers of those houses, as well as the Resorters to such houses, are lewd, evil disposed, and debauched persons, and disaffected to the Present Government: which misdoings do much tend to the dishonour of Almighty God, and are a scandal to Religion, and are to the disturbance of the public peace and tranquillity of this Nation; notwithstanding the many good Laws and Statutes made for the prevention and punishment of such evils: and his Highness having required the special care and diligen●… of the Justices of the public Peace, and of other the Officers and Ministers of this County, who are therein concer●ed: Therefore, for the more due and exact execution of the Laws and Statutes made against the said enormities and offences, and for the better prevention of them for the future, it is thought fit, and accordingly ordered by the Bench this present Session, That no person whatsoever living in any house within this County, shall from henceforth be licenced or allowed to keep any Alehouse or Victuallinghouse, unless his house be in the common road or openstreet, and not standing alone; and in such places, no greater number then necessity requires: and that such persons so to be licenced, be of honest life and conversation, and of good ability, having conveniency for entertainment of Travellers and Passengers, well-affected to the Present Government, and of persons who have not adhered to the late King and his Party: also, That no bailiff, or his under-Officer, Follower, or Servant, shall be licenced or allowed to keep any Alehouse or Victualling-house in this County: and, That every Alehouse-Keeper, who shall be licenced, shall have a Sign over his Door, and none else to be licenced hereafter. And that this necessary work may be the more effectually and fully performed,& that the great evil, or the neglect thereof, may be clearly discovered at whose door it shall happen to lye, his Highness Justices of the Peace of this County, are in their respective Divisions to take special 〈◇〉 for the effectual suppressing of all such Alehouse-Keepers as are, or at any time hereafter shall be convicted of the profanation of the Lords Day, by receiving into his, her or their house or houses, any Company, or of swearing, drunkenness, suffering disorders, tippling, game, or playing at Tables, Billiard-table, Shovelboard, Cards, Dice, Nine-pins, Pidgeon-holes, Trunks, or of keeping of Bowling-Alley, or Bowling-Green, or of any of them, or of any other Games: and that all such Victuallers or Alehousekeepers as shall with their privities or consents suffer any Person or Traveler that shall lodge and continue in his house until the Lord's Day in the morning, to depart from thence,( otherwise, then to divine Worship or Sermon, to some place near adjacent) until monday morning, without the allowance or approbation of some Justice of Peace of this County. And it is further ordered, That no Person who shall be suppressed for any of the Causes aforesaid, be admitted or again allowed to keep Alehouse or Victualling-house within the said County for the space of three yeers, according to the form of the Statute in that behalf made and provided for disorderly Alehouses: and also, If a greater number of Alehouses have been licenced in this County, then are of absolute necessity, or whose houses are not convenient, or the persons not so qualified as is above expressed, that their Licen●es be called in,& they suppressed; and that no other person shall be hereafter licenced to sell Ale or Beer within this County, but by the consent& approbation of the greater number of the Justices of the said County in open Sessions of Peace, or at their several meetings within their respective Divisions;& that none but able sureties shall hereafter be taken for performance of the conditions of their recognisances; that is to say, such as are in Lands, or Goods, or both, worth one hundred pounds at the least: and that no Victualler, Brewer, or Alehouse-keeper be taken as surety or sureties one for another: also, That no Bay life or his under-Officer, Follower or servant, be taken as sureties for any such Victualler so to be licenced as aforesaid. And it is further ordered, That the Iustices of Peace of this County, shall take care that all and every the Church-wardens, Constables, and other Officers, within their respective Divisions, that shall be herein concerned, shall be diligent in the execution of all Warrants to them to be directed, for the levying of Forfeitures and penalties against Vintners, Taverners, innkeepers, Alehouse-keepers, Victuallers and tipplers, or against any of them: and that the said forfeitures and penalties be duly employed and accounted for:& that such as shall be found def●… ti●e therein, shall be punished according to Law: and that they the said Officers shall make return to the general Quarter-●… essions from time to time, of the Names of all such Brewers as have or hereafter shall lay in Beer or Ale into any house or houses of any unlicensed Alehouse or tippling-house.  
By the Court.  
Examined by Edward hid, Clerk of the Peace.