In 16th century England, the Ale Houses Act 1551 made drunkenness a civil offense. A common punishment for those who disobeyed this law was the drunkard's cloak.
The drunkard's cloak was made from a barrel, with a hole in the top for one's head to poke out of, and two arm holes on the side. The person being punished would be "paraded through the town" in this attire, as a form of pillory.
I imagine it would have been pretty strange for travelers, visiting England, to see people walking down the street wearing barrels without knowing the context. I also wonder how heavy and uncomfortable the cloak would have felt after walking for a while. I assume that aside from the aesthetic embarrassment of the situation, the phsycial discomfort would have been a notable part of the punishment.
"An early description of the drunkard's cloak appears in Ralph Gardiner's England's Grievance Discovered, first published in 1655. A John Willis claimed to have travelled to Newcastle and seen "men drove up and down the streets, with a great tub, or barrel, opened in the sides, with a hole in one end, to put through their heads, and to cover their shoulders and bodies, down to the small of their legs, and then close the same, called the new fashioned cloak, and so make them march to the view of all beholders; and this is their punishment for drunkards, or the like." (Wikipedia)
