50 THE HONEY-BEE. 



Properly speaking, the word " metheglin " was 

 applied to the superior sorts of mead, the two 

 beverages being related much in the same way as 

 effervescing bottled cider and the ordinary draught 

 cider. 



Mead-making seems anciently to have been con- 

 sidered a matter of great interest and importance, 

 and we are told by old authors that the Court 

 brewer of this beverage for Princes of Wales was 

 the physician of the household, and ranked eleventh 

 in point of dignity. ^Ethelstan, King of Kent in 

 the tenth century, on paying a visit to his relative 

 vEthelfleda, expressed his satisfaction that there was 

 no- stint of mead. According to an antique rule of 

 the Welsh Court, there were " three things which 

 must be communicated to the king before they were 

 imparted to any other person. First, every sentence 

 of the judge; second, every new song; and third, 

 every cask of mead." 



Queen Elizabeth was so fond of this beverage as to 

 have it made regularly every year ; and her recipe 

 has been preserved to our own day. It may interest 

 our readers to give it entire : " Take of sweetbriar 

 leaves and thyme each one bushel, rosemary half a 

 bushel, bay leaves one peck. Seethe these ingredients 

 in a furnace full of water [containing probably not 

 less than 120 gallons], boil for half an hour ; pour 

 the whole into a vat, and when cooled to a proper 

 temperature [about 75 Fahr.], strain. Add to every 

 six gallons of the strained liquor a gallon of fine 

 honey, and work the mixture together for half an 

 hour. Repeat the stirring occasionally for two days ; 

 then boil the liquor afresh, skim it till it becomes 



