MEAD. 51 



clear, and return it to the vat to cool. When reduced 

 again to a proper temperature [about 80 Fahr.], 

 pour it into a vessel from which fresh ale or beer has 

 just been emptied; let it work for three days, and 

 then barrel it. When fit [after fermentation] to be 

 stopped down, tie up a bag of beaten cloves and 

 mace [half an ounce of each], and suspend it in the 

 liquor from the bung-hole. When it has stood for 

 half a year, it will be fit for use/' 



Mead remained in favour long after the introduc- 

 tion of malt liquors, and the northern inhabitants of 

 Europe drank it habitually till comparatively modern 

 times. Even so late as Dryden's day, it would ap- 

 pear to have been in much more common use than 

 now : for he .says of its employment for tempering 

 strong wines : 



" T' allay the strength and hardness of the wine, 

 Let with old Bacchus new metheglin join." 



It was probably the liquor called by Ossian the 

 joy and strength of skulls, and which so much 

 delighted his heroes. It was the ideal nectar of the 

 Scandinavian nations, which they expected to drink 

 in heaven, using the skulls of their enemies for 

 goblets, while they were to regale themselves also 

 on boars' flesh. So we read in Penrose's Carousal 

 of Odin : 



" Fill the honeyed beverage high, 

 Fill the skulls, 'tis Odin's cry ! 

 Heard ye not the powerful call, 

 Thundering through the vaulted hall ? 

 Fill the meath, and spread the board, 

 Vassals of the grisly lord ! 

 The feast begins, the skull goes round, 

 Laughter shouts the shouts resound." 



E 2 



