NATURE AND SPORT IN BRITAIN 



rather difficult to satisfactorily explain. 1 And he used 

 invariably the word "be" instead of our modern 

 "are." "What booys you be!" for instance, he would 

 remark to us after some youthful escapade. The old 

 man, although a bachelor, liked nothing better than to 

 have lads about with him, to whom he could impart 

 some of his rabbiting and fishing lore. He loved 

 above all things a day's ferreting, and would dig for 

 hours with the utmost zest and patience sooner than a 

 rabbit slain by the ferret should be left lying in its 

 burrow. 



Master Jessey was always a great hand with the bees. 

 He had the entire management of the hives in his own 

 hands, and would have deeply resented so far as his 

 slow, patient spirit would allow any encroachment 

 upon his rights and privileges. He understood nothing 

 of the modern management of bees, and in those days 

 his charges were always housed in the old-fashioned 

 straw "skeps." Still, he managed very well, and was 

 always pretty successful with his honey. When the 

 making of the sweet, home-made honey-wine, known 

 as mead, was about, the old man was naturally in great 

 request. After the making of the mead, Master Jessey 

 brewed from the lees and remnants an inferior and 

 weaker liquor for his own consumption. This he called 

 "metheglum," by which I suppose he meant " methe- 

 glin." The "metheglum," when bottled, went down 

 to his own cottage. 



I never saw the old man hurry himself except in two 

 instances : When bees were swarming and had to be 

 followed, or when a wounded rabbit seemed likely to 



1 " Mollyern," a term commonly used in Warwickshire, Northants, 

 and Oxfordshire, is, I believe, nothing else than the rustic name for a 

 female heron. It is now, however, and must have been for centuries, 

 used to designate both sexes. Why, no man can say. 



44 



