24 THE LORE OF THE HONEY-BEE 



the following century. Throughout the Middle 

 Ages it was in very restricted use among the 

 richest and noblest families in Europe, Venice 

 being then the centre of its distribution. But 

 cane-sugar was little else than a costly luxury of 

 diet, or a vehicle in medicine, even among the 

 highest in the land, until well into the seventeenth 

 century, when it slowly began to oust honey from 

 the popular favour. The chances are, however, 

 that the middle and lower classes of England 

 possessed, and could afford, no other sweetening 

 agent but honey, for any purpose, down to about 

 three hundred years ago. 



Among the Anglo-Saxons the beehives supplied 

 the whole nation, from the King down to the 

 poorest serf, not only with an important part of 

 their food, but with drink and light as well. We 

 read of mead being served at all the royal banquets, 

 and in common use in every monastery. Even in 

 those far-off days there were wayside taverns 

 where drink was retailed ; and the chief potion 

 was mead, although a kind of ale was also brewed. 

 No priest was allowed to enter these hostelries, 

 but this could scarcely have been a great depriva- 

 tion, as the home allowance of mead was a suffi- 

 ciently generous one. Ethelwold's allowance to 

 each half-dozen of his monks at dinner was a sex- 

 tarium of mead, which, in modern measure, would 

 be probably several gallons. ^ 



There were three kinds of liquor brewed from 



