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 
