THE ISLE OF HONEY 25 
honey in Anglo-Saxon times. The commonest, 
or mead proper, which may be taken as the usual 
drink of the masses, was made by steeping 
in water the crushed refuse of the combs after 
the honey had been pressed from them. This 
would be strained and set aside in earthen vessels 
until it fermented and became mead. And the 
longer it was kept, the more potent grew the 
liquor. Another kind, made from honey, water, 
and the juice of mulberries, was called Morat ; and 
this, presumably, was the beverage of the more 
well-to-do. A third concoction, known as Pigment, 
was brewed from the purest honey, flavoured with 
spices of different sorts, and received an additional 
lacing of-some kind of wine. Probably this was 
the mead served at the royal table. The office of 
King’s Cup-bearer could have been no sinecure in 
those days, for it was the custom of Anglo-Saxon 
monarchs to entertain their courtiers at four 
banquets daily, and the quantities of liquor which 
the old records tell us were consumed on these 
occasions seem incredible, even in the annals of 
such a deep-drinking race. Not the least valuable 
outcome of the Norman Conquest, as far as the 
national temperance was concerned, must have 
been the reform instituted in these Court orgies by 
William the First, who reduced their number to a 
single state banquet daily. 
If it may be supposed that the reign of Harold 
marked the summit of popularity for our good old 
