1847 Oxford night caps (4th edition)

50

of his familiar letters, on presenting a friend with a bottle of Metheglin, thus speaks of it; " Neither Sir John Barleycorn or Bacchus had " any thing to do with it, hut it is the pure " juice of the bee, the laborious bee, and the " king of insects ; the Druids and old British " Bards were wont to take a carouse hereof " before they entered into their speculations. " But this drink always carries a kind of state " with it, for it must be attended with a brown " toast ; nor will it admit but of one good " draught, and that in the morning ; if more, " it will keep a humming in the head, and so " speak too much of the house it comes from, " I mean, the hive." Indeed almost every other author who has written on the subject affirms, that before the honey diluted with water (i. e. Metheglin) was the only strong drink known to, and was a grpat favourite among, the Ancient Britons. Metheglin is usually divided into the Simple and the Vinous. Simple Metheglin is that introduction of Agriculture into this island,

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