1860 Oxford Night Caps

51

presenting a friend with, a bottle of Metheg- lin, thus speaks of it;"Neither Sir John "Barleycorn or Bacchus had anything to do "with it, but 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 ofstate 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 afBrms, that before the introduction of AsTiculture into this O island, honey diluted with water (i. e. Me- theglin) was the only strong drink known to, and was a great favourite among, the Ancient Britons. Metheglin is usually divided into the Simple and the Vinous. Simple Metheglin