1871 Oxford Night Caps a collection of receipts for making various beverages used in the university

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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, " ~he 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 ltumming 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 introduction of Agriculture into this island, honey diluted with water (i. e. Me– theglin) was the only strong drink known to, and was a great favorite among, the Ancient Britons. Metheglin is usually divided into the Simple and the Vinous. Simple Mctheglin