40 / 48
40
presenting
11.
friend with a bottle of Metheglin,
thus speaks of it; "Ne ithe r Sir J ohn
" Barleycorn or Bacchus had any thing to do
" with it, but it is th e pure juice of the b ee,
" the laborious b ee, and the king of in sects ;
" the Druids and old British B a rds were
" wont to take a carouse hereof before
" they entered into their speculations. B ut
" this drink always carries a kind of stnte
" with it, for it must be a ttended with a
" brown toast; nor will it admit b ut of one
" good draught, and that in th e morning; if
" more, it will keep a
humming
in the head,
" and so
sp~ak
too much of the house it
" comes from , I mean, the hive."
Indeed a lmost every othe r author who has
written on the s ubject affirms, that before the
introduction of .Agricult ure into th is island,
honey diluted with wate r (i. e. 1\'letheglin )
was the only strong drink known t o, and
was a great favourite a mong , the Ancient
Rritons,