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40
DRINKS.
one
man
another
Hrothgar
Beowulf,
and
bade
him
hail,
gave
him
command
of
the
wine-hall."
%
It
*
%
*
**
He
strode
under
the
clouds,
until
he
the
wine-house,
the
golden
hall
of
men,
most
readily
perceiv'd,
richly
variegated."
The
mead-hall
seems
to
have
answered
the
purpose
of
a
common
hall,
as
v^e
see
by
the
following.
Speak-
ing
of
Hrothgar,
the
poet
says
:
2
"//
ran
through
his
mind
that
he
a
hall-house
would
command,
a
great
mead-house^
men
to
make,
which
the
sons
of
men
should
ever
hear
of;
and
there
within
all
distribute
to
young
and
old,
as to
him
God
had
given,
except
the
people's
share,
and
the
lives
of
men.
Then
I
heard
that
widely
the
work
was
proclaim'd
to
many
a
tribe
through
this
mid-earth
that
a
public
place
was
building."
Mead
was
considered
a
glorified
liquor
fit
for
Men,
and
is
thus
sung
of
by
the
bard
Taliesin
:
1
Line
1432,
etc.
2
Line
135,
etc.