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THE FLOWING BOWL
ofcarouse before entering intospeculations ; more
especially if Tattersall's Ring be the scene of
your speculations, and you intend getting back
your losses.
There is no doubt that metheglin was the
favourite drink of the Ancient Britons.
Mead and Braggon^ or Braggonet^
do not differ materially from metheglin. Here
is the recipe :—
Mix the whites of six eggs with twelve gallons of
spring-water ; add twenty pounds of the best virgin
honey and the peeling of three lemons ; boil it an
hour, and then put into it some rosemary, cloves
mace, and ginger ; when quite cold add a spoonful'
or two of yeast, tun it, and when it has done working
stop it up close. In a few months bottle it off, and
deposit in a cool cellar.
If this liquor is properly kept, the taste of the
honey will go off, and it will resemble Tokay
both in strength and flavour. And the chief
objection to this as to other ancient potations
appears to be the intolerable quantity of water'
whether " spring " or " fair."
'
We do not make Birch wine nowadays,
although the Birch itself frequently makes small
boys whine, after conviction of orchard-robbing,
or train-wrecking. But it was a favourite tipple
with our ancestors, who during the month of
March were wont to cut the ends off the birch-
boughs, and let the sap drip into bottles suspended
from the boughs. For twopence or threepence
a gallon the villagers would catch this sap for