The Closet of Sir Kenelm Digby Knight Opened
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Title: The Closet of Sir Kenelm Digby Knight Opened
Author: Kenelm Digby
Editor: Anne Macdonell
Release date: August 5, 2005 [eBook #16441]
Most recently updated: December 12, 2020
Language: English
Original publication: London: Philip Lee Warner 38 Albemarle Street, W, 1910
Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16441
Credits: Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Jason Isbell and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
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[Illustration: Sir Kenelm Digby Knight. After the Painting by Sir Anthony
Vandyke in His Majesty's Collection at Windsor Castle]
THE CLOSET OF SIR KENELM DIGBY KNIGHT OPENED:
NEWLY EDITED, WITH INTRODUCTION, NOTES, AND GLOSSARY, BY ANNE MACDONELL
LONDON: PHILIP LEE WARNER
38 ALBEMARLE STREET, W. 1910
The design on the front binding of this volume reproduces a contemporary
Binding (possibly by le Gascon?) from the library of the Author, whose arms
it embodies.
CONTENTS
PAGE
INTRODUCTION ix
THE CLOSET OF SIR KENELM DIGBY OPENED:
TITLE PAGE OF THE FIRST EDITION 1
TO THE READER 3
RECEIPTS FOR MEAD, METHEGLIN, AND OTHER DRINKS 5
COOKERY RECEIPTS 111
THE TABLE 263
APPENDIX I. SOME ADDITIONAL RECEIPTS 271
II. THE POWDER OF SYMPATHY 272
III. LIST OF THE HERBS, FLOWERS, &C.,
REFERRED TO IN THE TEXT 274
NOTES 277
GLOSSARY 283
INDEX OF RECEIPTS 287
_The frontispiece is a reproduction in photogravure after the portrait of
Sir Kenelm Digby by Sir Anthony Vandyke in His Majesty's Collection at
Windsor Castle, by permission._
INTRODUCTION
With the waning of Sir Kenelm Digby's philosophic reputation his name has
not become obscure. It stands, vaguely perhaps, but permanently, for
something versatile and brilliant and romantic. He remains a perpetual type
of the hero of romance, the double hero, in the field of action and the
realm of the spirit. Had he lived in an earlier age he would now be a
mythological personage; and even without the looming exaggeration and
glamour of myth he still imposes. The men of to-day seem all of little
stature, and less consequence, beside the gigantic creature who made his
way with equal address and audacity in courts and councils, laboratories
and ladies' bowers.
So when, in a seventeenth-century bookseller's advertisement, I lighted on
a reference to the curious compilation of receipts entitled _The Closet of
Sir Kenelm Digby Opened_, having the usual idea of him as a great
gentleman, romantic Royalist, and somewhat out-of-date philosopher, I was
enough astonished at seeing his name attached to what seemed to me, in my
ignorance, outside even his wide fields of interest, to hunt for the book
without delay, examine its contents, and inquire as to its authenticity. Of
course I found it was not unknown. Though the _Dictionary of National
Biography_ omits any reference to it, and its name does not occur in Mr.
Carew Hazlitt's _Old Cookery Books_, Dr. Murray quotes it in his great
Dictionary, and it is mentioned and discussed in _The Life of Digby by One
of his Descendants_. But Mr. Longueville treats it therein with too scant
deference. One of a large and interesting series of contemporary books of
the kind, its own individual interest is not small; and I commend it with
confidence to students of seventeenth-century domestic manners. To
apologise for it, to treat it as if it were some freak, some unowned sin of
Digby's, would be the greatest mistake. On the contrary, its connection
with his life and career is of the closest; and I make bold to assert that
of all his works, with the doubtful exception of his _Memoirs_, it is the
one best worth reprinting. It is in no spirit of irony that I say of him
who in his own day was looked on almost as Bacon's equal, who was the
friend of Bacon, Galileo, Descartes, Harvey, Ben Jonson, Cromwell, and all
the great spirits of his time, the intimate of kings, and the special
friend of queens, that his memory should be revived for his skill in making
drinks, and his interest in his own and other folks' kitchens. If to the
magnificent and protean Sir Kenelm must now be added still another side, if
he must appear not only as gorgeous Cavalier, inmate of courts,
controversialist, man of science, occultist, privateer, conspirator, lover
and wit, but as _bon viveur_ too, he is not the ordinary _bon viveur_, who
feasts at banquets prepared by far away and unconsidered menials. His
interest in cookery--say, rather, his passion for it--was in truth an
integral part of his philosophy, and quite as serious as his laboratory
practice at Gresham College and Paris. But to prove what may seem an
outrageous exaggeration, we must first run over the varied story of his
career; and then _The Closet Opened_ will be seen to fall into its due and
important place.
Kenelm Digby owed a good deal to circumstances, but he owed most of all to
his own rich nature. His family was ancient and honourable. Tiltons
originally, they took their later name in Henry III's time, on the
acquisition of some property in Lincolnshire, though in Warwickshire and
Rutland most of them were settled. Three Lancastrian Digby brothers fell at
Towton, seven on Bosworth Field. To his grandfather, Sir Everard the
philosopher, he was mentally very much akin, much more so than to his
father, another of the many Sir Everards, and the most notorious one. Save
for his handsome person and the memory of a fervent devotion to the
Catholic faith, which was to work strongly in him after he came to mature
years, he owed little or nothing to that most unhappy young man, surely the
foolishest youth who ever blundered out of the ways of private virtue into
conspiracy and crime. Kenelm, his elder son, born July 11, 1603, was barely
three years old when his father, the most guileless and the most obstinate
of the Gunpowder Plotters, died on the scaffold. The main part of the
family wealth, as the family mansion Gothurst--now Gayhurst--in
Buckinghamshire, came from Sir Everard's wife, Mary Mulsho; and probably
that is one reason why James I acceded to the doomed man's appeal that his
widow and children should not be reduced to beggary. Kenelm, in fact,
entered on his active career with an income of £3000 a year; but even its
value in those days did not furnish a youth of such varied ambitions and
such magnificent exterior over handsomely for his journey through the
world. His childhood was spent under a cloud. He was bred by a mother whose
life was broken and darkened, and whose faith, barely tolerated, would
naturally keep her apart from the more favoured persons of the kingdom.
Kenelm might have seemed destined to obscurity; but there was that about
the youth that roused interest; and even the timid King James was attracted
by him into a magnanimous forgetfulness of his father's offence.
Nevertheless, he could never have had the easy destiny of other young men
of his class, unless he had been content to be a simple country gentleman;
and from the first his circumstances and his restless mind dictated his
career, which had always something in it of the brilliant adventurer.
Another branch of the Digbies rose as the Buckinghamshire family fell. It
was a John Digby, afterwards Earl of Bristol, who carried the news of the
conspirators' design on the Princess Elizabeth. King James's gratitude was
a ladder of promotion, which would have been firmer had not this Protestant
Digby incurred the dislike of the royal favourite Buckingham. But in 1617
Sir John was English ambassador in Madrid; and it may have been to get the
boy away from the influence of his mother and her Catholic friends that
this kinsman, always well disposed towards him, and anxious for his
advancement, took him off to Spain when he was fourteen, and kept him there
for a year. Nor was his mother's influence unmeddled with otherwise. During
some of the years of his minority at least, Laud, then Dean of Gloucester,
was his tutor. Tossed to and fro between the rival faiths, he seems to have
regarded them both impartially, or indifferently, with an occasional
adherence to the one that for the moment had the better exponent.
His education was that of a dilettante. A year in Spain, in Court and
diplomatic circles, was followed by a year at Oxford, where Thomas Allen,
the mathematician and occultist, looked after his studies. Allen "quickly
discerned the natural strength of his faculties, and that spirit of
penetration which is so seldom met with in persons of his age." He felt he
had under his care a young Pico di Mirandola. It may have been now he made
his boyish translation of the _Pastor Fido_, and his unpublished version of
Virgil's _Eclogues_. As to the latter, the quite unimportant fact that he
made one at all I offer to future compilers of Digby biographies. Allen
till his death remained his friend and admirer, and bequeathed to him his
valuable library. The MSS. part of it Digby presented to the Bodleian. A
portion of the rest he seems to have kept; and though it is said his
English library was burnt by the Parliamentarians, it seems not unlikely
that some of Allen's books were among his collection at Paris sold after
his death by the King of France.
But Kenelm was restlessly longing to taste life outside academic circles,
and already he was hotly in love with his old playmate, now grown into
great beauty, Venetia Anastasia Stanley, daughter of Edward Stanley of
Tonge, in Shropshire, and granddaughter of the Earl of Northumberland. If I
could connect the beautiful Venetia with this cookery book, I should
willingly linger over the tale of her striking and brief career. But though
the elder Lady Digby contributed something to _The Closet Opened_, there is
no suggestion that it owes a single receipt to the younger. Above Kenelm in
station as she was, he could hardly have aspired to her save for her
curiously forlorn situation. Mother-less, and her father a recluse, she was
left to bring herself up, and to bestow her affections where she might. To
Kenelm's ardour she responded readily; and he philandered about her for a
year or two. But his mother would hear nothing of the match; and at
seventeen he was sent out on the grand tour, the object of which, we learn
from his _Memoirs_, was "to banish admiration, which for the most part
accompanieth home-bred minds, and is daughter of ignorance." Kenelm proved
better than the ideal set before him; and the more he travelled the more he
admired.
Into this tale of love and adventure I must break with the disturbing
intelligence that the handsome and romantic and spirited youth was in all
probability already procuring material for the compilation on _Physick and
Chirurgery_, which Hartman, his steward, published after his death. It was
not as a middle-aged _bon viveur_, nor as an elderly hypochondriac, that he
began his medical studies, but in the heyday of youth, and quite seriously,
too. The explanation brings with it light on some other of his interests as
well. When he set out on the grand tour, his head full of love and the
prospects of adventure, he found the spare energy to write from London to a
good friend of his, the Rev. Mr. Sandy, Parson of Great Lindford. In this
letter--the original is in the Ashmolean--Kenelm asks for the good parson's
prayers, and sends him "a manuscript of elections of divers good authors."
Mr. Longueville, who gives the letter, has strangely failed to identify
Sandy with the famous Richard Napier, parson, physician, and astrologer, of
the well-known family of Napier of Merchistoun. His father, Alexander
Napier, was often known as "Sandy"; and the son held the alternative names
also. Great Lindford is two and a half miles from Gothurst; and it is
possible that Protestant friends, perhaps Laud himself, urged on the good
parson the duty of looking after the young Catholic gentleman. Sandy
(Napier) was also probably his mother's medical adviser: he certainly acted
as such to some members of her family. A man of fervent piety--his "knees
were horny with frequent praying," says Aubrey--he was, besides, a zealous
student of alchemy and astrology, a friend of Dee, of Lilly, and of
Booker. Very likely Kenelm had been entrusted to Allen's care at Oxford on
the recommendation of Sandy; for Allen, one of his intimates, was a serious
occultist, who, according to his servant's account, "used to meet the
spirits on the stairs like swarms of bees." With these occupations Napier
combined a large medical practice in the Midlands, the proceeds of which he
gave to the poor, living ascetically himself. His favourite nephew, Richard
Napier the younger, his pupil in all these arts and sciences, was about the
same age as Kenelm, and spent his holidays at Great Lindford. The
correspondence went on. Digby continued his medical observations abroad;
and after his return we find him writing to Sandy, communicating "some
receipts," and asking for pills that had been ordered. Thus we have arrived
at the early influences which drew the young Catholic squire towards the
art of healing and the occult sciences. The latter he dabbled in all his
life. In the former his interest was serious and steadfast.
He remained out of England three years. From Paris the plague drove him to
Angers, where the appearance of the handsome English youth caused such
commotion in the heart of the Queen Mother, Marie de Médicis, that she
evidently lost her head. His narrative of her behaviour had to be
expurgated when his _Memoirs_ were published in 1827. He fled these royal
attentions; spread a report of his death, and made his way to Italy. His
two years in Florence were not all spent about the Grand-ducal Court. His
mind, keen and of infinite curiosity, was hungering after the universal
knowledge he aspired to; and Galileo, then writing his Dialogues in his
retirement at Bellosguardo, could not have been left unvisited by the eager
young student. In after years, Digby used to say that it was in Florence he
met the Carmelite friar who brought from the East the secret of the Powder
of Sympathy, which cured wounds without contact. The friar who had refused
to divulge the secret to the Grand Duke confided it to him--of which more
hereafter.
From Florence he passed to Spain; and his arrival was happily
timed--probably by his ever anxious kinsman; for a few days later Prince
Charles and Buckingham landed, on the Spanish Marriage business; and so
agreeable was young Digby that, in spite of Buckingham's dislike of his
name, he became part of the Prince's household, and returned with the party
in October, 1623. Court favours seemed now to open out a career for him.
King James knighted him, in what might have proved a fatal ceremony; for so
tremblingly nervous of the naked steel was the royal hand, that Buckingham
had to turn the sword aside from doing damage instead of honour. He was
also made Gentleman of the Bedchamber to Prince Charles. But no other
signal favours followed these. For all his agreeableness he was not of the
stuff courtiers are made of--though James had a kindness for him, and was
entertained by his eagerness and ingenuity. Bacon, too, just before his
death, had come across this zealous young student of the experimental
methods, and had meant, Digby said, to include an account of the Powder of
Sympathy in an appendix to his _Natural History_.
In Spain, Kenelm had flirted with some Spanish ladies, notably with the
beautiful Donna Anna Maria Manrique, urged thereto by gibes at his
coldness; but Venetia was still the lady of his heart. Her amorous
adventures, in the meanwhile, had been more serious and much more
notorious. His letters had miscarried, and had been kept back by his
mother. Venetia pleaded her belief in his death. Aubrey's account of her is
a mass of picturesque scandal. "She was a most beautiful desirable
creature.... The young eagles had espied her, and she was sanguine and
tractable, and of much suavity (which to abuse was great pittie)." Making
all allowance for gossip, the truth seems to be that in Kenelm's absence
she had been at least the mistress of Sir Edward Sackville, afterwards the
fourth Earl of Dorset; that Dorset tired of her; and on Digby's return she
was more than willing to return to her old love. But, alas! Sackville had
her picture, which seemed to her compromising. Digby, therefore, having
accepted her apologies and extenuations, challenged Sackville to a duel;
whereupon the faithless one proved at least magnanimous; refused to fight,
gave up the picture, and swore that Venetia was blameless as she was fair.
A private marriage followed; and it was only on the birth of his second son
John that Sir Kenelm acknowledged it to the world. To read nearly all his
_Memoirs_ is to receive the impression that he looked on his wife as a
wronged innocent. To read the whole is to feel he knew the truth and took
the risk, which was not very great after all; for the lady of the many
suitors and several adventures settled down to the mildest domesticity.
They say he was jealous; but no one has said she gave him cause. The tale
runs that Dorset visited them once a year, and "only kissed her hand, Sir
Kenelm being by."
But Digby was a good lover. All the absurd rhodomontade of his strange
_Memoirs_ notwithstanding, there are gleams of rare beauty in the story of
his passion, which raise him to the level of the great lovers. His
_Memoirs_ were designed to tell "the beginning, progress, and consummation
of that excellent love, which only makes me believe that our pilgrimage in
this world is not indifferently laid upon all persons for a curse." And
here is a very memorable thing. "Understanding and love are the natural
operation of a reasonable creature; and this last, which is a gift that of
his own nature must always be bestowed, _being the only thing that is
really in his power to bestow_, it is the worthiest and noblest that can be
given."
But, as he naïvely says, "the relations that follow marriage are ... a clog
to an active mind"; and his kinsman Bristol was ever urging him to show his
worth "by some generous action." The result of this urging was Scanderoon.
His object, plainly stated, was to ruin Venetian trade in the Levant, to
the advantage of English commerce. The aid and rescue of Algerian slaves
were afterthoughts. King James promised him a commission; but Buckingham's
secretary, on behalf of his master absent in the Ile de Ré, thought his
privileges were being infringed, and the King drew back. Digby acted
throughout as if he had a "publike charge," but he was really little other
than a pirate. He sailed from Deal in December, 1627, his ships the "Eagle"
and the "George and Elizabeth." It was six months before the decisive fight
took place; but on the way he had captured some French and Spanish ships
near Gibraltar; and what with skirmishes and sickness, his voyage did not
want for risk and episode at any time. Digby the landsman maintained
discipline, reconciled quarrels, doctored his men, ducked them for
disorderliness, and directed the naval and military operations like any old
veteran. At Scanderoon [now Alexandretta in the Levant] the French and
Venetians, annoyed by his presence, fired on his ships. He answered with
such pluck and decision that, after a three hours' fight, the enemy was
completely at his mercy, and the Venetians "quitted to him the signiority
of the roade." In his Journal of the Voyage you may read a sober account,
considering who was the teller of the tale, of a brilliant exploit. He does
not disguise the fact that he was acting in defiance of his own countrymen
in the Levant. The Vice-Consul at Scanderoon kept telling him that "our
nation" at Aleppo "fared much the worse for his abode there." He was
setting the merchants in the Levant by the ears, and when he turned his
face homewards, the English were the most relieved of all. His exploit "in
that drowsy and inactive time ... was looked upon with general estimation,"
says Clarendon. The King gave him a good welcome, but could not follow it
up with any special favour; for there were many complaints over the
business, and Scanderoon had to be repudiated.
But Digby could not be merely privateer, and in the Scanderoon expedition
we are privileged to look on the Pirate as a Man of Taste. His stay in
Florence had given him an interest in the fine arts; and at Milo and
Delphos he contrived to make some healthy exercise for his men serve the
avidity of the collector. Modern excavators will read with horror of his
methods. "I went with most of my shippes to Delphos, a desert island, where
staying till the rest were readie, because idlenesse should not fixe their
mindes upon any untoward fansies (as is usuall among seamen), and together
to avayle myselfe of the convenience of carrying away some antiquities
there, I busied them in rolling of stones doune to the see side, which they
did with such eagernesse as though it had been the earnestest business that
they had come out for, and they mastered prodigious massie weightes; but
one stone, the greatest and fairest of all, containing four statues, they
gave over after they had been, 300 men, a whole day about it.... But the
next day I contrived a way with mastes of shippes and another shippe to
ride over against it, that brought it doune with much ease and speede"!
What became of this treasure so heroically acquired?
So much for art. Literature was to have its turn with the versatile pirate
ere he reached his native shores. During a time of forced inaction at Milo,
he began to write his _Memoirs_. A great commander was expected during a
truce, it appears, to pay lavish attentions to the native ladies. Neglect
of this gallantry was construed almost as a national insult. Sir Kenelm,
faithful to his Venetia, excused himself on the plea of much business. But
he had little or no business; and he used his retirement to pen the amazing
account of his early life and his love story, where he appears as Theagenes
and his wife as Stelliana, as strange a mixture of rhodomontade and real
romance as exists among the autobiographies of the world. Of course it does
not represent Digby at his maturity. Among his MSS. the _Memoirs_ were
found with the title of _Loose Fantasies_, and they were not printed till
1827.
It was quite a minor post in the Navy he received in recognition of
Scanderoon, and one wonders why he took it. Perhaps to gain experience, of
which he was always greedy. Or Scanderoon may have emptied his treasuries.
After the Restoration he had a hard struggle to get repaid for his ransom
of slaves on the Algerian coast. At any rate, as Naval Commissioner he
earned the reputation of a hard-working public servant.
If his constantly-changing life can be said to have had a turning-point, it
occurred in 1633, when his wife died suddenly. The death of the lovely
Venetia was the signal for a great outburst of vile poetry on her beauty
and merits. Ben Jonson, her loyal friend and Kenelm's, wrote several
elegies, one of them the worst. Vandyck painted her several times; and so
the memory of her loveliness is secure. As to her virtues, amiability
seems to have been of their number. "Unmatcht for beauty, chaster than the
ayre," wrote one poet. When they opened her head it was discovered she had
little brain; and gossip attributed the fact to her having drunk
viper-wine--by her husband's advice--for her complexion. This sounds absurd
only to those who have not perused the _Receipts in Physick and
Chirurgery_. Little brain or not, her husband praised her wits. Ben Jonson
wrote with devotion of her "who was my muse, and life of all I did."
Digby imitated his father-in-law who, in similar circumstances, gave
himself up to solitude and recollection. His place of retirement was
Gresham College. Do its present students remember it once housed a hermit
who "wore a long mourning cloake, a high crowned hat, his beard unshorne
... as signes of sorrowe for his beloved wife"? There "he diverted himself
with chymistry and the professor's good conversation." He had "a fair and
large laboratory ... erected under the lodgings of the Divinity Reader."
Hans Hunneades the Hungarian was his operator.
But another influence was at work. For the first time his mind turned
seriously to religion. Romanist friends were persuading him to his father's
faith. His old tutor Laud and other Protestants were doing their best to
settle him on their side. Out of the struggle of choice he came, in 1636, a
fervent and convinced Catholic. He was to prove his devotion over and over
again; but I fear that Catholics of to-day would view with suspicion his
views on ecclesiastical authority. In his dedication of his _Treatise on
the Soul_ to his son Kenelm, there is a spirited defence of the right, of
the intelligent to private judgment in matters of doctrine. Nevertheless,
his Catholicism, though rationalist, was sincere, and he spent much energy
in propaganda among his friends--witness his rather dull little brochure,
the _Conference with a Lady about Choice of Religion_ (1638), and his
correspondence with his kinsman, Lord Digby, who did, indeed, later, come
over to the older faith. Ere long he earned the reputation of being "not
only an open but a busy Papist," though "an eager enemy to the Jesuits."
From this time dates his close friendship with the Queen, Henrietta Maria,
and her Catholic friends, Sir Tobie Matthew, Endymion Porter, and Walter
Montague. He and Montague were specially chosen by the Queen to appeal to
the English Catholics for aid towards Charles's campaign in Scotland. Digby
was certainly a hot inciter of the King to foolish activity; but in the
light of his after history, it would seem always with a view to the
complete freedom of the Catholic religion. A prominent King's man, nay, a
Queen's man, which was held to be something extremer, he played, however,
an individual part in the struggle. He was well fitted for the Cavalier
rôle by the magnificence of his person, by his splendid hospitality, his
contempt for sects, his aristocratic instincts, and his manner of the Great
World. But if he liked good cheer and a great way of living, he is never to
be imagined as clinking cans with a "Hey for Cavaliers! Ho for Cavaliers!"
He never fought for the King's cause--though he fought a duel in Paris with
a French lord who took Charles's name in vain, and killed his man too. His
rôle was always the intellectual one. He conspired for the cause--chiefly,
I think, out of personal friendship, and because he held it to be the cause
of his Church. He was not a virulent politician; and on the question of
divine right the orthodox Cavaliers must have felt him to be very unsound
indeed.
The era of Parliaments had now come, and Digby was to feel it. He was
summoned to the bar of the House as a Popish recusant. Charles was ordered
to banish him and Montague from his councils and his presence; and their
examination continued at intervals till the middle of 1642. The Queen
interceded for Digby with much warmth, but she was a dangerous friend; and
in the same year Montague and he were sent to prison. I have heard a
tradition that Crosby Hall was for a time his comfortable jail, but can
find no corroboration of this. The serjeant-at-arms confined him for a
brief space at The Three Tuns, near Charing Cross, "where his conversation
made the prison a place of delight" to his fellows. Later, at Winchester
House, Southwark, where he remained in honourable confinement for two
years, he was busy with writing and experimenting--to preserve him from "a
languishing and rusting leisure." Two pamphlets, both of them hasty
improvisations, one a philosophic commentary on a certain stanza of the
_Faërie Queen_, the other, his well-known _Observations on the 'Religio
Medici'_, are but mere bubbles of this seething activity, given over mostly
to the preparation of his _Two Treatises_, "Of the Body," and "Of the
Soul," published later in Paris, and to experiments on glass-making.
Many efforts were made for his release, the most efficacious by the Queen
of France. It should have been the Dowager Marie de Médicis, in memory of
her hot flame for him when he was a youth; but though she may have
initiated the appeal, she died before his release, which he seems to have
owed to Anne of Austria's good services. Freedom meant banishment, but this
sentence he did not take very seriously. In these years he was continually
going and coming between France and England, now warned by Parliament, now
tolerated, now banished, again daring return, and escaping from the net. "I
can compare him to nothing but to a great fish that we catch and let go
again; but still he will come to the bait," said Selden of him in his
_Table-Talk_.
Exile in Paris provided fresh opportunity for scientific study, though his
connection with the English Catholic malcontents, and his services to the
Queen Henrietta Maria, who now made him her Chancellor, absorbed much of
his time. When the Cause needed him, the Cavalier broke away from
philosophy; and in 1645 he set out for Rome, at the bidding of the Queen,
to beg money for her schemes. With all his address, diplomacy was not among
the chief of his talents. With high personages he took a high tone.
Innocent X gave 10,000 crowns to the Cause; but they quarrelled; and the
Pope went so far as to accuse Digby of misappropriation of the money.
Digby, a man of clean hands, seems to have taken up the Queen's quarrel.
She would have nothing to do with Rinuccini's Irish expedition, which his
Holiness was supporting; and her Chancellor naturally insisted on
disbursing the funds at her commands rather than at the Pope's. Moreover,
he was now renewing his friendship with Thomas White, a heretic Catholic
priest, of several _aliases_, some of whose work had been placed on the
Index. White was a philosophic thinker of considerable power and subtlety,
and he and Digby acted and reacted on each other strongly--though Digby's
debt is perhaps the greater. Their respective parts in the _Two Treatises_
and in the _Institutionum Peripateticorum libri quinque_, published under
White's name, but for which Sir Kenelm is given the main credit, can hardly
now be sifted. White, at all events, was not a prudent friend for an envoy
to the Holy See. Digby "grew high and hectored with his holinesse, and gave
him the lye. The pope said he was mad." Thus Aubrey. Henrietta Maria sent
him once more on the same errand; but the Roman Curia continued to look on
him as a "useless and restless man, with scanty wisdom." Before returning,
however, he paid a round of visits to Italian courts, making everywhere a
profound impression by his handsome person and his liveliness. He had to
hasten back to England on his own business. His fortunes were desperate;
and he desired to compound for his estates.
A week or so after the King's death he is proved by his correspondence to
be in France, having fled after one more pronouncement of him as a
dangerous man. He went into exile this time with a sad heart; and it was
not only the loyalist in him that cried out. The life of an English country
gentleman would never have satisfied him; yet he longed for it now it had
become impossible. He writes from Calais to a friend: "Those innocent
recreations you mention of tabors and pipes, and dancing ladies, and
convenient country houses, shady walks and close arbours, make one sigh to
be again a spectator of them, and to be again in little England, where time
slides more gently away than in any part of the world. _Quando sia mai ch'a
rividerti io torno_?"
He went this time knowing better than his fellow royalists the meaning of
events. He was still a rank, but at least an intelligent, conspirator.
English correspondents at Rouen and Caen report him in the company of one
Watson, an Independent; and that he is proposing "to join the interests of
all the English papists with the bloody party that murdered the king." Dr.
Winsted, an English doctor in Rouen, asked him with indignation how he
could meditate going back to England, "considering the abomination of that
country." Digby replied that he was forced to it. "If he went not now he
must starve." He plainly saw who was the real and only force in England;
and he was going to make a bargain with the strong man for himself and his
co-religionists. As a matter of fact there is no trace of his return at
this moment. Not merely was his property in danger, but his head as well.
Yet he never repented of his policy, and he carried it out, so far as might
be, in his dealings with Cromwell a few years later. And Henrietta Maria
bore him no grudge on this score.
Exile in Paris meant friendly intercourse with, and consolation of the
Queen, but also scientific research. In 1651 Evelyn was visiting him there,
and being stirred by his enthusiasm into attending Fébur's chemistry
lectures along with him. Before that must have taken place his pilgrimage
to Descartes, who died in 1650. Apparently Sir Kenelm had gone to Egmont as
an unknown stranger; and it throws light on his wide reputation as a man of
ideas and a conversationalist, that into his torrent of questions and
speculation Descartes broke with, "You can be none other than Digby." The
English scientist's practical mind--for he had always a practical end in
view, however fantastic his methods--showed itself in his counsel to the
author of the _Discours sur la Méthode_. Why all this labour for mere
abstract speculation? Why not apply his genius to the one great subject,
the prolongation of human life? Descartes, it appears, did not need the
advice. He said the subject was engaging his mind; and though he "dared not
look forward to man being rendered immortal, he was quite certain his
length of life could be made equal to the patriarch's." In fact, he was
composing at the time an _Abrégé de Médecine_, and popular report said he
believed men could live four or five hundred years. He died prematurely of
too much faith in his own medical theories.
In 1653 permission was given to Digby to return, on condition he would not
meddle with Royalist plots. He had been in communication with Cromwell, and
had done some diplomatic business for him in Paris. On his return in 1654,
and for the next few years, he was in the closest relations with the
Protector, thereby carrying out the principle he had probably adopted from
White, of a "universal passive obedience to any species of government that
had obtained an establishment." His Royalist friends made an outcry, and so
did the Puritans; but Digby was confident of obtaining from Cromwell great
advantages for the English Catholics, and the Protector, it seems, fully
trusted the intentions and the abilities of this strange and fascinating
personality who came to him out of the enemy's camp. Delicate business was
given into his hands, that of preventing an alliance between France and
Spain. Prynne, in his _True and Perfect Narrative_, bitterly denounced
Cromwell in "that Sir Kenelme Digby was his particular favourite, and
lodged at Whitehall; that Maurice Conry, Provincial of the Franciscans in
England, and other priests, had his protections under hand and seal." Of
Digby's feelings towards Cromwell there is clear evidence. It seems his
loyalty had been questioned in his absence; and he writes from Paris, in
March, 1656, to Secretary Thurloe: "Whatsoever may be disliked by my Lord
Protector and the Council of State must be detested by me. My obligations
to his Highness are so great, etc." And again, "How passionate I am for his
service and for his honour and interest, even to exposing my life for
him." The intimacy, begun on both sides in mere policy, had evidently grown
to friendship and mutual admiration.
The illness of which he died had already attacked him, and it was for his
health he went to Montpelier in 1658. His stay in that seat of learning was
made memorable by his reading to a company of eminent persons his
_Discourse on the Powder of Sympathy_, which has brought him more fame and
more ridicule than anything else. I have already referred to the secret
confided to him as a youth in Florence by the Carmelite Friar from the
East. When he came back to England he spoke of the great discovery, and had
occasion to use it. Howell--of the _Familiar Letters_--was, according to
Sir Kenelm's account, wounded while trying to part two friends who were
fighting a duel. His wounds were hastily tied up with his garter, and Digby
was sent for. Digby asked for the garter-bandage, and steeped it in a basin
in which he had dissolved his secret powder (of vitriol). Immediately
Howell felt a "pleasing kind of freshnesse, as it were a wet cold napkin
did spread over my hand." "Take off all the plasters and wrappings," said
Digby. "Keep the wound clean, and neither too hot nor too cold." Afterwards
he took the bandage from the water, and hung it before a great fire to dry;
whereupon Howell's servant came running to say his master was much worse,
and in a burning fever. The bandage plunged once more in the dissolved
powder, soothed the patient at a distance; and in a few days the wound was
healed. Digby declared that James and Buckingham were interested witnesses
of the cure; and the king "drolled with him about it (which he could do
with a very good grace)." He said he divulged the secret to the Duke of
Mayenne. After the Duke's death his surgeon sold it so that "now there is
scarce any country barber but knows it." Why did not Digby try it on his
wounded men at Scanderoon? His _Discourse_ to the learned assembly is a
curious medley of subtle observation and old wives' tales, set out in
sober, orderly, one might almost say scientific, fashion. Roughly, the
substance of it may be summed up as "Like to like." The secret powder is a
medium whereby the atoms in the bandage are drawn back to their proper
place in the body! After Digby's death you could buy the powder at
Hartman's shop for sixpence.
At the Restoration he returned to England. He was still Henrietta Maria's
Chancellor. His relations with Cromwell had never broken their friendship;
and probably he still made possets for her at Somerset House as he had done
in the old days. But by Charles II there was no special favour shown him,
beyond repayment for his ransom of English slaves during the Scanderoon
voyage; and in 1664 he was forbidden the Court. The reason is not
definitely known. Charles may have only gradually, but at last grimly,
resented, the more he learnt of it, Digby's recognition of the usurper.
He found happiness in science, in books, in conversation, in medicine,
stilling and cookery. In 1661 he had lectured at Gresham College on _The
Vegetation of Plants_. When the Royal Society was inaugurated, in 1663, he
was one of the Council. His house became a kind of academy, where wits,
experimentalists, occultists, philosophers, and men of letters worked and
talked. This was the house in Covent Garden. An earlier one is also noted
by Aubrey. "The faire howses in Holbourne between King's Street and
Southampton Street (which brake-off the continuance of them) were, about
1633, built by Sir Kenelme; where he lived before the civill warres. Since
the restauration of Charles II he lived in the last faire house westward in
the north portico of Covent Garden, where my lord Denzill Hollis lived
since. He had a laboratory there." This latter house, which can be seen in
its eighteenth-century guise in Hogarth's print of "Morning," in _The Four
Hours of the Day_ set, is now the quarters of the National Sporting Club.
There he worked and talked and entertained, made his metheglin and _aqua
vitæ_ and other messes, till his last illness in 1665. Paris as ever
attracted him; and in France were good doctors for his disease, the stone.
He had himself borne on a litter to the coast; but feeling death's hand on
him, he turned his face homeward again, and died in Covent Garden, June 11,
1665. In his will he desired to be buried by his beautiful Venetia in
Christ Church, Newgate, and that no mention should be made of him on the
tomb, where he had engraved four Latin inscriptions to her memory. But
Ferrar wrote an epitaph for him:--
"Under this tomb the matchless Digby lies,
Digby the great, the valiant, and the wise," etc.
The Great Fire destroyed the tomb, and scattered their ashes.
He had died poor; and his surviving son John, with whom he had been on bad
terms, declared that all the property that came to him was his father's
sumptuously compiled history of the Digby family. Apparently John regained
some part of the estates later, which perhaps had only been left away from
him to pay off debts. A great library of Sir Kenelm's was still in Paris;
and after his death it was claimed by the French king, and sold for 10,000
crowns. His kinsman, the second Earl of Bristol, bought it, and joined it
to his own; and the catalogue of the combined collection, sold in London in
1683, is an interesting and too little tapped source for Digby's mental
history. Of his five children, three were already dead. Kenelm, his eldest
son, had fallen at St. Neot's, in 1648, fighting for the King. It was his
remaining son John who sanctioned the publication of his father's receipts.
* * * * *
Sir Kenelm Digby has been recognised as the type of the great amateur, but
always with a shaking of the head. Why this scorn of accomplished amateurs?
Rather may their tribe increase, let us pray. Our world languisheth now for
lack of them. He was fitted by nature to play the rôle superbly, to force
his circumstances, never over pliant, to serve not his material interests,
but his fame, his craving for universal knowledge and attainments. Says
Wood: "His person was handsome and gigantick, and nothing was wanting to
make him a compleat Cavalier. He had so graceful elocution and noble
address that had he been dropped out of the clouds into any part of the
world, he would have made himself respected; but the Jesuits who cared not
for him, spoke spitefully, and said it was true, but then he must not stay
there above six weeks. He had a great faculty, which proceeded from
abundance of wit and invention, of proposing and reporting matters to the
Virtuosi."
Women adored him; and he took great pains to please them--though in spite
of the importunities of Marie de Médicis, the long friendship with
Henrietta Maria, his early flirtation with the lovely Spaniard, his earnest
and impolitic championship of the notorious Lady Purbeck--Romish convert
and adventuress--Venetia, it seems, remained his only love. He was never
the mere gallant. He treated women as his intellectual equals, but as
equals who had to be splendidly entertained and amused. His conversation
was "ingeniose and innocent." Lloyd speaks of "the grace wherewith he could
relate _magnarum rerum minutias_, the little circumstances of great
matters." But men were at his feet as well; and on his tour among Italian
courts, one of the grandees said that, "having no children, he was very
willing his wife should bring him a Prince by Sir Kenelme, whom he imagined
the just measure of perfection."
A first-rate swordsman, yet was he "not apt in the least to give offence."
His strength was that of a giant. Bristol related that one day at Sherborne
he took up "a midling man," chair and all, with one arm. But there was
nothing of the swashbuckler about him, and his endless vitality was matched
by his courtesy. True, he hustled a Pope; but he addressed the Short
Parliament in such reverential terms as no Roundhead could have found. One
who had been courtier, exile, naval commander, student, prisoner, and
diplomatist, who had associated with all sorts of persons, from kings to
alchemists and cooks, had learnt resourcefulness. But he was never too hard
put to it perhaps, seeing that "if he had not fourpence, wherever he came
he would find respect and credit." "No man knew better how to abound, and
to be abased, and either was indifferent to him."
He had his detractors. One who plays so many parts incites envy and
ridicule; and he laid himself particularly open to both. Fantasy was in the
Digby blood; and that agility of mind and nerve that turns now here, now
there, to satisfy an unquenchable curiosity, that exuberance of mental
spirits that forces to rapid and continuous expression, has ever been
suspect of the English mind. He was "highly caressed in France." To Evelyn
Sir Kenelm was a "teller of strange things," and again the Diarist called
him "an errant mountebank"--though Evelyn sought his society, and was
grateful for its stimulus. Lady Fanshawe, who met him at Calais, at the
Governor's table, says he "enlarged somewhat more in extraordinary stories
than might be averred.... That was his infirmity, though otherwise a person
of most excellent parts, and a very fine bred gentleman." "A certain
eccentricity and unsteadiness perhaps inseparable from a mind of such
vanity," is Lodge's criticism. "The Pliny of our age for lying," quoth
Stubbes. But Digby's extraordinary stories were by no means all false. He
may have talked sometimes to _épater le bourgeois;_ but his serious
statements were often judged as were the wonders of evolution by country
audiences in the seventies.
His offence was he must always be talking. His ideas he must share,
expound, illustrate, whether or no they were ripe. It is the sign-manual of
the sincere amateur. His books are probably but the lees of his
conversation. He was not, in the first place, a literary person. His
_Memoirs_ are good reading for those with a touch of the fantastic in
themselves; but the average literary critic will dub them rhodomontade. His
scientific and controversial treatises, not at all unreadable, and full of
strange old lore, survive as curiosities never to be reprinted.
Nevertheless, his temper was distinctly scientific, and if his exact
discoveries be limited to observing the effect of oxygen on plant-life, and
his actual invention to a particular kind of glass bottle, yet he was an
eager student and populariser of the work of Bacon, Galileo, and Harvey;
and his laboratories were the nursing grounds of the new experimental
philosophy.
With a distinctly rationalistic temper, he was yet a faithful, if
independent, son of the Roman Church. He speaks sometimes as if he regarded
the Church as the great storehouse of necessary authority for the
intellectually feeble; but he accepted the main dogmas himself, being
satisfied of them by intuition and reason. Protestantism, he held, was not
for the ordinary person, considering "the natural imbecility of man's wits
and understandings." His piety was a thing apart, a matter of heredity
perhaps, and of his poetic temperament. I have heard him called by that
abused name, "mystic." He was nothing of the sort, and he said so in
memorable words. As an act of devotion he translated the _Adhering to God_
of Albertus Magnus. In the dedication to his mother he compares himself, as
the translator of this mystic treatise, to certain travellers who "speak
upon hearsay of countries they were never in." "The various course in the
world that I have runne myself out of breath in, hath afforded me little
means for solid recollection." Yet was he now and then upon the threshold.
With streaks of the quack and adventurer in him, he gave out deep notes.
Says Lloyd: "His soul [was] one of those few souls that understand
themselves."
With an itch to use his pen as well as his tongue, he had none of the
patience, the hankering after perfection of form, of the professional man
of letters. His account of his Scanderoon exploit, a sea-log, a little
written-up later, was perhaps not meant for publication. It did not see the
light till 1868. His _Memoirs_ were written, he says, "for my own
recreation, and then continued and since preserved only for my own private
content--to please myself in looking back upon my past and sweet errors."
He even begs those who may come upon the MS. "to convert these blotted
sheets into a clear flame." His commentary on the _Faëry Queen_ stanza was
thrown off in a hurry. "The same Discourse I made upon it the first half
quarter of an hour that I saw it, I send you there, without having reduced
it to any better form, or added anything at all to it." And so for the
better-known and interesting _Observations on 'Religio Medici.'_ Browne
reproached him for his review of a pirated edition. Digby replied he had
never authorised its publication, written as it was in twenty-four hours,
which included his procuring and reading the book--a truly marvellous _tour
de force_; for the thing is still worth perusal. He was always the
improvisor--ready, brilliant, vivid, imperfect. He must give vent to the
ideas that came upon him in gusts. "The impressions which creatures make
upon me," he says, "are like boisterous winds." He fully recognised his own
limitations. "I pretend not to learning," he declares, with exaggerated
modesty. Amateur and improviser of genius, let us praise him as such. The
spacious, generous minds that can find room for all the ideas and culture
of an epoch are never numerous enough. There is no one like such amateurs
for bridging two ages; and Digby, with one hand in Lilly's and the other in
Bacon's, joins the mediæval to the modern world. Nor is a universal amateur
a genius who has squandered his powers; but a man exercising his many
talents in the only way possible to himself, and generally with much
entertainment and stimulus to others. It was Ben Jonson, too great a man to
be one of his detractors on this score, who wrote of him:
"He is built like some imperial room
For that[1] to dwell in, and be still at home.
His breast is a brave palace, a broad street,
Where all heroic ample thoughts do meet;
Where nature such a large survey hath ta'en
As other souls to his, dwelt in a lane."
[Footnote 1: All virtue.]
There was nothing singular in his interest in astrology and alchemy. Lilly
and Booker, both of them among his acquaintances, were ordered to attend
the parliamentary army at the siege of Colchester, "to encourage the
soldiers with predictions of speedy victory." Still--though he believed in
greater absurdities--his attitude towards such matters was that of his
chosen motto, _Vacate et Videte._ "To rely too far upon that vaine art I
judge to be rather folly than impiety." As with regard to spirits and
witches, he says, "I only reserve my assent." That he was not altogether
absorbed in the transmutation of metals in his laboratory practice, and yet
that he dabbled in it, makes him historically interesting. In him better
than in Newton do we realise the temper of the early members of the Royal
Society. In this tale of his other activities I have not forgotten _The
Closet Opened_. Of all Digby's many interests the most constant and
permanent was medicine. How to enlarge the span of man's life was a problem
much meditated on in his age. We have seen how Descartes's mind ran on it;
and in Bacon's _Natural History_ there is reference to a 'book of the
prolongation of life.' In spite of what is written on his Janssen hermit
portrait--_Saber morir la mayor hazanza_--Digby loved life. His whole
exuberant career is a pæan to life, for itself and its great chances, and
because "it giveth the leave to vent and boyle away the unquietnesses and
turbulences that follow our passions." To prolong life, fortify it, clarify
it, was a noble pursuit, and he set out on it as a youth under the tuition
of the 'good parson of Lindford. His _Physick and Chirurgery_ receipts,
published by Hartman, are many of them incredible absurdities, not
unfrequently repulsive; but when we compare them with other like books of
the time, they fit into a natural and not too fantastic place. Sir Thomas
Browne was laughing at Digby, but not at Digby alone, in the passage in
_Vulgar Errors_--"when for our warts we rub our hands before the moon, or
commit any maculated part unto the touch of the dead." Sir Kenelm gathered
his receipts on all his roads through Europe, noted them down, made them up
with his own hands, and administered them to his friends. In Hartman's
_Family Physician_ is given "An experienced Remedy against the Falling
Sicknes, wherewith Sir K. Digby cur'd a Minister's Son at Franckfort in
Germany, in the year 1659." It begins, "Take the Skull of a Man that died
of a Violent Death." (Hartman says he helped to prepare the ghastly
concoction.) I have already noted how he doctored his beautiful wife's
complexion; and how he was called in to cure Howell's wound. In a poetic
tribute he is referred to as:
"Hee, that all med'cines can exactly make,
And freely give them."
Evelyn records how Digby "advised me to try and digest a little better, and
gave me a water which he said was only raine water of the autumnal equinox
exceedingly rectified, and smelt like _aqua fortis_."
Here, at last, we have come to the end of Sir Kenelm the amateur. If he was
an empiric, so were all the doctors of his time; and he may be described as
a professional unpaid physician who carried on a frequently interrupted
practice. That he did not publish his receipts himself does not reflect on
his own idea of their importance. They had a wide circulation among his
friends. And, as I have pointed out, he never showed great eagerness to
publish. Such works as appeared in his lifetime were evidently printed at
the request of learned societies, or by friends to whom they were
dedicated, or by White.
The distance between the healer and the cook has grown to be immense in
recent times. The College of Physicians and Mary Jane in the kitchen are
not on nodding terms--though one sees faint signs of an effort to bridge
the wide gap. But in the seventeenth century the gap can hardly be said to
have existed at all. At the back of the doctor is plainly seen the figure
of the herbalist and simpler, who appear again prominently in the
still-room and the kitchen, by the side of great ladies and great
gentlemen, bent on making the best and the most of the pleasures of the
table no doubt, but quite as much on the maintenance of health as of
hospitality. Simpler, herbalist, doctor, distiller, cook--Digby was all of
them, and all of them with the utmost seriousness; nor in this was he in
the least singular. The great Bacon was deeply concerned with such cares,
though in certain of his recommendations, such as: "To provide always an
apt break-fast," to take this every morning, not to forget to take that
twice a month, one may read more of the valetudinarian than in Digby. _The
Closet Opened_ is but one of an interesting series of books of the kind,
which have been too much neglected by students of seventeenth-century
manners and lore and language. Did not W.J. issue the Countess of Kent's
_Choice Manual of Physic and Chirurgey_, with directions for Preserving and
Candying? Patrick, Lord Ruthven's _Ladies' Cabinet Opened_ appeared in 1639
and 1655. Nor was it only the _cuisine_ of the nobles that roused interest.
One of the curiosities of the time is _The Court and Kitchen of Elizabeth,
commonly called Joan Cromwell, the Wife of the Late Usurper Truly Described
and Represented and now made Publick for general Satisfaction,_ 1644. The
preface is scurrilous beyond belief. Compiled from the gossip of servants,
it is meant to cast ridicule on the housekeeping of the Protector's
establishment. But the second part is a sober collection of by no means
very penurious recipes from Joan's own kitchen books.
Hartman, his steward, made an excellent thing out of Digby's
receipts--though the publishing of _The Closet Opened_ was not his doing,
I think. His _Choice and Experimented Receipts in Physick and Chirurgery_
had already appeared in 1668, which suggested to some other hanger-on of
the Digby household that John Digby's consent might be obtained for
printing Sir Kenelm's culinary as well as his medical note-books. Hartman
followed up this new track with persistence and profit to himself. As a
mild example of the "choice and experimented," I transcribe "An Approved
Remedy for Biting of a Mad Dog": "Take a quart of Ale, and a dram of
Treacle, a handful of Rue, a spoonful of shavings or filings of Tin. Boil
all these together, till half be consumed. Take of this two spoonfuls in
the morning, and at night cold. It is excellent for Man or Beast." I need
not continue. The receipts are there for curious searchers. They were
applied to aristocratic patients; and they are no more absurd or loathsome
than those of other books of the time and kind. Even Bacon is fantastic
enough with his "Grains of Youth" and "Methusalem Water." In 1682, George
Hartman published, "for the Publike Good," _The True Preserver and Restorer
of Health_. It is dedicated to the Countess of Sunderland, and is described
as "the collection for the most part (which I had hitherto reserved) of
your incomparable kinsman and my truly Honourable Master, Sir Kenelm Digby,
whom I had the Honour to serve for many years beyond the Seas, as well as
in England; and so continued with him till his dying Day, and of whose
Generosity and Bounty I have sufficiently tasted, and no less of your
illustrious Fathers, both before and after my Glorious Masters Decease."
Of this book he says, "The world hath not yet seen such another Piece."
Commend me to the forthright methods of seventeenth century advertisement!
In the second part, "Excellent Directions for Cookery," _The Closet Opened_
was largely drawn on. In 1696 appeared _The Family Physician_, by George
Hartman, Phylo-Chymist ... who liv'd and Travell'd with the Honourable Sir
Kenelm Digby in several parts of Europe, the space of Seven Years till he
died. This other choice compilation owes much to the "incomparable" one,
and is described as "the marrow of collections."
But Hartman is not the only witness to Digby's connoisseurship in the joint
mysteries. Better to my mind than even Hartman's are the style and the
spirit of Master May. In 1660 appeared _The Accomplisht Cook,_ or the Art
and Mystery of Cookery ... approved by the fifty years experience and
industry of Robert May, in his attendance on Several Persons of Honour. It
is dedicated to Lord Lumley, Lord Lovelace, Sir Wm. Paston, Sir Kenelme
Digby, and Sir Frederick Cornwallis, "so well known to the Nation for their
admired Hospitalities," and generally to
"the race
Of those that for the Gusto stand,
Whose tables a whole Ark command
Of Nature's plentie."
"He is an Alien, a meer Stranger in England that hath not been acquainted
with your generous housekeeping; for my own part, my more particular Tyes
of Service to you, my Honoured Lords, have built me up to the height of
this experience." His preface is a heartrending cry of regret for the good
old times before usurping Parliaments banished splendidly extravagant
gentlemen across the seas, "those golden days of Peace and Hospitality,
when you enjoy'd your own, so as to entertain and relieve others ... those
golden days wherein were practised the Triumphs and Trophies of Cookery,
then was Hospitality esteemed and Neighbourhood preserved, the Poor
cherished and God honoured; then was Religion less talk't on and more
practis't, then was Atheism and Schisme less in Fashion, and then did men
strive to be good rather than to seem so." High-souled were the _chefs_ of
the seventeenth century!
The 1669 edition of _The Closet Opened_ is evidently the first. The
interleaved example mentioned in the Catalogue of the Digby Library is of
the same date. Whoever prepared it for the press and wrote the egregious
preface "To the Reader"--Hartman, or as I think, another--gave it the
title; but it was a borrowed one. Some years earlier, in 1655, had appeared
_The Queen's Closet Opened, Incomparable Secrets which were presented unto
the Queen by the most Experienced Persons of the Times, many wherof were
had in Esteem when she pleased to descend to Private Recreation_. The
Queen, of course, is Henrietta Maria, and chief among the "Experienced
Persons" referred to was certainly her Chancellor, Digby. Possibly he may
even have suggested the printing of the collection. Like titles are met
with again and again. _Nature's Cabinet Opened_, a medical work, was
attributed to Browne, though he repudiated it. Ruthven's book I have
already alluded to. _The Queen-like Closet_, a Rich Cabinet, by Hannah
Wolly, came out in 1670.
Of the two books, the Queen's and her Chancellor's, Digby's has afforded me
by far the most delight. Though many of the receipts are evidently given as
sent in, the stamp of his personality is on the whole; and he is the poet
of all these culinary artists. But on the score of usefulness to the
housewife I forbear all judgment. The recipes may be thought extravagant in
these late hard times--though epicurism has changed rather than vanished.
Lord Bacon's receipt for making "Manus Christi for the Stomach" begins,
"Take of the best pearls very finely pulverised one drachm"; and a health
resolution runs, "To take once during supper wine in which gold is
quenched." Costly ingredients such as pearls and leaf gold appear only once
among Digby's receipts. The modern housewife may be aghast at the thought
of more than a hundred ways of making mead and metheglin. Mead recalls to
her perhaps her first history-book, wherein she learnt of it as a drink of
the primitive Anglo-Saxons. If she doubt the usefulness of the collection
in her own kitchen, let her take the little volume to her boudoir, and read
it there as gossiping notes of the _beau monde_ in the days when James I
and the Charleses ruled the land. She will find herself in lofty company,
and on intimate terms with them. They come down to our level, without any
show of condescension. Lords and ladies who were personages of a solemn
state pageant, are now human neighbourly creatures, owning to likes and
dislikes, and letting us into the secrets of their daily habits.
It pleases me to think of Henrietta Maria, in her exile, busying herself in
her still-room, and forgetting her dangers and sorrows in simpling and
stilling and kitchen messes; and of her devoted Sir Kenelm, in the moments
when he is neither abeting her Royalist plots, nor diverting her mind to
matters of high science, or the mysteries of the Faith, but bringing to her
such lowlier consolations as are hinted in "Hydromel as I made it weak for
the Queen Mother." We are not waiting in a chill ante-chamber when we read,
"The Queen's ordinary Bouillon de Santé in a morning was thus," or of the
Pressis which she "used to take at nights--of great yet temperate
nourishment--instead of a Supper." And who can hint at Court scandals in
the face of such evidence of domesticity as "The Queen useth to baste meat
with yolks of fresh eggs, &c." or "The way that the Countess de Penalva
makes the Portuguese eggs for the Queen is this"? We cannot help being
interested in the habits of Lady Hungerford, who "useth to make her mead at
the end of summer, when she takes up her Honey, and begins to drink it in
Lent." My Lady Gower and her husband were of independent tastes. Each had
their own receipts. It must be remembered that Dr. Johnson said no woman
could write a cookery-book; and he threatened to write one himself. And Sir
Kenelm had many serious rivals among his own sex.
In such an _embarras de choix_ as given by all these drink receipts, we may
be in doubt whether to try "My Lord Gorge's Meath," or "The Countess of
Newport's" cherry wine, or "The sweet drink of my Lady Stuart," or of Lady
Windebanke, or "Sir Paul Neile's way of making cider," or "my Lord
Carlisle's Sack posset"; but one is strongly influenced by such a note as
"Sir Edward Bainton's Receipt which my Lord of Portland (who gave it me)
saith, was the best he ever drank." I had thought of Saint-Evremond as
warrior and wit, delightful satirist and letter-writer. But here is a
streak of new light upon him: "Monsieur St. Euvremont makes thus his potage
de santé of boiled meat for dinner being very valetudinary.... When he is
in pretty good health, that he may venture upon more savoury hotter things,
&c." The most rigorous Protestants will relax to hear how "To make a Pan
Cotto as the Cardinals use in Rome." And if "My Lord Lumley's Pease
Pottage" sounds homely, be it known, on the word of the eloquent Robert
May, that his lordship "wanted no knowledge in the discerning this
mystery." What fastidious simplicity in the taste of the great is suggested
by "My Lord d'Aubigny eats Red-herrings thus boiled"!
But if Sir Kenelm consorted only with the great, it was with the great of
all social ranks. It was not merely on high questions of science he
discoursed with the discoverer of the circulation of the blood--witness
"Dr. Harvey's pleasant water cider." Then there was that "Chief Burgomaster
of Antwerpe," with whom he must have been on pretty intimate terms, to
learn that he "used for many years to drink no other drink but this [mead];
at Meals and all times, even for pledging of healths. And though He was an
old man, he was of an extraordinary vigor every way, and had every year a
Child, had always a great appetite, and good digestion; and yet was not
fat." Digby was too great a gentleman to be above exchanging receipts with
the professors of the "mystery," such as the Muscovian Ambassador's
steward; and when "Master Webbe who maketh the King's meath," on the 1st of
September, 1663, came to his house to make some for him, Sir Kenelm stood
by, a little suspicious lest the other great artist was bamboozling him. He
had an eye for all--though it may have been one of his correspondents who
says of the remnants of a dish that it "will make good Water-gruel for the
Servants."
The seriousness of the business is tremendous; and to ignore the fine
shades in the 106 receipts for mead and metheglin would have been a
frivolity unknown in Digby's circle. There is care; there is conscience;
there is rivalry. The ingredients are mingled with a nice discrimination
between the rights of the palate and the maintenance of health. "Use only
Morello cherries (I think) for pleasure, and black ones for health." You
may not wait your own convenience in such serious business. "It is best
made by taking all the Canicular days into your fermentation." Now and
again other methods of calculating than ours are used; but "whiles you can
say the Miserere Psalm very leisurely" is as easily computed as "while your
Pulse beateth 200 stroaks." Quantities are a more difficult affair. How is
one to know how much smallage was got for a penny in mid-seventeenth
century? The great connoisseur Lord Lumley is very lax, and owns that his
are "set down by guess."
It is a curious old world we get glimpses of, at once barbarous, simple,
and extravagant, when great ladies were expected to see to the milking of
their cows, as closely as Joan Cromwell supervised her milch-kine in St.
James's Park, and to the cleanliness of their servants' arms and hands, and
when huntsmen rode at the bidding of the cook; for in order that venison be
in good condition, "before the deer be killed he ought to be hunted and
chased as much as possible." The perusal of the section, "To Feed
Chickens," will shock our poultry-breeders. "To make them prodigiously fat
in about twelve days," "My Lady Fanshawe gives them strong ale. They will
be very drunk and sleep; then eat again. Let a candle stand all night over
the coop, and then they will eat much all the night."
"Lord Denbigh's Almond Marchpane," and the 'current wine' of which it is
said "You may drink safely long draughts of it," will appeal perhaps only
to the schoolboy of our weaker generation. Yet there are receipts,
doubtless gathered in Sir Kenelm's later years, that have the cautious
invalid in view. Of these are the "Pleasant Cordial Tablets, which are
very comforting and strengthen nature much," and the liquor which is called
"smoothing." "In health you may dash the Potage with a little juyce of
Orange" is in the same low key. The gruels are so many that we must wish
Mr. Woodhouse had known of the book. If the admixture of "wood-sorrel and
currens" had seemed to him fraught with peril, he could have fallen back on
the "Oatmeal Pap of Sir John Colladon."
Where are all the old dishes vanished to? Who has ever known "A smoothening
Quiddany of Quinces?" Who can tell the composition of a Tansy? These are
tame days when we have forgotten how to make Cock-Ale. They drank 'Sack
with Clove-gilly-flowers' at the "Mermaid," I am sure. What is Bragot? What
is Stepony? And what Slipp-coat Cheese? Ask the baker for a Manchet. The
old names call for a _Ballade. Où sont les mets d'antan?_ And, cooks, with
all your exactness about pounds and ounces and minutes of the clock, can
you better directions like these? Watch for "a pale colour with an eye of
green." "Let it stand till you may see your shadow in it"; or "till it
begin to blink." Your liquid may boil "simpringly," or "in a great
ebullition, in great galloping waves." "Make a liaison a moment, about an
Ave Maria while." And all the significance of the times and seasons we have
lost in our neglect to kill male hogs "in the wane of the moon!" For there
is a lingering of astrology in all this kitchen lore. The irascible
Culpeper, Digby's contemporary, poured scorn on such doctors as knew not
the high science, "Physick without astronomy being like a lamp without
Oil."
As for the poetry I promised--well, I have been quoting it, have I not? But
there is more, and better. Surely it was a romantic folk that kept in its
store-rooms the "best Blew raisins of the sun," or "plumpsome raisins of
the sun," and made its mead with dew, and eagerly exchanged with each other
recipes for "Conserve of Red Roses." And now we come to an essential
feature of the whole. It is a _cuisine_ that does not reek of shops and
co-operative stores, but of the wood, the garden, the field and meadow.
Like Culpeper's pharmacopeia, it is made for the most part of "Such Things
only as grow in England, they being most fit for English Bodies." Is it any
wonder that the metheglin should be called the "Liquor of Life," which has
these among its ingredients: Bugloss, borage, hyssop, organ,
sweet-marjoram, rosemary, French cowslip, coltsfoot, thyme, burnet,
self-heal, sanicle, betony, blew-button, harts-tongue, meadowsweet,
liverwort, bistort, St. John's wort, yellow saunders, balm, bugle,
agrimony, tormentilla, comfrey, fennel, clown's allheal, maidenhair,
wall-rue, spleen-wort, sweet oak, Paul's betony, and mouse-ear?
The housewife of to-day buys unrecognisable dried herbs in packets or
bottles. In those days she gathered them in their season out of doors. The
companions to _The Closet Opened_ should be the hasty and entertaining
Culpeper, the genial Gerard, and Coles of the delightful _Adam in Eden_,
all the old herbals that were on Digby's bookshelves, so full of
absurdities, so full of pretty wisdom. They will tell you how to mix in
your liquor eglantine for coolness, borage, rosemary, and sweet-marjoram
for vigour, and by which planet each herb or flower is governed. Has our
sentiment for the flowers of the field increased now we no longer drink
their essence, or use them in our dishes? I doubt it. It is surely a
pardonable grossness that we should desire the sweet fresh things to become
part of us--like children, who do indeed love flowers, and eat them. In the
Appendix I have transcribed a list of the plants referred to. Most cooks
would be unable to tell one from another; and even modern herbalists have
let many fall out of use, while only a few are on the lists of the English
pharmacopeia. To go simpling once more by field and wood and hedgerow would
be a pleasant duty for country housewives to impose upon themselves; and as
to the herbalists' observations on their virtues, we may say with old
Coles, "Most of them I am confident are true, and if there be any that are
not so, yet they are pleasant."
There is an air of flippancy about that reflexion of Coles you will never
find in Sir Kenelm. Of the virtues of each plant and flower he used he was
fully convinced; and when he tells of their powers, as in his "Aqua
Mirabilis," the tale is like a solemn litany, and we are reminded of
Clarendon's testimony to "the gravity of his motion." And so, his Closet
once more open, he stands at the door, his majesty not greatly lessened;
for the book contains a reminiscence of his rolling eloquence, something
of his romance, and not a little of his poetry.
ANNE MACDONELL.
_Chelsea_, 1910.
THE
CLOSET
Of the Eminently Learned
Sir _Kenelme Digbie_ K^{t}.
OPENED:
Whereby is DISCOVERED
Several ways for making of
_Metheglin, Sider, Cherry-Wine, &c._
_TOGETHER WITH_
Excellent Directions
FOR
COOKERY:
As also for
_Preserving, Conserving, Candying, &c._
* * * * *
Published by his Son's Consent.
* * * * *
_London_, Printed by _E.C._ for _H. Brome_, at
the Star in _Little Britain_. 1669.
[_Facsimile of the original title-page._]
TO THE READER
This Collection full of pleasing variety, and of such usefulness in the
Generality of it, to the Publique, coming to my hands, I should, had I
forborn the Publication thereof, have trespassed in a very considerable
concern upon my Countrey-men, The like having not in every particular
appeared in Print in the English tongue. There needs no Rhetoricating
Floscules to set it off. The Authour, as is well known, having been a
Person of Eminency for his Learning, and of Exquisite Curiosity in his
Researches, Even that Incomparable Sir Kenelme Digbie Knight, Fellow of the
Royal Society and Chancellour to the Queen Mother, (Et omen in Nomine) His
name does sufficiently Auspicate the Work. I shall only therefore add, That
there is herein (as by the Table hereunto affix'd will evidently to thee
appear) a sufficiency of Solids as well as Liquids for the sating the
Curiosities of each or the nicest Palate; and according to that old Saw in
the Regiment of Health, Incipe cum Liquido, &c. The Liquids premitted to
the Solids. These being so Excellent in their kinde, so beneficial and so
well ordered, I think it unhandsome, if not injurious, by the trouble of
any further Discourse, to detain thee any longer from falling to; Fall to
therefore, and much good may it do thee,
FARE-WELL.
A RECEIPT TO MAKE METHEGLIN AS IT IS MADE AT LIEGE, COMMUNICATED BY MR.
MASILLON
Take one Measure of Honey, and three Measures of Water, and let it boil
till one measure be boiled away, so that there be left three measures in
all; as for Example, take to one Pot of Honey, three Pots of Water, and let
it boil so long, till it come to three Pots. During which time you must
Skim it very well as soon as any scum riseth; which you are to continue
till there rise no scum more. You may, if you please, put to it some spice,
to wit, Cloves and Ginger; the quantity of which is to be proportioned
according as you will have your Meath, strong or weak. But this you do
before it begin to boil. There are some that put either Yeast of Beer, or
Leaven of bread into it, to make it work. But this is not necessary at all;
and much less to set it into the Sun. Mr. Masillon doth neither the one nor
the other. Afterwards for to Tun it, you must let it grow Luke-warm, for to
advance it. And if you do intend to keep your Meathe a long time, you may
put into it some hopps on this fashion. Take to every Barrel of Meathe a
Pound of Hops without leaves, that is, of Ordinary Hops used for Beer, but
well cleansed, taking only the Flowers, without the Green-leaves and
stalks. Boil this pound of Hops in a Pot and half of fair water, till it
come to one Pot, and this quantity is sufficient for a Barrel of Meathe. A
Barrel at Liege holdeth ninety Pots, and a Pot is as much as a Wine quart
in England. (I have since been informed from Liege, that a Pot of that
Countrey holdeth 48 Ounces of Apothecary's measure; which I judge to be a
Pottle according to London measure, or two Wine-quarts.) When you Tun your
Meath, you must not fill your Barrel by half a foot, that so it may have
room to work. Then let it stand six weeks slightly stopped; which being
expired, if the Meath do not work, stop it up very close. Yet must you not
fill up the Barrel to the very brim. After six Months you draw off the
clear into another Barrel, or strong Bottles, leaving the dregs, and
filling up your new Barrel, or Bottels, and stopping it or them very close.
The Meath that is made this way, (_Viz._ In the Spring, in the Month of
April or May, which is the proper time for making of it,) will keep many a
year.
WHITE METHEGLIN OF MY LADY HUNGERFORD: WHICH IS EXCEEDINGLY PRAISED
Take your Honey, and mix it with fair water, until the Honey be quite
dissolved. If it will bear an Egge to be above the liquor, the breadth of a
groat, it is strong enough; if not, put more Honey to it, till it be so
strong; Then boil it, till it be clearly and well skimmed; Then put in one
good handful of Strawberry-leaves, and half a handful of Violet leaves; and
half as much Sorrel: a Douzen tops of Rosemary; four or five tops of
Baulme-leaves: a handful of Harts-tongue, and a handful of Liver-worth; a
little Thyme, and a little Red-sage; Let it boil about an hour; then put it
into a Woodden Vessel, where let it stand, till it be quite cold; Then put
it into the Barrel; Then take half an Ounce of Cloves, as much Nutmeg; four
or five Races of Ginger; bruise it, and put it into a fine bag, with a
stone to make it sink, that it may hang below the middle: Then stop it very
close.
The Herbs and Spices are in proportion for six Gallons.
Since my Lady Hungerford sent me this Receipt, she sent me word, that she
now useth (and liketh better) to make the Decoction of Herbs before you put
the Honey to it, This Proportion of Herbs is to make six Gallons of
Decoction, so that you may take eight or nine Gallons of water. When you
have drawn out into your water, all the vertue of the Herbs, throw them
away, and take the clear Decoction (leaving the settlings) and when it is
Lukewarm, Dissolve your proportion of Honey in it. After it is well
dissolved and laved with strong Arms or woodden Instruments, like
Battle-doors or Scoops, boil it gently; till you have taken away all the
scum; then make an end of well boyling it, about an hour in all. Then pour
it into a wooden vessel, and let it stand till it be cold. Then pour the
clear through a Sieve of hair, ceasing pouring when you come to the foul
thick settling. Tun the clear into your vessel (without Barm) and stop it
up close, with the Spices in it, till you perceive by the hissing that it
begins to work. Then give it some little vent, else the Barrel would break.
When it is at the end of the working, stop it up close. She useth to make
it at the end of Summer, when she takes up her Honey, and begins to drink
it in Lent. But it will be better if you defer piercing it till next
Winter. When part of the Barrel is drunk, she botteleth the rest, which
maketh it quicker and better. You clear the Decoction from the Herbs by a
Hair-sieve.
SOME NOTES ABOUT HONEY
The Honey of dry open Countries, where there is much Wild-thyme, Rosemary,
and Flowers, is best. It is of three sorts, Virgin-honey, Life-honey, and
Stock-honey. The first is the best. The Life-honey next. The Virgin-honey
is of Bees, that swarmed the Spring before, and are taken up in Autumn; and
is made best by chusing the Whitest combs of the Hive, and then letting the
Honey run out of them lying upon a Sieve without pressing it, or breaking
of the Combs. The Life-honey is of the same Combs broken after the
Virgin-honey is run from it; The Merchants of Honey do use to mingle all
the sorts together. The first of a swarm is called Virgin-honey. That of
the next year, after the Swarm was hatched, is Life-honey. And ever after,
it is Honey of Old-stocks. Honey that is forced out of the Combs, will
always taste of Wax. Hampshire Honey is most esteemed at London. About
Bisleter there is excellent good. Some account Norfolk honey the best.
MR. CORSELLISES ANTWERP MEATH
To make good Meath, good white and thick Marsilian or Provence-honey is
best; and of that, to four Holland Pints (the Holland Pint is very little
bigger then the English Wine-pint:) of Water, you must put two pound of
Honey; The Honey must be stirred in Water, till it be all melted; If it be
stirred about in warm water, it will melt so much the sooner.
When all is dissolved, it must be so strong that an Egge may swim in it
with the end upwards. And if it be too sweet or too strong, because there
is too much Honey; then you must put more water to it; yet so, that, as
above, an Hens Egge may swim with the point upwards: And then that newly
added water must be likewise well stirred about, so that it may be mingled
all alike. If the Eggs sink (which is a token that there is not honey
enough) then you must put more Honey to it, and stir about, till it be all
dissolved, and the Eggs swim, as abovesaid. This being done, it must be
hanged over the fire, and as it beginneth to seeth, the scum, that doth
arise upon it, both before and after, must be clean skimed off. When it is
first set upon the fire, you must measure it first with a stick, how deep
the Kettel is, or how much Liquor there be in it; and then it must boil so
long, till one third part of it be boiled away. When it is thus boiled, it
must be poured out into a Cooler, or open vessel, before it be tunned in
the Barrel; but the Bung-hole must be left open, that it may have vent. A
vessel, which hath served for Sack is best.
TO MAKE EXCELLENT MEATHE
To every quart of Honey, take four quarts of water. Put your water in a
clean Kettle over the fire, and with a stick take the just measure, how
high the water cometh, making a notch, where the superficies toucheth the
stick. As soon as the water is warm, put in your Honey, and let it boil,
skiming it always, till it be very clean; Then put to every Gallon of
water, one pound of the best Blew-raisins of the Sun, first clean picked
from the stalks, and clean washed. Let them remain in the boiling Liquor,
till they be throughly swollen and soft; Then take them out, and put them
into a Hair-bag, and strain all the juice and pulp and substance from them
in an Apothecaries Press; which put back into your liquor, and let it boil,
till it be consumed just to the notch you took at first, for the measure of
your water alone. Then let your Liquor run through a Hair-strainer into an
empty Woodden-fat, which must stand endwise, with the head of the upper-end
out; and there let it remain till the next day, that the liquor be quite
cold. Then Tun it up into a good Barrel, not filled quite full, but within
three or four fingers breadth; (where Sack hath been, is the best) and let
the bung remain open for six weeks with a double bolter-cloth lying upon
it, to keep out any foulness from falling in. Then stop it up close, and
drink not of it till after nine months.
This Meathe is singularly good for a Consumption, Stone, Gravel,
Weak-sight, and many more things. A Chief Burgomaster of Antwerpe, used
for many years to drink no other drink but this; at Meals and all times,
even for pledging of healths. And though He were an old man, he was of an
extraordinary vigor every way, and had every year a Child, had always a
great appetite, and good digestion; and yet was not fat.
A WEAKER, BUT VERY PLEASANT, MEATHE
To every quart of Honey take six of water; boil it till 1/3 be consumed,
skiming it well all the while. Then pour it into an open Fat, and let it
cool. When the heat is well slakened, break into a Bowl-full of this warm
Liquor, a New-laid-egge, beating the yolk and white well with it; then put
it into the Fat to all the rest of the Liquor, and stir it well together,
and it will become very clear. Then pour it into a fit very clean Barrel,
and put to it some Mother of Wine, that is in it's best fermentation or
working, and this will make the Liquor work also. This will be ready to
drink in three or four Months, or sooner.
AN EXCELLENT WHITE MEATHE
Take one Gallon of Honey, and four of water; Boil and scum them till there
rise no more scum; then put in your Spice a little bruised, which is most
of Cinnamon, a little Ginger, a little Mace, and a very little Cloves. Boil
it with the Spice in it, till it bear an Egge. Then take it from the fire,
and let it Cool in a Woodden vessel, till it be but lukewarm; which this
quantity will be in four or five or six hours. Then put into it a hot tost
of White-bread, spread over on both sides, pretty thick with fresh barm;
that will make it presently work. Let it work twelve hours, close covered
with Cloves. Then Tun it into a Runlet wherein Sack hath been, that is
somewhat too big for that quantity of Liquor; for example, that it fill it
not by a Gallon; You may then put a little Limon-pill in with it. After it
hath remained in the vessel a week or ten days, draw it into Bottles. You
may begin to drink it after two or three Months: But it will be better
after a year. It will be very spritely and quick and pleasant and pure
white.
A RECEIPT TO MAKE A TUN OF METHEGLIN
Take two handfuls of Dock (_alias_ wild Carrot) a reasonable burthen of
Saxifrage, Wild-sage, Blew-button, Scabious, Bettony, Agrimony,
Wild-marjoram, of each a reasonable burthen; Wild-thyme a Peck, Roots and
all. All these are to be gathered in the fields, between the two Lady days
in Harvest. The Garden-herbs are these; Bay-leaves, and Rosemary, of each
two handfuls; a Sieveful of Avens, and as much Violet-leaves: A handful of
Sage; three handfuls of Sweet-Marjoram, Three Roots of young Borrage,
leaves and all, that hath not born seed; Two handfuls of Parsley-roots, and
all that hath not born Seed. Two Roots of Elecampane that have not seeded:
Two handfuls of Fennel that hath not seeded: A peck of Thyme; wash and pick
all your herbs from filth and grass: Then put your field herbs first into
the bottom of a clean Furnace, and lay all your Garden-herbs thereon; then
fill your Furnace with clean water, letting your herbs seeth, till they be
so tender, that you may easily slip off the skin of your Field-herbs, and
that you may break the roots of your Garden-herbs between your Fingers.
Then lade forth your Liquor, and set it a cooling. Then fill your Furnace
again with clear water to these Herbs, and let them boil a quarter of an
hour. Then put it to your first Liquor, filling the Furnace, until you have
sufficient to fill your Tun. Then as your Liquor begins to cool, and is
almost cold, set your servants to temper Honey and wax in it, Combs and
all, and let them temper it well together, breaking the Combes very small;
let their hands and nails be very clean; and when you have tempered it very
well together, cleanse it through a cleansing sieve into another clean
vessel; The more Honey you have in your Liquor, the stronger it will be.
Therefore to know, when it is strong enough, take two New-laid eggs, when
you begin to cleanse, and put them in whole into the bottome of your
cleansed Liquor; And if it be strong enough, it will cause the Egge to
ascend upward, and to be on the top as broad as sixpence; if they do not
swim on the top; put more.
THE COUNTESS OF BULLINGBROOK'S WHITE METHEGLIN
Take eight Gallons of Conduit-water, and boil it very well; then put as
much Honey in it, as will bear an Egge, and stir it well together. Then set
it upon the fire, and put in the whites of four Eggs to clarifie it; And as
the scum riseth, take it off clean: Then put in a pretty quantity of
Rosemary, and let it boil, till it tasteth a little of it: Then with a
scummer take out the Rosemary, as fast as you can, and let it boil half a
quarter of an hour; put it into earthen pans to cool; next morning put it
into a barrel, and put into it a little barm, and an Ounce of Ginger
scraped and sliced; And let it stand a Month or six Weeks. Then bottle it
up close; you must be sure not to let it stand at all in Brass.
MR. WEBBES MEATH
Master Webbe, who maketh the Kings Meathe, ordereth it thus. Take as much
of Hyde-park water as will make a Hogshead of Meathe: Boil in it about two
Ounces of the best Hopp's for about half an hour. By that time, the water
will have drawn out the strength of the Hopp's. Then skim them clean off,
and all the froth, or whatever riseth of the water. Then dissolve in it
warm, about one part of Honey to six of water: Lave and beat it, till all
the Honey be perfectly dissolved; Then boil it, beginning gently, till all
the scum be risen, and scummed away. It must boil in all about two hours.
Half an hour, before you end your boiling, put into it some Rosemary-tops,
Thyme, Sweet-marjorame, one Sprig of Minth, in all about half a handful,
and as much Sweet-bryar-leaves as all these; in all, about a handful of
herbs, and two Ounces of sliced Ginger, and one Ounce of bruised Cinamon.
He did use to put in a few Cloves and Mace; But the King did not care for
them. Let all these boil about half an hour, then scum them clean away; and
presently let the Liquor run through a strainer-cloth into a Kiver of wood,
to cool and settle. When you see it is very clear and settled, lade out the
Liquor into another Kiver, carefully, not to raise the settlings from the
bottom. As soon as you see any dregs begin to rise, stay your hand, and let
it remain unstirred, till all be settled down. Then lade out the Liquor
again, as before; and if need be, change it again into another Kiver: all
which is done to the end no dregs may go along with the Liquor in tunning
it into the vessel. When it is cold and perfect clear, tun it into a Cask,
that hath been used for Sack, and stop it up close, having an eye to give
it a little vent, if it should work. If it cast out any foul Liquor in
working, fill it up always presently with some of the same liquor, that you
have kept in bottles for that end. When it hath wrought, and is well
settled (which may be in about two months or ten weeks) draw it into
Glass-bottles, as long as it comes clear; and it will be ready to drink in
a Month or two: but will keep much longer, if you have occasion: and no
dregs will be in the bottom of the bottle.
He since told me, that to this Proportion of Honey and water, to make a
Hogshead of Meathe, you should boil half a pound of Hopps in the water,
and two good handfuls of Herbs; and six Ounces of Spice of all sorts: All
which will be mellowed and rotted away quite, (as well as the lushiousness
of the Honey) in the space of a year or two. For this is to be kept so long
before it be drunk.
If you would have it sooner ready to drink, you may work it with a little
yeast, when it is almost cold in the Kiver: and Tun it up as soon as it
begins to work, doing afterwards as is said before; but leaving a little
vent to purge by, till it have done working. Or in stead of yeast, you may
take the yolks of four New-laid-eggs, and almost half a pint of fine
Wheat-flower, and some of the Liquor you have made: beat them well
together, then put them to the Liquor in the Cask, and stop it up close,
till you see it needful, to give it a little vent.
Note, that yeast of good Beer, is better then that of Ale.
* * * * *
The first of Septemb. 1663. Mr. Webb came to my House to make some for Me.
He took fourty three Gallons of water, and fourty two pounds of Norfolk
honey. As soon as the water boiled, He put into it a slight handful of
Hops; which after it had boiled a little above a quarter of an hour, he
skimed off; then put in the honey to the boyling water, and presently a
white scum rose, which he skimed off still as it rose; which skiming was
ended in little above a quarter of an hour more. Then he put in his herbs
and spices, which were these: Rose-mary, Thyme, Winter-savory,
Sweet-marjoram, Sweet-bryar-leaves, seven or eight little Parsley-roots:
There was most of the Savoury, and least of the Eglantine, three Ounces of
Ginger, one Ounce and a half of Cinnamon, five Nutmegs (half an Ounce of
Cloves he would have added, but did not,) And these boiled an hour and a
quarter longer; in all from the first beginning to boil, somewhat less then
two hours: Then he presently laded it out of the Copper into Coolers,
letting it run through a Hair-sieve: And set the Coolers shelving (tilted
up) that the Liquor might afterwards run the more quietly out of them.
After the Liquor had stood so about two hours, he poured or laded out of
some of the Coolers very gently, that the dregs might not rise, into other
Coolers. And about a pint of very thick dregs remained last in the bottom
of every Cooler. That which ran out, was very clear: After two hours more
settling, (in a shelving situation,) He poured it out again into other
Coolers; and then very little dregs (or scarce any in some of the Coolers)
did remain. When the Liquor was even almost cold, He took the yolks of
three New-laid-eggs, a spoonful of fine white flower, and about half a pint
of new fresh barm of good strong Beer (you must have care that your barm be
very white and clean, not sullied and foul, as is usual among slovenly
Brewers in London). Beat this very well together, with a little of the
Liquor in a skiming dish, till you see it well incorporated, and that it
beginneth to work. Then put it to a pailful (of about two Gallons and a
half) of the Liquor, and mingle it well therewith. Then leave the skiming
dish reversed floating in the middle of the Liquor, and so the yest will
work up into and under the hollow of the dish, and grow out round about the
sides without. He left this well and thick covered all night, from about
eleven a clock at night; And the next morning, finding it had wrought very
well, He mingled what was in the Pail with the whole proportion of the
Liquor, and so Tunned it up into a Sack-cask. I am not satisfied, whether
he did not put a spoonful of fine white good Mustard into his Barm, before
he brought it hither, (for he took a pretext to look out some pure clean
white barm) but he protested, there was nothing mingled with the barm, yet
I am in doubt. He confessed to me that in making of Sider, He put's in half
as much Mustard as Barm; but never in Meathe. The fourth of September in
the morning, he Bottled up into Quart-bottles the two lesser Rundlets of
this Meathe (for he did Tun the whole quantity into one large Rundlet, and
two little ones) whereof the one contained thirty Bottles; and the other,
twenty two. There remained but little settling or dregs in the Bottom's of
the Barrels, but some there was. The Bottles were set into a cool Cellar,
and He said they would be ready to drink in three weeks. The Proportion of
Herbs and Spices is this; That there be so much as to drown the luscious
sweetness of the Honey; but not so much as to taste of herbs or spice, when
you drink the Meathe. But that the sweetnes of the honey may kill their
taste: And so the Meathe have a pleasant taste, but not of herbs, nor
spice, nor honey. And therefore you put more or less according to the time
you will drink it in. For a great deal will be mellowed away in a year,
that would be ungratefully strong in three months. And the honey that will
make it keep a year or two, will require a triple proportion of spice and
herbs. He commends Parsley roots to be in greatest quantity, boiled whole,
if young; but quarterred and pithed, if great and old.
MY OWN CONSIDERATIONS FOR MAKING OF MEATHE
Boil what quantity of Spring-water you please, three or four walms, and
then let it set the twenty four hours, and pour the clear from the
settling. Take sixteen Gallons of the clear, and boil in it ten handfuls of
Eglantine-leaves, five of Liverwort, five of Scabious, four of Baulm, four
of Rosemary; two of Bay-leaves; one of Thyme, and one of Sweet-marjoram,
and five Eringo-roots splitted. When the water hath drawn out the vertue of
the herbs (which it will do in half an hours boiling,) let it run through a
strainer or sieve, and let it settle so, that you may pour the clear from
the Dregs. To every three Gallons of the Clear, take one of Honey, and with
clean Arms stripped up, lade it for two or three hours, to dissolve the
honey in the water; lade it twice or thrice that day. The next day boil it
very gently to make the scum rise, and scum it all the while, and now and
then pour to it a ladle full of cold water, which will make the scum rise
more: when it is very clear from scum, you may boil it the more strongly,
till it bear an Egge very high, that the breadth of a groat be out of the
water, and that it boil high with great walms in the middle of the Kettle:
which boiling with great Bubbles in the middle is a sign it is boiled to
it's height. Then let it cool till it be Lukewarm, at which time put some
Ale yest into it, to make it work, as you would do Ale. And then put it up
into a fit Barrel first seasoned with some good sweet White-wine (as
Canary-sack) and keep the bung open, till it have done working, filling it
up with some such honey-drink warmed, as you find it sink down by working
over. When it hath almost done working, put into it a bag of thin stuff
(such as Bakers use to bolt in) fastened by a Cord at the bung, containing
two parts of Ginger-sliced, and one apiece of Cinamon, Cloves and Nutmegs,
with a Pebble-stone in it to make it sink; And stop it up close for six
Months or a year, and then you may draw it into bottles. If you like
Cardamon-seeds, you may adde some of them to the spices. Some do like Mint
exceedingly to be added to the other herbs. Where no yeast is to be had,
The Liquor will work if you set it some days in the hot Sun (with a cover,
like the roof of a house over it, to keep wet out, if it chance to rain)
but then you must have great care, to fill it up, as it consumeth, and to
stop it close a little before it hath done working, and to set it then
presently in a Cool Cellar. I am told that the Leaven of bread will make it
work as well as yest, but I have not tryed it. If you will not have it so
strong, it will be much sooner ready to drink; As if you take six parts of
water to one of Honey. Some do like the drink better without either herbs
or spices, and it will be much the whiter. If you will have it stronger,
put but four Gallons and a half of water to one of honey.
You may use what Herbs or Roots you please, either for their tast or
vertue, after the manner here set down.
If you make it work with yeast, you must have great care, to draw it into
bottles soon after it hath done working, as after a fortnight or three
weeks. For that will make it soon grow stale, and it will thence grow sower
and dead before you are aware. But if it work singly of itself, and by help
of the Sun without admixtion of either Leaven or Yeast, it may be kept long
in the Barrel, so it be filled up to the top, and kept very close stopp'd.
I conceive it will be exceeding good thus: when you have a strong
Honey-liquor of three parts of water to one of Honey, well-boiled and
scummed, put into it Lukewarm, or better (as soon as you take it from the
fire) some Clove-gilly-flowers, first wiped, and all the whites clipped
off, one good handful or two to every Gallon of Liquor. Let these infuse 30
or 40 hours. Then strain it from the flowers, and either work it with
yeast, or set it in the Sun to work; when it hath almost done working, put
into it a bag of like Gilly-flowers (and if they are duly dried, I think
they are the better) hanging it in at the bung. And if you will put into
it some spirit of wine, that hath drawn a high Tincture from
Clove-gilly-flowers (dried I conceive is best) and some other that hath
done the like from flowers and tops of Rosemary, and some that hath done
the like from Cinnamon and Ginger, I believe it will be much the nobler,
and last the longer.
I conceive, that bitter and strong herbs, as Rosemary, Bayes,
Sweet-marjoram, Thyme, and the like, do conserve Meathe the better and
longer, being as it were in stead of hops. But neither must they, no more
than Clove-gilly-flowers, be too much boiled: For the Volatil pure Spirit
flies away very quickly. Therefore rather infuse them. Beware of infusing
Gillyflower in any vessel of Metal, (excepting silver:) For all Metals will
spoil and dead their colour. Glased earth is best.
SACK WITH CLOVE-GILLY FLOWERS
If you will make a Cordial Liquor of Sack with Clove-gilly-flowers, you
must do thus. Prepare your Gilly-flowers, as is said before, and put them
into great double glass-bottles, that hold two gallons a piece, or more;
and put to every gallon of Sack, a good half pound of the wiped and cut
flowers, putting in the flowers first, and then the Sack upon them. Stop
the glasses exceeding close, and set them in a temperate Cellar. Let them
stand so, till you see that the Sack hath drawn out all the principal
tincture from them, and that the flowers begin to look palish; (with an eye
of pale, or faint in Colour) Then pour the Sack from them, and throw away
the exhausted flowers, or distil a spirit from them; For if you let them
remain longer in the Sack, they will give an earthy tast to them. You may
then put the tincted Sack into fit bottles for your use, stopping them very
close. But if the season of the flowers be not yet past, your Sack will be
better, if you put it upon new flowers, which I conceive will not be the
worse, but peradventure the better, if they be a little dried in the shade.
If you drink a Glass or two of this sack at a meal, you will find it a
great Cordial.
Upon better consideration; I conceive the best way of making Hydromel with
Clove-gilly-flowers, is thus: Boil your simple Liquor to its full height
(with three parts of water to one of Honey), take a small parcel out, to
make a strong infusion of flowers, pouring it boyling hot upon the flowers
in earthen vessels. If you have great quantity, as six to one, of Liquor,
you will easily draw out the tincture in fourteen or sixteen hours
infusion; otherwise you may quicken your liquor with a parcel of Sack. In
the mean time make the great quantity of Liquor work with yest. When it
hath almost done fermenting, but not quite, put the infusion to it warm,
and let it ferment more if it will. When that is almost done, put to it a
bag with flowers to hang in the bung.
I conceive that Hydromel made with Juniper-berries (first broken and
bruised) boiled in it, is very good. Adde also to it Rosemary and
Bay-leaves.
Upon tryal of several ways, I conclude (as things yet appear to me) that to
keep Meath long, it must not be fermented with yest (unless you put Hops
to it) but put it in the barrel, and let it ferment of it self, keeping a
thick plate of lead upon the bung, to lie close upon it, yet so that the
working of the Liquor may raise it, to purge out the foulness, and have
always some new made plain Liquor, to fill it up as it sinks, warm whiles
it works: but cold during three or four month's after. Then stop the bung
exceeding close. And when you will make your Mead with Cherries or
Morello-Cherries, or Raspes, or Bilberries, or Black-cherries, put their
juyce to the Liquor when you tun it, without ever boiling it therein; about
one quart of juyce to every three or four gallons of Liquor. You may
squeese out the clear juyce, and mingle it with the Liquor, and hang the
Magma in a bag in the bung. I think it is best to break the stones of the
Cherries, before you put their Magma into the bag.
Since I conceive, that Clove-gilly-flowers must never be boiled in the
Liquor: that evaporateth their Spirits, which are very volatile: But make a
strong infusion of them, and besides hang a Bag of them in the bung. I
conceive that it is good to make the Liquor pretty strong (not too much,
but so as the taste may be gratefull) of some strong herbs, as Rosemary,
Bay-leaves, Sweet-marjoram, Thyme, Broad-thyme, and the like. For they
preserve the drink, and make it better for the stomack and head. Standing
in the Sun is the best way of Fermentation, when the drink is strong. The
root of Angelica or Elecampane, or Eringo, or Orris, may be good and
pleasant, to be boiled in the Liquor. Raspes and Cherries and Bilberies are
never to be boiled, but their juyce put into the Liquor, when it is
tunning. Use onely Morello-Cherries (I think) for pleasure, and black ones
for health. I conceive it best to use very little spice of any kind in
Meathes.
METHEGLIN COMPOSED BY MY SELF OUT OF SUNDRY RECEIPTS
In sixty Gallons of water, boil ten handfuls of Sweet-bryar-leaves;
Eye-bright, Liverwort, Agrimony, Scabious, Balme, Wood-bettony,
Strawberry-leaves, Burnet, of each four handfuls; of Rosemary, three
handfuls; of Minth, Angelica, Bayes and Wild-thyme, Sweet-Marjoram, of each
two handfuls: Six Eringo-roots. When the water hath taken out the vertue of
the herbs and roots, let it settle, and the next day pour off the clear,
and in every three Gallons of it boil one of honey, scumming it well, and
putting in a little cold water now and then to make the scum rise, as also
some whites of Eggs. When it is clear scummed, take it _off_, and let it
cool; then work it with Ale-yest; tun it up, and hang it in a bag, with
Ginger, Cinamom, Cloves and Cardamom. And as it worketh over, put in some
strong honey-drink warmed. When it works no more, stop it up close.
In twenty Gallons of water boil Sweet-bryar-leaves, Eye-bright, Rosemary,
Bayes, Clove-gilly-flowers of each five handfuls, and four Eringo-roots. To
every two gallons and a half of this decoction, put one gallon of honey;
boil it, &c. When it is tunned up, hang in it a bag containing five
handfuls of Clove-gilly-flowers, and sufficient quantity of the spices
above.
In both these Receipts, the quantity of the herbs is too great. The strong
herbs preserve the drink, and make it nobler. Use Marjoram and Thyme in
little quantity in all.
MY LADY COWERS WHITE MEATHE USED AT SALISBURY
Take to four Gallons of water, one Gallon of Virgin-honey; let the water be
warm before you put in the honey; and then put in the whites of 3 or 4 Eggs
well beaten, to make the scum rise. When the honey is throughly melted and
ready to boil, put in an Egge with the shell softly; and when the Egge
riseth above the water, to the bigness of a groat in sight, it is strong
enough of the honey. The Egge will quickly be hard, and so will not rise;
Therefore you must put in another, if the first do not rise to your sight;
you must put in more water and honey proportionable to the first, because
of wasting away in the boiling. It must boil near an hour. You may, if you
please, boil in it, a little bundle of Rosemary, Sweet-marjoram, and Thyme;
and when it tasteth to your liking, take it forth again. Many do put
Sweet-bryar berries in it, which is held very good. When your Meath is
boiled enough take it off the fire, and put it into a Kiver; when it is
blood-warm, put in some Ale-barm, to make it work, and cover it close with
a blancket in the working. The next morning tun it up, and if you please
put in a bag with a little Ginger and a little Nutmeg bruised; and when it
hath done working, stop it up close for a Moneth, and then Bottle it.
SIR THOMAS GOWER'S METHEGLIN FOR HEALTH
First boil the water and scum it; Then to 12 Gallons put 6 handfuls of
Sweet-bryar-leaves, of Sweet-marjoram, Rosemary, Thyme, of each one a
handful: Flowers of Marigold, Borrage, Bugloss, Sage, each two handfuls.
Boil all together very gently, till a third waste. To eight Gallons of this
put two Gallons of pure honey, and boil them till the Liquor bear an Egge,
the breadth of threepence or a Groat, together with such spices as you like
(bruised, but not beaten) an ounce of all is sufficient.
You must observe carefully. 1. Before you set the Liquor to boil, to cause
a lusty Servant (his Arms well washed) to mix the honey and water together,
labouring it with his hands at least an hour without intermission. 2. That
when it begins to boil fast, you take away part of the fire, so as it may
boil slowly, and the scum and dross go all to one side, the other remaining
clear. When you take it off, let none of the liquor go away with the dross.
3. When you take it from the fire, let it settle well, before it be tunned
into the vessel, wherein you mean to keep it: and when it comes near the
bottom, let it be taken carefully from the sediment, with a thin Dish, so
as nothing be put into the vessel, but what is clear. 4. Stop it very
close (when it is set in the place, where it must remain) cover it with a
cloth, upon which some handfuls of Bay-salt and Salpeter is laid, and over
that lay clay, and a Turf. 5. Put into it, when you stop it, some
New-laid-eggs in number proportionable to the bigness of the vessel,
Shell's unbroken. Six Eggs to about sixteen Gallons. The whole Egg-shell
and all will be entirely consumed.
METHEGLIN FOR TASTE AND COLOUR
Must be boiled as the other, if you intend to keep it above half a year;
but less according to the time, wherein you mean to use it. You must put in
no Herbs, to avoid bitterness and discolouring; and the proportion of water
and honey more or less, as you would drink it sooner or later; (as a Gallon
of honey to 4, 5, or 6 of water.) If to be weak, and to be soon drunk, you
must when it is tunned, put in a Tost of bread (hard tosted) upon which
half a score drops of Spirit of yest or barm is dropped; for want of it,
spread it with purest barm beaten with a few drops of Oyl of Cinnamon. If
you intend to give it the taste of Raspes, then adde more barm, to make it
work well, and during that time of working, put in your Raspes (or their
Syrup) but the fruit gives a delicate Colour, and Syrup a duller Tincture.
Drink not that made after the first manner, till six moneths, and it will
endure drawing better then wine; but Bottleled, it is more spirited then
any drink.
The Spirit of Barm is made by putting store of water to the barm; then
distill the Spirit, as you do other Spirits; At last an oyl will come,
which is not for this use.
Sir Thomas Gower maketh his ordinary drink thus: Make very small well
Brewed Ale. To eight Gallons of this put one Gallon of honey; when it is
well dissolved and clarified, tun up the Liquor, making it work in due
manner with barm. When it hath done working, stop it up close, and in three
months it will be fit to drink.
He makes Metheglin thus. Make a good Decoct of Eglantine-leaves, Cowslip
flowers, a little Sweet-marjoram, and some Rosemary and Bay-leaves, Betony,
and Scabious, and a little Thyme. After the sediment hath settled, put 1/3
or 1/4 or 1/5 or 1/6 part of honey, (according as you would have it strong,
and soon ready) to the clear severed from the settlement, and stir it
exceeding well with stripped arms 4 or 5 hours, till it be perfectly
incorporated. Then boil and scum it; let it then cool and tun it up, &c.
After it hath cooled, lade the clean from the settlement, so that it may
not trouble it, and run up the clear thus severed from the settlings. Much
of the perfection consisteth in stirring it long with stripped arms before
you boil it. Then to boil it very leisurely till all the scum be off. And
order your fire so, that the scum may rise and drive all to one side. This
will be exceeding pale clear and pleasant Metheglin. He useth to every
Gallon of water, a good handful of Eglantine-leaves, and as much Cowslip
flowers; but onely a Pugil of Thyme or Marjoram.
AN EXCELLENT WAY OF MAKING WHITE METHEGLIN
Take of Sweet-bryar berries, of Rosemary, broad Thyme, of each a handful.
Boil them in a quantity of fair water for half an hour; then cleanse the
water from the herbs, and let it stand 24 hours, until it be thorough cold.
Then put your hony into it (hony which floweth from the Combs of it self in
a warm place is best) make it so strong of the honey that it bear an egge
(if you will have it strong) the breadth of a groat above the Liquor. This
being done, lave and bounce it very well and often, that the honey and
water may incorporate and work well together. After this boil it softly
over a gentle fire, and scum it. Then beat the whites of eggs with their
shells, and put into it to clarifie it. After this, put some of it into a
vessel, and take the whites of two eggs, and a little barm, and a small
quantity of fine flower; beat them well together, and put it into the
vessel close covered, that it may work. Then pour the rest into it by
degrees, as you do Beer. At last take a quantity of Cinamon, 2 or 3 races
of Ginger, and two Nutmegs (for more will alter the colour of it.) Hang
these in a little bag in the vessel. Thus made, it will be as white as any
White-wine.
ANOTHER WAY OF MAKING WHITE METHEGLIN
To three Gallons of Spring-water take three quarts of honey, and set it
over the fire, till the scum rises pretty thick. Then take off the scum,
and put in Thyme, Rosemary, Hyssop and Maiden-hair, of each one handful;
and two handfuls of Eglantine leaves, and half a handful of Organ. The
spices, Ginger, Nutmegs, Cinamon and a little mace, and boil all these
together near half an hour. Then take it from the fire, and let it stand
till it be cold, and then strain it, and so Tun it up, and stop it close.
The longer you keep it, the better it will be.
ANOTHER WAY
Take two Gallons of water; one Gallon of Honey: Parietary one handful;
Sage, Thyme, one Pugil; Of Hyssop half a Pugil. Six Parsley-roots; one
Fennel-root, the pith taken out: Red-nettles one Pugil. Six leaves of
Hearts-tongue. Boil this together one hour. Then put in the Honey, and
Nutmegs, Cloves, Mace, Cinamon of each one ounce; of Ginger three ounces.
Boil all these together, till the scum be boiled in, not scumming it. Then
take it off, and set it to cool. When it is cold, put in it six spoonfuls
of barm, and when it is ripe, it will hiss in the pail. You must take out
the herbs, when you put in the honey. If you put in these herbs following,
it will be far better; Sanicle, Bugloss, Avens, and Ladies-mantle, of each
one handful.
TO MAKE WHITE METHEGLIN
Take of Sweet-bryar a great handful: of Violet-flowers, Sweet-marjoram,
Strawberry-leaves, Violet-leaves, _ana_, one handful, Agrimony, Bugloss,
Borrage, _ana_, half a handful. Rosemary four branches, Gilly-flowers, No.
4 (the Yellow-wall-flowers, with great tops) Anniseeds, Fennel, and
Caraway, of each a spoonful, Two large Mace. Boil all these in twelve
Gallons of water for the Space of an hour; then strain it, and let it stand
until it be Milk-warm Then put in as much honey, as will carry an Egge to
the breadth of sixpence, at least. Then boil it again, and scum it clean;
then let it stand, until it be cold; then put a pint of Ale-barm into it,
and ripen it as you do Beer, and tun it. Then hang in the midst of the
vessel a little bag with a Nutmeg quartered, a Race of Ginger sliced, a
little Cinamon, and mace whole, and three grains of Musk in a cloth put
into the bag amongst the rest of the Spices. Put a stone in the bag, to
keep it in the midst of the Liquor. This quantity took up three Gallons of
honey; therefore be sure to have four in readiness.
STRONG MEAD
Take one Measure of honey, and dissolve it in four of water, beating it
long up and down with clean Woodden ladels. The next day boil it gently,
scumming it all the while till no more scum riseth; and if you will
clarifie the Liquor with a few beaten whites of Eggs, it will be the
clearer. The rule of it's being boiled enough is, when it yieldeth no more
scum, and beareth an Egge, so that the breadth of a groat is out of the
water. Then pour it out of the Kettle into woodden vessels, and let it
remain there till it be almost cold. Then Tun it into a vessel, where Sack
hath been.
A RECEIPT FOR MAKING OF MEATH
Take a quart of honey, and mix it with a Gallon of Fountain-water, and work
it well four days together, four times a day; The fifth day put it over
the fire, and let it boil an hour, and scum it well. Then take the whites
of two Eggs, and beat them to a froth, and put it into the Liquor; stirring
it well, till the whites of Eggs have raised a froth of Scum; then take it
off, scumming the liquor clean. Then take a handful of Strawberry-leaves
and Violet-leaves together, with a little Sprig of Rosemary and two or
three little Sprigs of Spike; and so boil it again (with these herbs in it)
a quarter of an hour. Then take it off the fire, and when it is cold, put
it into a little barrel, and put into it half a spoonful of Ale-yest, and
let it work; which done, take one Nutmeg sliced, and twice as much Ginger
sliced, six Cloves bruised, and a little stick of Cinamon, and sow these
Spices in a little bag, and stop it well; and it will be fit for use within
a fortnight, and will last half a year. If you will have your Metheglin
stronger, put into it a greater quantity of honey.
MY LORD HOLLIS HYDROMEL
In four parts of Springwater dissolve one part of honey, or so much as the
Liquor will bear an Egge to the breadth of a Groat. Then boil it very well,
and that all the scum be taken away. He addeth nothing to it but a small
proportion of Ginger sliced: of which He putteth half to boil in the
Liquor, after all the scum is gone; and the other half He putteth into a
bag, and hangeth in the bung, when it is tunned. The Ginger must be very
little, not so much as to make the Liquor taste strongly of it, but to
quicken it. I should like to adde a little proportion of Rosemary, and a
greater of Sweet-bryar leaves, in the boiling. As also, to put into the
barrel a tost of white bread with mustard, to make it work. He puts nothing
to it; but his own strength in time makes it work of it self. It is good to
drink after a year.
A RECEIPT FOR WHITE METHEGLIN
Take to every quart of honey, 4, 5, or 6, quarts of water; boil it on a
good quick fire as long as any scum riseth; as it boils, put about half a
pint of water at a time very often, and scum it very well as it riseth; and
be sure to keep it up to the same height and quantity as at the first: Put
into it a little Rosemary, according to the quantity that you make, and
boil it half a quarter of an hour; scum it very well. You may put a little
Ginger into it, onely to give it a taste thereof, and let it have a little
walm of heat after it. Then take and put it into a Woodden vessel, (which
must be well scalded, least it taste of any thing) let it stand all night,
and the next morning strain it through a sieve of hair.
Then if you please, you may boil up your grounds that are in the bottome of
the vessel with three or four quarts of water; and when it is cold, strain
it, to the rest, and put to it a little good light barm. That which you
make in the winter, you must let it stand three days and three nights
covered up, before you bottle it up; and two nights in summer, and then
bottle it up. But be sure, you scum off the barm before the bottling up.
Your Vessel, which you intend to boil your Meath in, must stand in
scalding water, whilst you boil your Meath; it will drink up the less of
your Meath. Four spoonfuls of good new Ale-barm will serve for five quarts
of honey. As you desire your Metheglin in strength, so take at the first
either of the quantities of water. Five quarts is reasonable.
HYDROMEL AS I MADE IT WEAK FOR THE QUEEN MOTHER
Take 18 quarts of spring-water, and one quart of honey; when the water is
warm, put the honey into it. When it boileth up, skim it very well, and
continue skimming it, as long as any scum will rise. Then put in one Race
of Ginger (sliced in thin slices,) four Cloves, and a little sprig of green
Rosemary. Let these boil in the Liquor so long, till in all it have boiled
one hour. Then set it to cool, till it be blood-warm; and then put to it a
spoonful of Ale-yest. When it is worked up, put it into a vessel of a fit
size; and after two or three days, bottle it up. You may drink it after six
weeks, or two moneths.
Thus was the Hydromel made that I gave the Queen, which was exceedingly
liked by everybody.
SEVERAL WAYS OF MAKING METHEGLIN
Take such quantity as you judge convenient of Spring, or pure rain water,
and make it boil well half an hour. Then pour it out into a Woodden fat,
and let it settle 74 hours. Then power off the clear, leaving the sediment
in the bottome. Let such water be the Liquor for all the several
Honey-drinks, you will make.
1. Warm sixteen Gallons of this water (lukewarm) and put two Gallons of
Honey to it, in a half tub or other fit Woodden vessel. Lave it very well
with a clean arm, or woodden battle-door for two or three hours, dissolving
the honey very well in the water. Let it stand thus two or three days in
wood, laving it thrice a day, a pretty while each time. Then put it back
into your Copper and boil it gently, till you have scummed away all the
foulness that will rise; and clarifie it with whites of Eggs: Then put into
it a little handful of cleansed and sliced white Ginger, and a little mace;
when they have boiled enough, put in a few Cloves bruised, and a stick of
Cinamon, and a little Limmon-peel, and after a walm or two, pour the Liquor
into a woodden half tub, with the spices in it. Cover it close with a Cloth
and blanquet, and let it stand so two days. Then let the liquor run through
a bolter, to sever the spice, stopping before any settlings come. Then pour
this clear liquor into pottle-bottles of glass, not filling them by a
fingers breadth or more. Stop them close with Cork tied in, and set them in
a cool place for 6, 7 or 8 weeks.
2. In fourty Gallons of the first boiled and settled water, boil five
handfuls of sweet-bryar tops, as much of Cowslip-flowers, as much of
Primrose-flowers, as much of Rosemary-flowers, as much of Sage-flowers, as
many of Borage-flowers, as many of Bugloss-flowers; two handfuls of the
tops of Betony, four handfuls of Agrimony, and as many of Scabious, one
handful of Thyme, as much of Sweet-marjoram, and two ounces of Mustard-seed
bruised. When this hath boiled so long, that you judge the water hath drawn
out all the vertue of the Herbs (which may be in half an hour) pour out all
into a vatte to cool and settle. Scum away the herbs, and pour the clear
from the sediment, and to every four gallons of liquor (luke-warm) put one
gallon of honey, and lave it to dissolve the honey, letting it stand two or
three days, laving it well thrice every day. Then boil it till it will bear
an Egge high, then clarifie it with whites and shells of Eggs, and pour it
into a vatte to cool, which it will do in a days space or better. Whilst it
is yet luke-warm, put Ale-yest to it, (no more then is necessary) to make
it work, and then tun it into a Rundlet of a fit Size, that hath been
seasoned with Sack; and hang in it a boulter bag containing half a pound of
white Ginger cleansed and sliced, three ounces of Cloves and as much of
Cinamon bruised, as much Coriander seed prepared, and as much
Elder-flowers. As it purgeth and consumeth by running over the bung, put in
fresh honey-liquor warmed, that you keep or make on purpose for that end.
When the working is even almost at an end, stop it up close with clay and
sand, and have great care to keep it always close stopped. After a year
draw in into pottle Glass-bottles stopped with ground stoppels of glass,
and keep them in a cool place, till they are ready to drink, if they as yet
be not so.
Have a care, that never any Liquor stay in Copper longer then whilst it is
to boil.
3. In 20 Gallons of the first boiled and settled water, boil six handfuls
of Sweet-bryar-leaves, as many of Cowslip flowers, as many of
Primrose-flowers, and as many of Rosemary-flowers; and half a handful of
Wild thyme, during the space of a quarter or half an hour. Then take the
clear, and dissolve in it a sixth part of honey, doing as above for the
boiling and clarifying it. But boil it not to bear an Egge, but onely till
it be well scummed and clarified. Then pour it into a woodden Tub, and Tun
it with Ale-yest, when it is in due temper of coolness, as you would do
Ale-wort; and let it work (close covered) sufficiently. Then Tun it up into
a seasoned firkin, and put into it a tost of white-bread spread with quick
Mustard, and hang it in a boulter bag containing loosly some Ginger, Cloves
and Cinamon bruised, and a little Limon-peel and Elder-flowers, with a
Pebble-stone at the bottome, to make it sink towards the bottom, and
fastned by a string coming out of the bung to hinder it from falling quite
to the bottome. Stop the bung very close, and after six weeks or two
moneths draw it into bottles.
4. In 20 Gallons of boiled and settled water, boil a quarter of an hour ten
handfuls of sweet bryar-leaves, and as many of Cowslips. Then let it cool
and settle in wood, and take the clear; and to every four Gallons of
Liquor, put one of honey, dissolving it as the others formerly set down.
Boil it, till no more scum rise, and that a fourth part be consumed. Then
clarifie it with whites of Eggs and their shells, and make it work with
yest. After sufficient working Tun it up, hanging it in a bag with Ginger,
Cloves, Cinamon and Limon-peel. Stop it very close, and after two or three
moneths, draw it into bottles.
MY LADY MORICES MEATH
Boil first your water with your herbs. Those she likes best, are, Angelica,
Balm, Borage, and a little Rosemary (not half so much as of any of the
rest) a handful of all together, to two or 3 Gallons of water. After about
half an hours boiling, let the water run through a strainer (to sever the
herbs from it) into Woodden or earthen vessels, and let it cool and settle.
To three parts of the clear, put one or more of honey, and boil it till it
bear an Egge, leaving as broad as a shilling out of the water, skiming it
very well. Then power it out into vessels, as before; and next day, when it
is almost quite cold, power it into a Sack-cask, wherein you have first put
a little fresh Ale-yest, about two spoonfuls to ten Gallons. Hang it in a
bag with a little sliced Ginger, but almost a Porengerfull of Cloves. Cover
the bung lightly, till it have done working; then stop it up close. You may
tap and draw it a year or two after. It is excellent good.
MY LADY MORICE HER SISTER MAKES HER'S THUS:
Dissolve your honey in the water till it bear an Egge higher or lower,
according to the strength you will have it of. Then put into it some
Sea-wormwood and a little Rosemary, and a little Sage; about too good
handfuls of all together, to ten Gallons. When it hath boiled enough to
take the vertue of the herbs, skim them out, and strew a handful or two of
fine Wheat-flower upon the boyling Liquor.
This will draw all the dregs to it, and swim at the top, so that you may
skim all off together. And this she holdeth the best way of clarifying the
Liquor, and making it look pale. Then pour it into vessels as above to
cool. Let it stand three days; then Tun it up into a Sack cask without yest
or Spice, and keep it stopped till it work. Then let it be open, till it
have done working, filling it up still with other honey-drink. Then stop it
up close for a year or two. You may at first stop it so, that the strong
working may throw out the stopple, and yet keep it close, till it work
strongly. She saith, that such a small proportion of wormwood giveth it a
fine quick tast, and a pale colour with an eye of green. The wormwood must
not be so much, as to discern any the least bitterness in the taste; but
that the composition of it with the honey may give a quickness. The
Rosemary and Sage must be a great deal less then the Wormwood. Sometimes
she stoppeth it up close as soon as she hath Tunned it, and lets it remain
so for three moneths. Then pierce it and draw it into bottles, which stop
well, and tie down the stoppels. This will keep so a long time. She useth
this way most. It makes the Mead drink exceeding quick and pleasant. When
you pierce the Cask, it will flie out with exceeding force, and be ready to
throw out the stopper and spigot.
TO MAKE WHITE MEATH
Take Rosemary, Thyme, Sweet-bryar, Penyroyal, Bayes, of each one handful;
steep them 24 hours in a bowl of fair cold water covered close; next day
boil them very well in another water, till the colour be very high; then
take another water, and boil the same herbs in it, till it look green; and
so boil them in several waters, till they do but just change the colour of
the water. The first waters are thrown away. The last water must stand 24
hours with the herbs in it. The Liquor being strained from them, you must
put in as much fine honey till it will bear an Egge; you must work and
labour the honey with the Liquor a whole day, till the honey be consumed;
then let it stand a night a clearing. In the morning put your Liquor a
boiling for a quarter of an hour, with the whites and shells of six Eggs.
So strain it through a bag, and let it stand a day a cooling; so Tun it up,
and put into the vessel in a Linnen bag, Cloves, Mace, Cinamon and Nutmegs
bruised altogether. If you will have it to drink presently, take the whites
of two or three Eggs, of barm a spoonful, and as much of Wheaten-flower.
Then let it work before you stop it, afterwards stop it well with Clay and
Salt. A quart of Honey to a Gallon of liquor, and so proportionably for
these Herbs.
SIR WILLIAM PASTON'S MEATHE
Take ten Gallons of Spring-water, and put therein ten Pints of the best
honey. Let this boil half an hour, and scum it very well; then put in one
handful of Rosemary, and as much of Bay-leaves; with a little Limon-peel.
Boil this half an hour longer, then take it off the fire, and put it into a
clean Tub; and when it is cool, work it up with yest, as you do Beer. When
it is wrought, put it into your vessel, and stop it very close. Within
three days you may Bottle it, and in ten days after it will be fit to
drink.
ANOTHER PLEASANT MEATHE OF SIR WILLIAM PASTON'S
To a Gallon of water put a quart of honey, about ten sprigs of
Sweet-Majoram; half so many tops of Bays. Boil these very well together,
and when it is cold, bottle it up. It will be ten days before it be ready
to drink.
ANOTHER WAY OF MAKING MEATH
Boil Sweet Bryar, Sweet Marjoram, Cloves and Mace in Spring-water, till the
water taste of them. To four Gallons of water put one Gallon of honey, and
boil it a little to skim and clarifie it. When you are ready to take it
from the fire, put in a little Limon-peel, and pour it into a Woodden
vessel, and let it stand till it is almost cold. Then put in some Ale-yest,
and stir it altogether. So let it stand till next day. Then put a few
stoned Raisins of the Sun into every bottle, and pour the Meath upon them.
Stop the bottles close, and in a week the Meath will be ready to drink.
SIR BAYNAM THROCKMORTON'S MEATHE.
Take four quarts of Honey, good measure; put to it four Gallons of water,
let it stand all night, but stir it well, when you put it together. The
next day boil it, and put to it Nutmegs, Cloves, Mace and Ginger, of each
half an ounce. Let these boil with the honey and water till it will bear an
Egge at the top without sinking; and then it is enough, if you see the Egge
the breadth of a sixpence. The next day put it in your vessel, and put
thereto two or three spoonfuls of barm; and when it hath done working, you
may (if you like it) put in a little Ambergreece in a clout with a stone to
it to make it sink. This should be kept a whole year before it be drunk; it
will drink much the better, free from any tast of the honey, and then it
will look as clear as Sack. Make it not till Michaelmas, and set it in a
cool place. You may drink it a quarter old, but it will not taste so
pleasant then, as when it is old.
TO MAKE WHITE METHEGLIN
Take a Gallon of Honey; put to it four Gallons of water; stir them well
together, and boil them in a Kettle, till a Gallon be wasted with boiling
and scumming. Then put it into a vessel to cool. When it is almost as cold
as Ale-wort, then clear it out into another vessel: Then put Barm upon it,
as you do to your Ale, and so let it work. And then Tun it up into a
vessel, and put into it a bag with Ginger, Cloves, and Cinamon bruised a
little, and so hang the bag in the vessel, and stop it up very close; and
when it hath stood a month or six weeks, bottle it up and so drink it. You
may put in a little Limmon-peel into some of your Metheglin, for those that
like that taste; which most persons do very much.
A RECEIPT FOR MAKING OF MEATH
Mistress Hebden telleth me, that the way of making Honey-drink in Russia,
is thus; Take for example, 100 Gallons of Spring water, boil it a little;
then let it stand 24 hours to cool, and much sediment will fall to the
bottom; from which pour the clear, and warm it, and put 20 or 25 Gallons of
pure honey to it, and lade it a long time with a great woodden battle-dore,
till it be well dissolved. The next day boil it gently, till you have
skimed off all the scum that will rise, and that it beareth an Egge boyant.
And in this Liquor you must put, in the due time, a little quantity of
Hops, about two handfuls, which must boil sufficiently in the Liquor. Put
this into the cooling fat to cool two or three days. When it is about
milk-warm, take white-bread and cut it into tosts, upon which, (when they
are hot) spread moderately thick some fresh sweet Ale-yest; and cover the
superficies of the Liquor with such tosts; Then cover the Tub or Fat with a
double course sheet, and a blancket or two, which tye fast about it. This
will make your Liquor work up highly. When you find it is near it's height
of working, and that the Liquor is risen to the top of the Tub (of which it
wanted 8 or 10 Inches at first,) Skim off the tosts and yest, and Tun it up
in a hogshead: which stop close; but after 24 hours draw it into another
barrel: for it will leave a great deal of sediment. It will work again in
this second barrel. After other 24 hours draw it into another barrel, and
then it will be clear and pale like White-wine. Stop it up close, hanging a
bag of bruised spice in the bung; and after five or six months, it will be
fit to drink. If you would have your Meath taste of Raspes, or Cherries
(Morello, sharp Cherries, are the best) prepare the water first with them;
by putting five or six Gallons of either of these fruits, or more, into
this proportion of water; in which bruise them to have all their juyce: but
strain the Liquor from the Grains or Seeds, or Stones. And then proceed
with this tincted water, as is said above. You may make your Liquor as
strong, as you like, of the fruit. Cardamon-seeds mingled with the
suspended spices, adde much to the pleasantness of the drink. Limon-peel,
as also Elder-flowers.
MY LADY BELLASSISES MEATH
The way of making is thus. She boileth the honey with Spring-water, as I
do, till it be cleer scumed; then to every Gallon of Honey, put in a pound
or two of good Raisins of the Sun; boil them well, and till the Liquor bear
an Egge. Then pour it into a Cowl or Tub to cool. In about 24 hours it will
be cool enough to put the yest to it, being onely Lukewarm: which do thus:
spread yest upon a large hot tost, and lay it upon the top of the Liquor,
and cover the Tub well, first with a sheet, then with coverlets, that it
may work well. When it is wrought up to it's height, before it begin to
sink, put it into your barrel, letting it run through a loose open
strainer, to sever the Raisins and dregs from it. Stop it up close, and
after it hath been thus eight or ten days, draw it into bottles, and into
every bottle put a cod of Cardamoms, having first a little bruised them as
they lie in the cod; and opening the cod a little, that the Liquor may
search into it. Stop your bottles close, and after three or four moneths
you may drink, and it will be very pleasant and quick, and look like white
wine.
ANOTHER METHEGLIN
In every three Gallons of water, boil Rosemary, Liverwort, Balm, _ana_,
half a handful, and Cowslips two handfuls. When the water hath sufficiently
drawn out the vertue of the herbs, pour all into a Tub, and let it stand
all night. Then strain it. And to every three Gallons of the clear Liquor
(or 2-1/2, if you will have your drink stronger) put one Gallon of honey,
and boil it, till it bear an Egge, scuming it till no more scum will rise:
which to make rise the better, put in now and then a Porrenger full of cold
water. Then pour it into a Tub, and let it stand to cool, till it be blood
warm, and then put by degrees a Pint of Ale-yest to it, to make it work. So
let it stand three days very close covered. Then skim off the yest, and put
it into a seasoned barrel; but stop it not up close, till it have done
hissing. Then either stop it very close, if you will keep it in the barrel,
or draw it into bottles. Put into this proportion, Ginger sliced, Nutmegs
broken, _ana_, one ounce, Cinamon bruised half an ounce in a bag, which
hang in the bung with a stone in it to make it sink. You may add, if you
please, to this proportion of water, or one Gallon more, two handfuls of
Sweet-bryar-leaves, and one of Betony.
MR. PIERCE'S EXCELLENT WHITE METHEGLIN
In a Copper, that holdeth conveniently three hogsheads, or near so much,
boil the best water, (as full as is fitting). As soon as it boileth well
and high, put to it four handfuls of Sweet-bryar-leaves, as much of
Eye-bright: two handfuls of Rosemary, as much of Sweet-Marjoram, and one of
Broad-thyme. Let them boil a quarter of an hour (He letteth them boil no
longer, to preserve the colour of the Metheglin pale) then scum away the
herbs, scuming also the water clear. Then lade out the water, (letting it
run through a Ranch-Sieve) into a wide open vessel, or large Vat to cool,
leaving the settlement and dregs. (He often leaves out the Eye-bright and
Thyme, when he provideth chiefly for the pure tast; though the Eye-bright
hurts it but little.) When it is blood-warm, put the honey to it, about one
part, to four of water; but because this doth not determine the proportions
exactly (for some honey will make it stronger then other) you must do that
by bearing up an Egge. But first, lave and scoop your mixture exceedingly,
(at least an hour) that the honey be not onely perfectly dissolved, but
uniformly mixed throughout the water. Then take out some of it in a great
Woodden bowl or pail, and put a good number, (ten or twelve) New-laid-eggs
into it, and as round ones as may be; For long ones will deceive you in the
swiming; and stale ones, being lighter then new, will emerge out of the
Liquor, the breadth of a sixpence, when new ones will not a groats-breadth.
Therefore you take many, that you make a medium of their several emergings;
unless you be certain, that they which you use, are immediately then laid
and very round. The rule is, that a Groats-breadth (or rather but a
threepence) of the Egg-shel must Swim above the Liquor; which then put
again into your Copper to boil. It will be some while, before it boil,
(peradventure a goodquarter of an hour) but all that while scum will rise,
which skim away still as it riseth; and it should be clear scummed by then
it boileth: which as soon as it doth, turn up an hour Glass, and let it
boil well a good hour. A good quarter before the hour is out, put to it a
pound of White-Ginger beaten exceedingly small and searsed (which will
sever all the skins and course parts from the fine) which having boiled a
quarter of an hour, so to make up the whole hour of boiling, pour out the
Liquor into wide open Vats to cool. When it is quite cold, put a pottle of
New-ale-barm into a Pipe or Butt, standing endwise with his head out, and
pour upon it a Pail-full of your cool Liquor out of one of the Vats; which
falling from high upon it with force, will break and dissipate the barm
into atoms, and mix it with the Liquor. Pour immediately another pail-ful
to that, continuing to do so, till all the Liquor be in. Which by this time
and this course will be uniformly mixed with the barm, and begin to work.
Yet scoop and lade it well a while, to make the mixtion more perfect, and
set the working well on foot. Then cover your But-head with a sheet onely
in Summer, but blankets in Winter; and let your Liquor work about 24 hours
or more. The measure of that is, till the barm (which is raised to a great
head) beginneth a little to fall. Then presently scum of the thick head of
the barm, but take not all away so scrupulously, but that there may remain
a little white froth upon the face of the Liquor. Which scoop and lade
strongly, mingling all to the bottom, that this little remaining barm may
by this agitation be mixed a new with the whole. Then immediately Tun this
Liquor into two hogsheads that have served for Spanish-wine (be sure to
fill them quite full) and there let it work two or three days; that is to
say, till you see that all the feculent substance is wrought out, and that
what runneth out, beginneth to be clear, though a little whitish or frothy
on the upperside of the stream that runs down along the outside of the
hogshead. (If there should be a little more then to fill two hogsheads, put
it in a Rundlet by it self.) Then take some very strong firm Paper, and wet
it on one side with some of the barm that works out, and lay that side over
the bung to cover it close. The barm will make it stick fast to the
hogshead. This covering will serve for a moneth or two. Then stop it close
with strong Cork fitted to the hole, with a linnen about it, to press it
fast in: But let a little vent with a peg in it be made in hogshead, in
some fit place above. This may be fit to broach in five or six moneths; but
three weeks or a moneth before you do so, put into each hogshead half an
ounce of Cinnamon; and two ounces of Cloves beaten into most subtile
powder. (Sometimes he leaves out the Cloves) which will give it a most
pleasant flavor; and they (as the Ginger did) sink down to the bottome and
never trouble the Liquor. If they be put in long before (much more if they
be boiled) they loose all their taste and Spirits entirely. This will last
very well half a year drawing. But if you stay broaching it a year, and
then draw it into bottles, it will keep admirable good three or four years,
growing to be much better, then when broached at six months end. It will be
purer, if you first boil the water by it self, then let it settle 24 hours;
and pour the clear from the earthy sediment, which will be great, and
dissolve your honey in that. You may Aromatise it with Ambergreece or Musk,
or both (if you like them) by dissolving a very few Pastils in a Runlet of
this Liquor, when you draw it into little vessels, (as He useth to do after
five or six moneths) or with a few drops of the Extract of them. This
Metheglin is a great Balsom and strengthener of the _Viscera_; is excellent
in colds and coughs and consumptions. For which last they use to burn it
(like wine) or rather onely heat it. Then dissolve the yolk of an Egge or
two in a Pint of it, and some fresh Butter, and drink it warm in the
morning fasting. As it comes from the Barrel or Bottle, it is used to be
drunk a large draught (without any alteration or admixtion, with a toste
early in the morning (eating the toste) when they intend to dine late.
Consider of making Metheglin thus with purified rain water (of the
_Æquinoxe_) or Dew.
The handfuls of Herbs, are natural large handfuls (as much as you can take
up in your hand) not Apothecaries handfuls, which are much less. If a
pottle of Barm do not make it work enough to your mind, you may put in a
little more. Discretion and Experience must regulate that.
You may make small Meathe the same way, putting but half the proportion of
honey or less. But then after three weeks or a months barrelling, you must
bottle it.
AN EXCELLENT WAY TO MAKE METHEGLIN, CALLED THE LIQUOR OF LIFE, WITH THESE
FOLLOWING INGREDIENTS
Take Bugloss, Borage, Hyssop, Organ, Sweet-marjoram, Rosemary,
French-cowslip, Coltsfoot, Thyme, Burnet, Self-heal, Sanicle a little,
Betony, Blew-buttons, Harts-tongue, Meadssweet, Liverwort, Coriander two
ounces, Bistort, Saint John's wort, Liquorish, Two ounces of Carraways, Two
ounces of Yellow-saunders, Balm, Bugle, Half a pound of Ginger, and one
ounce of Cloves, Agrimony, Tormentil-roots, Cumfrey, Fennel-root's,
Clowns-all-heal, Maiden-hair, Wall-rew, Spleen-wort, Sweet-oak,
Pauls-betony, Mouse ear.
For two Hogsheads of Metheglin, you take two handfuls a piece of each herb,
Excepting Sanicle; of which you take but half a handful. You make it in all
things as the white Meathe of Mr. Pierce's is made, excepting as followeth.
For in that you boil the herbs but a quarter of an hour, that the colour
may be pale: But in this, where the deepness of the colour is not regarded,
you boil them a good hour, that you may get all the vertue out of them.
Next for the strength of it; whereas in that, an Egge is to emerge out of
the Liquor but the breadth of a three pence; in This it is to emerge a
large Groats-breadth. Then in this you take but half a pound of Ginger,
and one ounce of Cloves. Whereas the white hath one pound of Ginger, and
two ounces of Cloves. To this you use three quarts, or rather more of
Ale-yest (fresh and new) and when all your Liquor is in a high slender tall
pipe with the narrowest circumference that may be (which makes it work
better then a broad one, where the Spirits loose themselves) you have the
yest in a large Noggin with a handle, or pail, and put some of the Liquor
to it, and make that work; then pour it from pretty high unto the whole
quantity in the pipe, and lade it strongly with that Noggin five or six, or
eight times, pouring it every time from high, and working it well together,
that so every Atome of the yest maybe mingled with every Atome of the
Liquor. And this course (in this particular) you may also use in the white.
It is best not to broach this, till a year be over after the making it.
TO MAKE GOOD METHEGLIN
Take to every Gallon of Honey, three Gallons of water, and put them both
together, and set them over so soft a fire, that you may endure to melt and
break the honey with your hands. When the honey is all melted, put in an
Egge, and let it fall gently to the bottome, and if the Egge rise up to the
top again of the Liquor, then is it strong enough of the honey; but if it
lie at the bottome, you must put in more honey, stirring of it till it do
rise. If your honey be very good, it will bear half a Gallon of water more
to a Gallon of Honey. Then take Sweet-bryar, Rose-mary, Bayes, Thyme,
Marjoram, Savory, of each a good handful, which must be tyed up all
together in a bundle. This Proportion of herbs will be sufficient for 12
Gallons of Metheglin; and according to the quantity you make of Metheglin,
you must add of your herbs or take away. When you have put these things
together set it upon a quick fire, and let it boil as fast as you can for
half an hour, or better, skiming of it very clean, which you must Clarifie
with two or three whites of Eggs. Then take it off from the fire, and put
it presently into some clean covers, and let it stand till the next
morning; then pour the clear from the bottom and tun it up; putting in a
little bag of such spice as you like, whereof Ginger must be the most.
After it hath stood some three or four days, you may put in some two or
three spoonfuls of good-ale-yest; it will make it ready the sooner to
drink, if you let it work together, before you stop it up.
The older the honey is, the whiter coloured the Metheglin will be.
TO MAKE WHITE METHEGLIN OF SIR JOHN FORTESCUE
Take twelve Gallons of water, one handful of each of these herbs,
Eglantine, Rosemary, Parsley, Strawberry-leaves, Wild-thyme, Balm,
Liver-wort, Betony, Scabious; when your water begins to boil, cast in your
herbs, and let them boil a quarter of an hour. Then strain it from the
herbs. When it is almost cold, then put in as much of the best honey, as
will make it bear an Egge, to the breadth of two pence; and stir it till
all the honey be melted. Then boil it well half an hour at the least, and
put into it the whites of six Eggs beaten to a froth to clarifie it; and
when it hath drawn all the scum to the top, strain it into woodden vessels.
When it is almost cold, put barm to it, and when it worketh well, Tun it
into a well-seasoned vessel, where neither Ale nor Beer hath been, for
marring the colour; and when it hath done working, take a good quantity of
Nutmegs, Mace, Cinnamon, Cloves and Ginger bruised, and put it into a
boulter bag, and hang it in the barrel.
If you will have it taste much of the spice, let it boil 3 or 4 walms in
it, after you have put in the honey. But that will make it have a deep
colour.
A RECEIPT FOR MEATHE
To seven quarts of water, take two quarts of honey, and mix it well
together; then set it on the fire to boil, and take three or four
Parsley-roots, and as many Fennel-roots, and shave them clean, and slice
them, and put them into the Liquor, and boil altogether, and skim it very
well all the while it is a boyling; and when there will no more scum rise,
then is it boiled enough: but be careful that none of the scum do boil into
it. Then take it off, and let it cool till the next day. Then put it up in
a close vessel, and put thereto half a pint of new good barm, and a very
few Cloves pounded and put in a Linnen-cloth, and tie it in the vessel, and
stop it up close; and within a fortnight, it will be ready to drink: but if
it stay longer, it will be the better.
MY LORD GORGE HIS MEATHE
Take a sufficient quantity of Rain-water, and boil in it the tops of
Rose-mary, Eglantine, Betony, Strawberry-leaves, Wall-flowers, Borage and
Bugloss, of each one handful; one sprig of Bays; and two or three of Sage.
Then take it off the fire, and put a whole raw Egge into it, and pour so
much honey to it, till the Egge rise up to the top; then boil it again,
skiming it very well, and so let it cool. Then Tun it up, and put Barm to
it, that it may ferment well. Then stop it up, and hang in it such spices,
as you like best. It will not be right to drink under three or four
moneths.
THE LADY VERNON'S WHITE METHEGLIN
Take three Gallons of water (rain water is best) boil in it broad Thyme,
Rose-mary, Peny-royal, of each three handfuls. Then put it into a stone Pan
to cool, and strain away the herbs; and when it is cold, put in one quart
of honey, and mix it very well; then put to it one Nutmeg, a little
Cinnamon; Cloves and Ginger; some Orange and Limon-peels. Then boil and
scum it very well, while any scum will rise. Then put in your spices, and
try with a New-laid-egg; and the stronger it is, the longer you may keep
it; and if you will drink it presently, put it up in bottles, and rub the
Corks with yest, that it may touch it, and it will be ready in three or
four days to drink. And if you make it in the spring put no spices, but
Cloves and Cinnamon, and add Violets, Cowslips, Marigolds, and
Gilly-flowers; and be sure to stop your vessel close with Cork; and to this
put no yest, for the Clove-gilly-flowers will set it to work.
SEVERAL SORTS OF MEATH, SMALL AND STRONG
1. SMALL. Take ten Gallons of water, and five quarts of honey, with a
little Rosemary, more Sweet-bryar, some Balme, Burnet, Cloves, less Ginger,
Limon Peel. Tun it with a little barm; let it remain a week in the barrel
with a bag of Elder-flowers; then bottle it.
2. _Small_. Take ten quarts of water, and one of honey, Balm a little;
Minth, Cloves, Limon-peel, Elder-flowers, a little Ginger; wrought with a
little yest, bottle it after a night working.
3. _Strong_. Take ten Gallons of water; thirteen quarts of honey, with
Angelica, Borrage and Bugloss, Rosemary, Balm and Sweet-bryar; pour it into
a barrel, upon three spoonfuls of yest; hang in a bag Cloves,
Elder-flowers, and a little Ginger.
4. _Very Strong_. Take ten Gallons of Water, and four of honey, with
Sea-worm-wood, a little Sage, Rosemary; put it in a barrel, after three
days cooling. Put no yest to it. Stop it close, and bottle it after three
or four months.
5. _Very Strong_. To ten Gallons of water take four of honey. Clarifie it
with flower; and put into it Angelica, Rosemary, Bay-leaves, Balm. Barrel
it without yest. Hang in a bag Cloves, Elder-flowers, a little Ginger.
6. _Very Strong_. Take ten Gallons of water, and four of Honey. Boil
nothing in it. Barrel it when cold, without yest. Hang in it a bag with
Cloves, Elder-flowers, a little Ginger and Limon peel; which throw away,
when it hath done working, and stop it close. You may make also strong and
small by putting into it Orris-roots; or with Rose-mary, Betony, Eye-bright
and Wood-sorrel; or adding to it the tops of Hypericon with the flowers of
it; Sweet-bryar, Lilly of the valley.
TO MAKE MEATH
Take three Gallons of water, a quart of Honey; if it be not strong enough,
you may adde more. Boil it apace an hour, and scum it very clean. Then take
it off, and set it a working at such heat as you set Beer, with good yest.
Then put it in a Runlet, and at three days end, draw it out in
stone-bottles; into everyone put a piece of Limon-peel and two Cloves. It
is only put into the Runlet, whilest it worketh, to avoid the breaking of
the Bottles.
SIR JOHN ARUNDEL'S WHITE MEATH
Take three Gallons of Honey, and twelve Gallons of water: mix the honey and
water very well together, till the honey is dissolved; so let it stand
twelve hours. Then put in a New-laid-egg; if the Liquor beareth the Egg,
that you see the breadth of a groat upon the Egg dry, you may set it over
the fire: if it doth not bear the Egg, then you must adde a quart or three
pints more to the rest; and then set it over the fire, and let it boil
gently, till you have skimed it very clean, and clarified it, as you would
do Suggar, with the whites of three New-laid-eggs. When it is thus made
clear from all scum, let it boil a full hour or more, till the fourth part
of it is wasted; then take it off the fire; and let it stand till the next
day. Then put it into a vessel. When it hath been in the barrel five or six
days, make a white tost, and dip it into new yeast, and put the tost into
the barrel, and let it work. When it hath done working, stop it up very
close. This keep three quarters of a year. You may drink it within half a
year, if you please. You may adde in the boiling, of what herbs you like
the taste, or what is Physical.
TO MAKE METHEGLIN
Take eight Gallons of water, and set it over a clear fire in a Kettle; and
when it is warm, put into it sixteen pounds of very good honey; stir it
well together, till it be all mixed; and when it boileth, take off the
scum, and put in two large Nutmegs cut into quarters, and so let it boil at
least an hour. Then take it off, and put into it two good handfuls of
grinded Malt, and with a white staff keep beating it together, till it be
almost cold; then strain it through a hair sieve into a tub, and put to it
a wine pint of Ale-yest, and stir it very well together; and when it is
cold, you may, if you please, Tun it up presently in a vessel fit for it,
or else let it stand, and work a day: And when it hath done working in your
vessel, stop it up very close. It will be three weeks or a month, before it
will be ready to drink.
TO MAKE WHITE MEATH
Take six Gallons of water, and put in six quarts of honey, stirring it till
the honey be throughly melted; then set it over the fire, and when it is
ready to boil, skim it very clean. Then put in a quarter of ounce of Mace,
so much Ginger, half an ounce of Nutmegs, Sweet-marjoram, Broad-thyme, and
Sweet-bryar, of altogether a handful; and boil them well therein; Then set
it by, till it be through cold, and then Barrel it up, and keep it till it
be ripe.
TO MAKE A MEATH GOOD FOR THE LIVER AND LUNGS
Take of the Roots of Coltsfoot, Fennel and Fearn each four Ounces. Of
Succory-roots, Sorrel-roots, Strawberry-roots, Bitter-sweet-roots, each two
Ounces, of Scabious-roots and Elecampane-roots, each an Ounce and a half.
Ground-ivy, Hore-hound, Oak of Jerusalem, Lung-wort, Liver-wort,
Maiden-hair, Harts-tongue of each two good-handfulls. Licorish four Ounces.
Jujubes, Raisins of the Sun and Currents, of each two Ounces; let the roots
be sliced, and the herbs be broken a little with your hands; and boil all
these in twenty quarts of fair running water, or, if you have it, in Rain
water, with five Pints of good white honey, until one third part be boiled
away; then pour the liquor through a jelly bag often upon a little
Coriander-seeds, and Cinnamon; and when it runneth very clear, put it into
Bottles well stopped, and set it cool for your use, and drink every morning
a good draught of it, and at five in the afternoone.
TO MAKE WHITE METHEGLIN
Put to three Gallons of Spring-water, one of honey. First let it gently
melt; then boil for an hour, continually skiming it; then put it into an
earthen or a woodden vessel, and when it is a little more than Blood-warm,
set it with Ale-yest, and so let it stand twelve hours. Then take off the
yest, and bottle it up. Put into it Limon-peel and Cloves, or what best
pleaseth your taste of Spice or Herbs. Eringo-roots put into it, when it
is boiling, maketh it much better.
Note, That if you make Hydromel by fermentation in the hot Sun (which will
last about fourty days, and requireth the greater heat) you must take it
thence, before it be quite ended working; and stop it up very close, and
set it in a cold Cellar, and not pierce it in two months, at the soonest.
It will be very good this way, if you make it so strong, as to bear an Egge
very boyant. It is best made by taking all the Canicular days into your
fermentation.
A VERY GOOD MEATH
Put three parts of water to one of honey. When the Honey is dissolved, it
is to bear an Egge boyant. Boil it and skim it perfectly clear. You may
boil in it Pellitory of the wall, Agrimony, or what herbs you please. To
every ten Gallons of water, take Ginger, Cinnamon, _ana_, one Ounce,
Nutmegs half an Ounce. Divide this quantity (sliced and bruised) into two
parts. Boil the one in the Meath, severing it from the Liquor, when it is
boiled, by running through a strainer; and hang the other parcel in the
barrel by the bung in a bag with a bullet in it. When it is cold, Tun it.
And then you may work it with barm if you please; but it is most commended
without.
TO MAKE WHITE METHEGLIN
Take the Honey-combs, that the Honey is run out from them, and lay them in
water over night; next day strain them, and put the Liquor a boiling; Then
take the whites of two or three Eggs, and clarifie the Liquor. When you
have so done, skim it clean. Then take a handful of Peny-royal; four
handfuls of Angelica; a handful of Rosemary; a handful of Borrage; a
handful of Maidenhair, a handful of Harts-tongue; of Liverwort, of
Water-cresses, of Scurvy-grass, _ana_, a handful; of the Roots of
Marshmallows, Parsley, Fennel, _ana_, one Ounce. Let all these boil
together in the Liquor, the space of a quarter of an hour. Then strain the
Liquor from them, and let it cool, till it be Blood-warm. Put in so much
honey, until an Egge swim on it; and when your honey is melted, then put it
into the Barrel. When it is almost cold, put a little Ale barm to it; And
when it hath done working, put into your barrel a bag of Spice of Nutmegs,
Ginger, Cloves and Mace, and grains good store; and if you will, put into a
Lawn-bag two grains of Ambergreece and two grains of Musk, and fasten it in
the mouth of your barrel, and so let it hang in the Liquor.
A MOST EXCELLENT METHEGLIN
Take one part of honey, to eight parts of Rain or River-water; let it boil
gently together, in a fit vessel, till a third part be wasted, skiming it
very well. The sign of being boiled enough is, when a New-laid-egg swims
upon it. Cleanse it afterwards by letting it run through a clean
Linnen-cloth, and put it into a woodden Runlet, where there hath been wine
in, and hang in it a bag with Mustard-seeds by the bung, that so you may
take it out, when you please. This being done, put your Runlet into the hot
Sun, especially during the Dog-days, (which is the onely time to prepare
it) and your Metheglin will boil like Must; after which boiling take out
your Mustard-seeds, and put your vessel well stopped into a Cellar. If you
will have it the taste of wine, put to thirty measures of Hydromel, one
measure of the juyce of hops, and it will begin to boil without any heat.
Then fill up your vessel, and presently after this ebullition you will have
a very strong Metheglin.
TO MAKE WHITE METHEGLIN OF THE COUNTESS OF DORSET
Take Rosemary, Thyme, Sweet-bryar, Peny-royal, Bays, Water-cresses,
Agrimony, Marshmallow leaves, Liver-wort, Maiden-hair, Betony, Eye-bright,
Scabious, the bark of the Ash-tree, Eringo-roots, Green-wild-Angelica,
Ribwort, Sanicle, Roman-worm-wood, Tamarisk, Mother-thyme, Sassafras,
Philipendula, of each of these herbs a like proportion; or of as many of
them as you please to put in. But you must put in all but four handfuls of
herbs, which you must steep one night, and one day, in a little bowl of
water, being close covered; the next day take another quantity of fresh
water, and boil the same herbs in it, till the colour be very high; then
take another quantity of water, and boil the same herbs in it, until they
look green; and so let it boil three or four times in several waters, as
long as the Liquor looketh any thing green. Then let it stand with these
herbs in it a day and night. Remember the last water you boil it in to this
proportion of herbs, must be twelve gallons of water, and when it hath
stood a day and a night, with these herbs in it, after the last boiling,
then strain the Liquor from the herbs, and put as much of the finest and
best honey into the Liquor, as will make it bear an Egg. You must work and
labour the honey and liquor together one whole day, until the honey be
consumed. Then let it stand a whole night, and then let it be well laboured
again, and let it stand again a clearing, and so boil it again a quarter of
an hour, with the whites of six New-laid-eggs with the shells, the yolks
being taken out; so scum it very clean, and let it stand a day a cooling.
Then put it into a barrel, and take Cloves, Mace, Cinamon, and Nutmegs, as
much as will please your taste, and beat them altogether; put them into a
linnen bag, and hang it with a thread in the barrel. Take heed you put not
too much spice in; a little will serve. Take the whites of two or three
New-laid-eggs, a spoonful of barm, and a spoonful of Wheat-flower, and beat
them altogether, and put it into your Liquor into the barrel, and let it
work, before you stop it. Then afterwards stop it well, and close it well
with clay and Salt tempered together, and let it be set in a close place;
and when it hath been settled some six weeks, draw it into bottles, and
stop it very close, and drink it not a month after: but it will keep well
half a year, and more.
ANOTHER WAY TO MAKE WHITE METHEGLIN
Take ten Gallons of water; then take six handfuls of Sweet-bryar; as much
of Sweet-marjoram; and as much of Muscovy. Three handfuls of the best
Broad-thyme. Boil these together half an hour; then strain them. Then take
two Gallons of English-honey, and dissolve it in this hot Liquor, and brew
it well together; then set it over the fire to boil again, and skim it very
clean; then take the whites of thirty Eggs wel beaten, and put them into
the Liquor, and let it boil an hour; then strain it through a jelly bag,
and let it stand 24 hours cooling: then put it up in a vessel. Then take
six Nutmegs, six fair Races of Ginger, a quarter of an Ounce of Cloves,
half an Ounce of Cinamon; bruise all these together, and put them into a
Linnen-bag, with a little Pebble-stone to make it sink. Then hang it in the
vessel. You may adde to it, if you please, two grains of Ambergreece, and
one grain of Musk. Stop the vessel with a Cork, but not too close, for six
days; then taste it: and if it taste enough of the Spice, then take out the
bag; if not, let the bag hang in it, and stop it very close, and meddle
with it no more. It will be ready to drink in nine or ten weeks.
A RECEIPT TO MAKE GOOD MEATH
Take as many Gallons of water, as you intend to make of Meath; and to every
Gallon put a quart of honey, and let it boil till it bear an Egg. To every
Gallon you allow the white of an Egg, which white you must remove and break
with your hands, and put into the Kettle, before you put it over the fire.
Before it boileth, there will arise a skum, which must be taken off very
clean, as it riseth. Put to every Gallon two Nutmegs sliced, and when it
hath boiled enough, take it off, and set it a cooling in clean
wort-vessels: And when it is as cold as wort, put in a little barm, and
work it like Beer, and when it hath done working, stop it up, and let it
stand two months.
ANOTHER TO MAKE MEATH
To every quart of honey allow six Wine-quarts of water; half an Ounce of
Nutmegs, and the Peel of a Limon, and the meat of two or three, as you make
the quantity. Boil these together, till the scum rise no more; It must
stand till it be quite cold, and when you Tun it, you squeese into it the
juyce of some Limons, and this will make it ripen quickly. It will be ready
in less then a month.
ANOTHER RECIPE
Take twelve Gallons of water, a handful of Muscovy (which is an herb, that
smelleth like Musk), a handful of Sweet-Marjoram, and as much of
Sweet-bryar. Boil all these in the water, till all the strength be out.
Then take it off and strain it out, and being almost cold, sweeten it with
honey very strong, more then to bear an Egg, (the meaning of this is, that
when there is honey enough to bear an Egg, which will be done by one part
of honey to three or four quarts of water: then you add to it a pretty deal
of honey more, at least 1/4 or 1/3 of what you did put in at first to make
it bear an Egg: then it is to be boiled and scummed: when it is thus
strong, you may keep it four years before you drink it. But at the end of
two years you may draw it out into bottles) just above it, else it will not
keep very long: for the more honey the better. Then set it over the fire
till it boils, and scum it very clean. Then take it from the fire, and let
it stand, till it be cold: then put it into your vessel. Take Mace, Cloves,
Nutmegs, Ginger, of each a quarter of an Ounce: beat them small, and hang
them in your vessel (being stopped close) in a little bag.
Note, when any Meath or Metheglin grows hard or sower with keeping too
long, dissolve in it a good quantity of fresh honey, to make it pleasantly
Sweet; (but boil it no more, after it hath once fermented, as it did at the
first Tunning) and with that it will ferment again, and become very good
and pleasant and quick.
TO MAKE METHEGLIN
Take of Rosemary three handfuls, of Winter-savory a Peck by measure, Organ
and Thyme, as much, White-wort two handfuls, Blood-wort half a peck, Hyssop
two handfuls, Marygolds, Borage, Fennil, of each two handfuls;
Straw-berries and Violet-leaves, of each one handful; Of Harts-tongue,
Liverwort a peck; Ribwort half a peck, of Eglantine with the Roots, a good
quantity; Wormwood as much as you can gripe in two hands; and of Sorrel,
Mead-sutt Bettony with the Roots, Blew-bottles with the Roots, the like
quantity; of Eye-bright two handfuls, Wood-bind one handful. Take all these
herbs, and order them so, as that the hot herbs may be mastered with the
cool. Then take the small herbs, and put them into the Furnace, and lay the
long herbs upon them. Then take a weight or stone of Lead, having a Ring,
whereunto fasten a stick to keep down the Herbs into the furnace; then boil
your water and herbs three or four hours, and as the water doth boil away,
adde more. Then take the water out of the Furnace seething hot, and strain
it through a Range-sieve; then put in the honey, and Mash it well
together: then take your Sweet-wort, and strain it through a Range. Then
try it with a New-laid-egg. It must be so strong as to bear an Egg the
breadth of a groat above the Liquor: and if it doth not, then put in more
honey, till it will bear the Egg. Then take the Liquor, and boil it again;
and as soon as it doth boil, skim the froth very clean from it: Then set it
a cooling, and when it is cold, then put it into a Kive, and put barm
thereto, and let it work the Space of a Week; Then Tun it up: But be
careful when it is Tunned, that the vessels be not stopp'd up, till it hath
done hissing.
ANOTHER SORT OF METHEGLIN
Take to one part of honey, three parts of water: and put them into clean
vessels, mixing them very well together, and breaking the honey with
stripped arms, till it be well dissolved. Then pour out your Liquor into a
large Kettle, and let it boil for two hours and a half, over a good fire,
skiming it all the while very carefully as long as any scum riseth. When it
is boiled enough, pour out your Liquor into clean vessels, and set it to
cool for 24 hours. Afterwards put it into some Runlets, and cover the bung
with a piece of Lead: have a care to fill it up always with the same boiled
Liquor for three or four months and during the time of working. This Meath
the older it is, the better it is. But if you will have your Meath red,
then take twenty pound of black Currants, and put them into a vessel, and
pour your Liquor on them. Of this honey-Liquor you cannot drink till after
nine months, or a year.
MY LORD HERBERT'S MEATH
Take ten Gallons of water; and to every Gallon of water a quart of honey, a
handful and a half of Rosemary, one Ounce of Mace, one Ounce and a half of
Nutmegs, as much Cinamon, half an Ounce of Cloves, a quarter of a pound of
Ginger scraped and cut in pieces. Put all these into the water, and let it
boil half an hour, then take it off the fire, and let it stand, till you
may see your shadow in it. Then put in the honey, and set it upon the fire
again. Then take the shells and whites of a dozen of Eggs, and beat them
both very well together: and when it is ready to boil up, put in your Eggs,
and stir it; then skim it clean, and take it off the fire, and put it into
vessels to cool, as you do wort. When it is cold, set it together with some
barm, as you do Beer. When it is put together leave the settlings behind in
the bottom; as soon as it is white over, Tun it up in a vessel, and when it
hath done working, stop it up as you do Beer. When it is three weeks old,
it will be fit to bottle or drink.
ANOTHER WHITE MEATH
Take three Pound of White-honey, or the best Hampshire-honey, and dissolve
it in a Gallon of water, and then boil it; and when it beginneth first to
boil, put into it half a quarter of an Ounce of Ginger a little bruised;
and a very little Cloves and Mace bruised, and a small quantity of
Agrimony. Let all this boil together a full hour, and keep it constantly
skimmed, as long as any Scum will rise upon it. Then strain it forth into
some clean Kiver or other vessel, and let stand a cooling; and when it is
cold, let it stand, till it be all creamed over with a blackish cream, and
that it make a kind of hissing noise; then put it up into your vessel, and
in two or three months time it will be fit to drink.
Look how much you intend to make, the same quantities must be allowed to
every Gallon of water.
TO MAKE METHEGLIN
Take fair water, and the best honey; beat them well together, but not in a
woodden vessel, for wood drinketh up the honey, put it together in a
Kettle, and try it with a New-laid-egg, which will swim at top, if it be
very strong; but if it bob up and sink again, it will be too weak. Boil it
an hour, and put into it a bundle of herbs, what sort you like best; and a
little bag of Spice, Nutmegs, Ginger, Cloves, Mace and Cinamon; and skim it
well all the while it boileth: when it hath boiled an hour, take it off,
and put it into earthen Pans, and so let it stand till next day. Then pour
off all the clear into a good vessel, that hath had Sack in it, or
White-wine. Hang the bag of Spice in it, and so let it stand very close
stopp'd and well filled for a month, or longer. Then if you desire to drink
it quickly, you may bottle it up. If it be strong of the honey, you may
keep it a year or two. If weak, drink it in two or three months. One quart
of honey, will make one Gallon of water very strong. A sprig or two of
Rose-mary, Thyme and Sweet-marjoram, are the Herbs that should go into it.
TO MAKE SMALL METHEGLIN
Take to every quart of White-honey, six quarts of fair-water. Let it boil,
until a third part be boiled away; skiming it as it riseth: then put into
it a small quantity of Ginger largely sliced; then put it out into earthen
Pans, till it be Luke-warm, and so put it up into an earthen stand, with a
tap in it. Then put to it about half a Porenger-ful of the best Ale-yest,
so beat it well together; Then cover it with a cloth, and it will be twelve
hours before it work; and afterwards let it stand two days, and then draw
it out into stone bottles, and it will be ready to drink in five or six
days after. This proportion of yest (which is about six good spoonfuls) is
enough for three or four Gallons of Liquor. The yest must be of good Ale,
and very new. You may mingle the yest first with a little of the
Luke-warm-Liquor; then beat it, till it be well incorporated, and begins to
work; Then adde a little more Liquor to it, and beat that. Continue so
adding the Liquor by little and little, till a good deal of it be
Incorporated with the yest; then put that to all the rest of the quantity,
and beat it altogether very well; then cover it close, and keep it warm for
two or three days. Before you bottle it, scum away all the barm and Ginger
(whereof a spoonful or two is enough for three or four Gallons) then bottle
up the clear, leaving the dregs. If you will, you may Tun it into a barrel,
(if you make a greater quantity) when the barm is well Incorporated with
the Liquor, in the same manner as you do Beer or Ale, and so let it work in
the Barrel as long as it will; then stop it up close for a few days more,
that so it may clear it self well, and separate and precipitate the dregs.
Then draw the clear into bottles. This will make it less windy, but also a
little less quick, though more wholesome. You may also boil a little
handful of tops of Rosemary in the Liquor, which giveth it a fine taste:
but all other herbs, and particularly Sweet-marjoram and Thyme, give it a
Physical taste. A little Limon-peel giveth it a very fine taste. If you Tun
it in a barrel, to work there, you may hang the Ginger and Limon-peel in it
in a bag, till you bottle it, or till it have done working. Then you may
put two or three stoned and sliced Raisins, and a lump of fine Sugar into
every bottle to make it quick.
TO MAKE METHEGLIN
Take five Gallons of water, and one Gallon of good White-honey; set it on
the fire together, and boil it very well, and skim it very clean; Then take
it off the fire, and set it by. Take six ounces of good Ginger, and two
ounces of Cinamon, one Ounce of Nutmegs; bruise all these grosly, and put
them into your hot Liquor, and cover it close, and so let it stand, till it
be cold. Then put as much Ale-barm to it, as will make it work; then keep
it in a warm place, as you do Ale; and when it hath wrought well, Tun it
up, as you do Ale or Beer: and when it is a week old, drink of it at your
pleasure.
AN EXCELLENT METHEGLIN
Take Spring-water, and boil it with Rose-mary, Sage, Sweet-Marjoram, Balm
and Sassafras, until it hath boiled three or four hours: The quantity of
the Herbs is a handful of them all, of each a like proportion, to a Gallon
of water. And when it is boiled, set it to cool and to settle until the
next day: Then strain your water, and mix it with honey, until it will
bear an Egg the breadth of a Groat. Then set it over the fire to boil. Take
the whites of twenty or thirty Eggs, and beat them mightily, and when it
boileth, pour them in at twice; stir it well together, and then let it
stand, until it boileth a pace before you scum it, and then scum it well.
Then take it off the fire, and pour it in earthen things to cool: and when
it is cold, put to it five or six spoonfuls of the best yest of Ale you can
get: stir it together, and then every day scum it with a bundle of Feathers
till it hath done working: Then Tun it up in a Sack-cask and to every six
gallons of Metheglin put one pint of _Aquavitæ_, or a quart of Sack; and a
quarter of a pound of Ginger sliced, with the Pills of two or three Limons
and Orenges in a bag to hang in it.
The Whites of Eggs above named, is a fit proportion for 10 or 12 Gallons of
the Liquor.
TO MAKE WHITE MEATHE
Take six Gallons of water, and put in six quarts of Honey, stirring it till
the honey be throughly melted; then set it over the fire, and when it is
ready to boil, skim it clean; then put in a quarter of an Ounce of Mace; so
much Ginger; half an Ounce of Nutmegs; Sweet-marjoram, Broad-thyme and
Sweet-Bryar, of all together a handful, and boil them well therein. Then
set it by, till it be throughly cold, and barrel it up, and keep it till it
be ripe.
ANOTHER TO MAKE MEATHE
To every Gallon of water, take a quart of Honey, to every five Gallons, a
handful of Sweet-marjoram, half a handful of Sliced-ginger; boil all these
moderately three quarters of an hour; then let it stand and cool: and
being Lukewarm, put to every five Gallons, about three quarts of Yest, and
let it work a night and a day. Then take off the Yest and strain it into a
Runlet; and when it hath done working: then stop it up, and so let it
remain a month: then drawing out into bottles, put into every bottle two or
three stoned Raisins, and a lump of Loaf-sugar. It may be drunk in two
months.
ANOTHER VERY GOOD WHITE MEATH
Take to every Gallon of water a quart of Honey: boil in it a little
Rose-mary and Sweet-marjoram: but a large quantity of Sweet-bryar-leaves,
and a reasonable proportion of Ginger: boil these in the Liquor, when it is
skimed; and work it in due time with a little barm. Then tun it in a
vessel; and draw it into bottles, after it is sufficiently settled. Whites
of Eggs with the shells beaten together, do clarifie Meath best. If you
will have your Meath cooling, use Violet and Straw-berry-leaves, Agrimony,
Eglantine and the like: adding Borage and Bugloss, and a little Rosemary
and Sweet-Marjoram to give it Vigor.
Tartar makes it work well.
TO MAKE WHITE METHEGLIN
Take to three Gallons of Spring-water, one of Honey; first let it gently
melt, then boil for an hour, continually skiming it; then put it into an
earthen or woodden vessel, and when it is little more then Blood-warm, set
it with Ale-yest, and so let it stand twelve hours; then take off the Yest,
and Bottle it. Put in it Limon-peel and Cloves, or what best pleaseth your
taste of Herbs or Spices. Eringo-roots put into it, when it is a boiling,
maketh it much better. So do Clove-gilly-flowers; a quantity of which make
the Meath look like Claret-wine. I observe that Meath requireth some strong
Herbs to make it quick and smart upon the Palate; as Rose-mary, Bay-leaves,
Sage, Thyme, Marjoram, Winter-savory, and such like, which would be too
strong and bitter in Ale or Beer.
TO MAKE WHITE MEATH
Take Rose-mary, Thyme, Sweet-bryar, Peny-royal, and Bays, Water-cresses,
Agrimony, Marsh-mallows, leaves and flowers: Liver-wort, Wood-betony,
Eye-bright, Scabious, of each alike quantity; of the bark of Ash-tree, of
Eringo-roots-green, of each a proportion to the herbs; of wild Angelica,
Ribwort, Sanicle, Roman-worm-wood, of each a proportion, which is, to every
handful of the Herbs above named, a sixteenth part of a handful of these
latter; steep them a night and a day, in a woodden boul of water covered;
the next day boil them very well in another water, till the colour be very
high; Then take another quantity of water, and boil the herbs in it, till
it look green, and so let it boil three or four times, or as long as the
liquor looketh any thing green; then let it stand with these herbs in it a
day and a night.
To every Gallon of this water, put a quart of pure clear honey, the Liquor
being first strained from the herbs. Your Liquor if it be strong enough
will bear an Egg, the breadth of a three pence above water. When you have
put the honey into the Liquor, you must work and Labour it together a
whole day, until the honey be consumed. Then let it stand a whole night
again a clearing. Then put it into a kettle, and let it boil a quarter of
an hour, with the whites and shells of six Eggs; Then strain it clean, and
so let it stand a cooling. Then put it into a barrel, and take Cloves,
Mace, Cinamon, Nutmegs, and beat them together: put them into a linnen bag,
hang it with a thread into the barrel. If you would have it work, that you
may drink of it presently, take the whites of two or three Eggs, a spoonful
of barm, a spoonful of wheat-flower; beat all these together: Let it work,
before you stop it up. Then afterwards stop it well with clay and salt
tempered together, to keep it moist.
TO MAKE METHEGLIN
If your honey be tryed, take six Gallons of Milk-warm-water, to one of
honey, and stir it well together ever and anon, and so let it stand for a
day and night, or half a day may serve; then boil it with a gentle fire,
for the space of half an hour or thereabouts, and skim it, still as the
skum ariseth. After it is scummed once or twice, you may put in your herbs,
and spice grosly beaten, one half loose; the other in a bag, which
afterwards may be fastned with a string to the tap-hole, as Pepper, Cloves,
Mace, Ginger and the like; when it is thus boiled, let it stand in the
vessel until it be cooled; then Tun it up into your barrel, and let it work
two or three days, or more before you stop the bung-hole; but in putting up
the boiled liquor into the barrel, reserve the thick grounds back, which
will be settled in the pan or kettle.
If you would have it to drink within two or three months, let it be no
stronger then to bear an Egg to the top of the water. If you would have it
keep six months, or longer, before you drink it, let it bear up the Egg the
breadth of two pence above the water. This is the surer way to proportion
your honey then by measure. And the time of the tryal of the strength is,
when you incorporate the honey and water together, before the boiling of
it.
ANOTHER SORT OF MEATH
Take thirty six Gallons of fountain water (first boiled, &c.) and dissolve
twelve Gallons of Honey in it. Keep them boiling an hour and a half after
they begin to boil, skimming well all the while. It will be an hour upon
the fire before it boil. When it is clear and enough boiled, pour it out
into woodden vessels to cool. When you are ready to Tun it, have four
Gallons of Black-currants, bruise them in a stone mortar, that they may the
more easily part with their juyce to the Liquor. Put them and their juyce
into the barrel, and pour the cool Liquor upon them, so as the vessel be
quite full. Cover the bung with a plate of lead lying loose on, that the
working of the Liquor may lift it up, as it needeth to cast out the filth.
And still as it worketh over, fill it up with fresh Liquor, made in the
same proportion of honey and water. A moneth after it works no longer, stop
up the bung very close.
TO MAKE VERY GOOD METHEGLIN
Take of all sorts of herbs, that you think are good and wholesome, as Balm,
Minth, Fennel, Rosemary, Angelica, Wild-thyme, Hyssop, Agrimony, Burnet,
and such other as you may like; as also some field herbs; But you must not
put in too many, especially Rose-mary or any strong herb. Less then half a
handfull will serve of every sort. Boil your herbs, and strain them out,
and let the Liquor stand till the morrow, and settle; Then take of the
clearest of the Liquor two Gallons and a half to one Gallon of Honey; and
in that proportion take as much of them as you will make, and let it boil
an hour, and in the boiling scum it very clean. Then set it a cooling as
you do Beer; and when it is cold, take some very good Ale-barm, and put it
into the bottom of the Tub you mean the Metheglin shall work in, which pour
into the Tub by little and little, as they do Beer, keeping back the thick
settling, which lieth in the bottome of the vessels, wherein it is cooled.
And when all is put together, cover it with a cloth, and let it work very
near three days. And when you mean to put it up, scum off all the barm
clean, and put it up into your Barrel or Firkin, which you must not stop
very close in four or five days, but let it have a little vent, for it will
work; and when it is close stopped, you must look to it very often, and
have a peg in the top, to give it vent, when you hear it make a noise (as
it will do) or else it will break the barrel. You may also, if you please,
make a bag, and put in good store of sliced Ginger, and some Cloves and
Cinnamon, and boil it in, or put it into the barrel and never boil it. Both
ways are good.
If you will make small Metheglin, you may put five or six Gallons of water
to one of honey. Put in a little Cinnamon and Cloves and boil it well. And
when it is cold, put it up in bottles very close stopped, and the stopples
well tyed on. This will not keep above five or six weeks, but it is very
fine drink.
Make your Metheglin as soon as ever you take your Bees; for if you wash
your combs in the water you boil your herbs in, when it is cold, it will
sweeten much. But you must afterwards strain it through a cloth, or else
there will be much wax.
TO MAKE MEATH
If you will have it to keep a year or two, take six parts of water, and one
of honey; But if you will have it to keep longer, take but four parts of
water to one of honey. Dissolve the honey very well in the water, then boil
it gently, skimming it all the while as the scum riseth, till no more scum
riseth. Then pour it out of the Copper into a fit vessel or vessels to
cool. Then Tun it up in a strong and sweet cask, and let it stand in some
place, where there is some little warmth; (It will do as well without
warmth, but be longer growing ripe) This will make it work. At first a
course foul matter will work over; to which purpose it must be kept always
full with fresh Liquor of the same, as it worketh over. When it begins to
work more gently, and that which riseth at the top, is no more foul, but is
a white froth; then fill and stop it up close, and set it in a cool cellar,
where it is to stand continually.
After half a year or a year, you may draw it off from the Lees into a clean
vessel, or let it remain untouched. It is not fit to be drunk for it's
perfection till the sweetness be quite worn off, yet not to be sower, but
vinous. You may drink it at meals instead of wine, and is wholesomer and
better then wine.
To small Meath, that is to be drunk presently, you may put a little Ginger
to give it life, and work it with a little barm. If the Meath work not at
all, it will nevertheless be good, and peradventure better than that which
worketh; but it will be longer first, and the dregs will fall down to the
bottom, though it work not.
Small Meath of eight or nine parts of water to one of honey, will be very
good, though it never work, but be barrell'd up as soon as it is cold, and
stopped close: and after two or three months drunk from the barrel without
botteling. This is good for Meals.
TO MAKE WHITE MEATH
Take to every three Gallons of water, one Gallon of honey and set the water
over the fire, and let the honey melt, before the water be too hot; then
put in a New-laid-egg, and feel with your hand; if it comes half way the
water, it is strong enough; Then put into it these Herbs, Thyme,
Sweet-marjoram, Winter-savoury, Sweet-bryar, and Bay-leaves, in all a good
great handful; which a proportion for ten Gallons; Then with a quick-fire
boil it very fast half an hour, and no longer; and then take it from the
fire, and let it cool in two or three woodden vessels; and let it stand
without stirring twenty four hours. Then softly drain it out, leaving all
the dregs behind. Put the clear into your vessel; and if you like any
spice, take Ginger, Nutmeg, Cinnamon, Mace and Cloves, and bruise them a
little, and put them in a bag, and let them hang in your vessel. Before you
put your Meath into the vessel, try if it will bear an Egg as broad as a
peny; if it do, then it is very well; and if it be made with the best
White-honey, it usually is just so. But if it should prove too strong, that
it bears the Egge broader; then boil a little more honey and water very
small, and put to it, when it is cold: and then put it into the vessel. It
is best to be made at Michaelmas, and not drunk of till Lent.
TO MAKE SMALL WHITE MEATH
Take of the best white honey six quarts; of Springwater sixteen Gallons;
set it on a gentle fire at first, tell it is melted, and clean skimmed;
then make it boil apace, until the third part be consumed. Then take it
from the fire, and put it in a cooler, and when it is cold, Tun it up, and
let it stand eight months, before you drink it. When you take it from the
fire, slice in three Orris-roots, and let it remain in the Liquor, when you
Tun it up.
A RECEIPT TO MAKE METHEGLIN
Take four Gallons of water, two quarts of Honey, two ounces of Ginger, one
ounce of Nutmegs, a good handful of Rose-mary tops, and as much of
Bay-leaves, two ounces of dried Orange-peel. Boil all these till it be so
strong as will bear an Egg, and not sink; when it is milk warm, work it up
with barm, during twenty four hours, and then barrel it up. And after three
months you may bottle it up at your pleasure.
As you desire a greater quantity of the drink, you must augment the
ingredients, according to the proportions above recited.
TO MAKE METHEGLIN
Take four Gallons of water and one of Honey; boil and skim it: then put
into it, Liverwort, Harts-tongue, Wild-carrot, and Yarrow, a little
Rosemary and Bays, one Parsly-root, and a Fennel-root; let them boil an
hour altogether. You may, if you please, hang a little bag of spice in it.
When it is cold, put a little barm to it, and let it work like Beer. The
roots must be scraped, and the Pith taken out.
MEATH FROM THE MUSCOVIAN AMBASSADOUR'S STEWARD
Take three times as much water as honey; then let the tubs, that the honey
must be wrought in, be cleansed very clean with scalding water, so that it
may not prove sowre; also when you mix them together, take half-warm-water,
and half cold, and squeese them well together; Afterwards when you think
the honey is well melted, then let it run through a sieve; and see your
kettle of Copper or Iron (but Copper is better than Iron) be very clean;
then put in your spice, as, Nutmegs, Ginger, Cloves, Cardamome, Anisseeds,
Orange peel; put these in according to the quantity you make, and let them
all be bruised, except the Orange peel, which leave whole. The Meath must
boil an hour by the Clock; after put it into Tubs to cool, and when it is
cold, take three or four slices of White-bread, tost them very hard, and
spread very good yest on both sides of the tosts; then put them into the
Tubs. If it be warm weather, let the Tubs be uncovered; but if it be cold,
cover them. This being done, you will find it worked enough by the black
that cometh up by the sides of the Tubs; then take a sieve and take off the
yest and bread. Afterwards draw it off at a tap in the Tub into the cask
you intend to keep it in; then take a quantity of spice as before,
well-bruised, and put it into a bag, and make it fast at the bung, with a
string, and if it begins to work, after it is in the cask, be sure to give
it vent, or else you will loose all.
TO MAKE MEATH
To every quart of honey put four quarts of Springwater; temper the honey in
the water, being a little warmed; then put it on the fire again, with
Fennel, Rose-mary, Thyme, Agrimony, Parsley or the like. Let them boil half
an hour, and upwards; and as it boileth, scum the froth; Then take it off,
and strain it, and let it cool as you do your wort. Then put a little barm
into it, then take off the froath again, and stir it well together. Then
take two quarts of Ale, boiled with Cloves. Mace, Cinnamon, Ginger and
Liquorice; and put it to the Meath and Tun it up.
A RECEIPT TO MAKE WHITE MEATH
Take Rose-mary, Thyme, Sweet-bryar, Peny-royal, Bays, Water-cresses,
Agrimony, Marsh-mallow-leaves and flowers, Liver-wort, Maiden-hair, Betony,
Eye-bright, Scabious, the bark of an Ash-tree, young Eringo-roots,
Wild-Angelica, Ribwort, Sinacle, Roman-worm-wood, Tamarisk, Mother-thyme,
Saxafrage, Philipendula, of each of these herbs a like proportion; or of as
many as you please to put in. You must put in all but four handfuls of
herbs, which you must steep a night and a day, in a little bowl of water,
being close covered. The next day take another fresh quantity of water, and
boil the same herbs in it, till the colour be very high; then take another
quantity of water, and boil the same herbs in it, untill it look green; and
so let them boil three or four times in several waters, as long as the
Liquor looketh anything green. Then let it stand with these herbs in it a
day and a night. Remember the last water you boil it in, to this proportion
of herbs, must be eighteen Gallons. And when it hath stood a day and a
night with these herbs in it after the last boiling, then strain the Liquor
from the herbs; and put as much of the finest and best honey into the
Liquor, as will bear an Egg; you must work the honey and liquor together a
whole day, until the honey be consumed; then let it stand one whole night;
then let it be well laboured again, and set it a clearing; and so boil it
again with the whites of six New-laid-eggs with the shells; skim it very
clean; and let it stand a day a cooling; then put it into a barrel, and
take Cloves, Mace, Cinnamon and Nutmegs as much as will please your taste,
and beat them all together, and put them in a Linnen bag, and hang it with
a thread into the barrel. Then take the whites of two or three
New-laid-eggs, a spoonful of barm, a spoonful of Wheat-flower, and beat
them all together, and put it into your Liquor in the barrel, and let it
work before you stop it; then afterwards stop it well, and set it in a cold
place, and when it hath been settled some six weeks: draw it into bottles,
and stop it very close, and drink not of it in a month after.
TO MAKE METHEGLIN
Take eight Gallons of water, set it over a clear fire in a Kettle; and when
it is warm, put it to sixteen pounds of very good honey, and stir it well
together; take off the scum, and put two large Nutmegs cut in quarters, and
so let it boil at least an hour; Then take it off the fire, and put to it
two good handfulls of grinded Malt, and with a white staff keep beating it
together till it be almost cold; then strain it through a hair-sieve into a
Tub, and put to it a wine-pint of Ale-yest, and stir it very well together;
and when it is cold, you may if you please, Tun it up presently into a
vessel fit for it, or else let it stand, and work a day, and when it hath
done working in your vessel, stop it up very close. It will be three weeks
or a month before it be ready to drink.
TO MAKE HONEY DRINK
To two quarts of water take one pound of Honey. When it boileth, skim it
clean as long as any scum ariseth; boil it a pretty while; then take it off
the fire, and put it in an earthen pot, and let it stand till the next day;
then put it into clean bottles, that are throughly dry, rinsing first every
bottle with a little of the liquor; Fill them not too full, and put into
every bottle four or five Cloves, and four or five slices of Ginger: and
stop it very close, and set it in Sand; and within ten or twelve days it
will be ready to drink.
Some, when they take their Bees, put the honey-combs into fair-water, and
make it so strong of the honey that it will bear an Egg; and then boil it
with some Spice, and put it into a barrel: but I think it not so good, as
that which is made of pure honey.
THE EARL OF DENBIGH'S METHEGLIN
Take twenty Gallons of Spring-water; boil it a quarter of an hour, and let
it stand, until it be all most cold; then beat in so much honey, as will
make it so strong as to bear an Egg, so that on the Top, you may see the
breadth of a hasel-nut swimming above; The next day boil it up with six
small handfuls of Rosemary; a pound and a half of Ginger, being scraped and
bruised; then take the whites of twenty Eggs shells and all; beat them very
well, and put them in to clarifie it; skim it very clean, then take it off
the fire and strain: But put the Rosemary and Ginger in again: then let it
remain till it be all most cold: then Tun it up, and take some
New-ale-yest; the whites of two Eggs, a spoonful of flower, and beat them
well together, and put them into the barrel; when it hath wrought very
well, stop it very close for three weeks or a month: then bottle it, and a
week after you may drink it.
TO MAKE MEATH
Take to every Gallon of water, a quart of honey, and set it over a clear
fire, and when it is ready to boil, skim it very clear. Then take two
handfulls of Sweet-marjoram, as much Rose-mary, and as much Baulm: and two
handful of Fennel-roots, as much of Parsley-roots, and as many
Esparages-roots: slice them in the middle, and take out the pith, wash and
scrape them very clean, and put them with your herbs into your Liquor. Then
take two Ounces of Ginger, one Ounce of Nutmegs, half an Ounce of Mace:
bruise them and put them in: and let it boil till it be so strong that it
will bear an Egg: then let it cool: and being cold, put in 3 or 4 spoon
fulls of New-ale yest: and so skim it well, and put it into a Runlet, and
it will work like Ale: and having done working, stop it up close, as you do
New-beer: and lay salt upon it.
TO MAKE METHEGLIN
Take four Gallons of running water, and boil it a quarter of an hour, and
put it in an earthen vessel, and let it stand all night. The next day take
only the water, and leave the settling at the bottom: so put the honey in a
thin bag, and work it in the water, till all the honey is dissolved. Take
to four Gallons of water, one Gallon of Honey: Then put in an Egg, if it be
strong enough of the honey, the Egg will part of it appear on the top of
the liquor: if it do not, put more honey to it, till it do. Then take out
the Egg, and let the Liquor stand till next morning. Then take two Ounces
of Ginger, and slice it and pare it: Some Rose-mary washed and stripped
from the stalk: dry
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