f it be
well handled) than the Greeks did of their ambrosia or nectar, which for
the pleasantness thereof was supposed to be such as the gods themselves
did delight in. There is a kind of swish-swash made also in Essex, and
divers other places, with honeycombs and water, which the homely country
wives, putting some pepper and a little other spice among, call mead, very
good in mine opinion for such as love to be loose bodied at large, or a
little eased of the cough. Otherwise it differeth so much from the true
metheglin as chalk from cheese. Truly it is nothing else but the washing
of the combs, when the honey is wrung out, and one of the best things that
I know belonging thereto is that they spend but little labour, and less
cost, in making of the same, and therefore no great loss if it were never
occupied. Hitherto of the diet of my countrymen, and somewhat more at
large peradventure than many men will like of, wherefore I think good now
to finish this tractation, and so will I, when I have added a few other
things incident unto that which goeth before, whereby the whole process of
the same shall fully be delivered, and my promise to my friend[142] in
this behalf performed.

Heretofore there hath been much more time spent in eating and drinking
than commonly is in these days; for whereas of old we had breakfasts in
the forenoon, beverages or nunchions[143] after dinner, and thereto rear
suppers generally when it was time to go to rest (a toy brought into
England by hardy Canutus, and a custom whereof Athenaeus[144] also
speaketh, lib. 1, albeit Hippocrates speaks but of twice at the most, lib.
2, _De rat vict. in feb ac_). Now, these odd repasts--thanked be God!--are
very well left, and each one in manner (except here and there some young,
hungry stomach that cannot fast till dinner-time) contenteth himself with
dinner and supper only. The Normans, misliking the gormandise of Canutus,
ordained after their arrival that no table should be covered above once in
the day, which Huntingdon[145] imputeth to their avarice; but in the end,
either waxing weary of their own frugality, or suffering the cockle of old
custom to overgrow the good corn of their new constitution, they fell to
such liberty that in often-feeding they surmounted Canutus surnamed the
Hardy. For, whereas he covered his table but three or four times in the
day, these spread their cloths five or six times, and in such wise as I
before rehearsed. They brought