"My worthy Master, that Incomparable Sir Kenelm Digby, being a great lover of this Drink, was so curious in his Researches, that he made a large Collection of the choicest & best Receipts thereof."
Hartman, Select Receipts, p. 1.
Concerning the difference between Mead and Metheglin, Borde (Regyment of Helth) says:—
"Of Meade: Meade is made of honny & water boyled both togyther; yf it be fyred and pure, it preserveth helth; but it is not good for them the whiche have the Ilyache or the Colycke.
"Of Metheglyn: Metheglyn is made of honny and water, & herbes, boyled and sodden togyther: yf it be fyred and stale, it is better in the regyment of helth than meade."
But the distinction seems to have been forgotten in the hundred odd
years between the publication of Borde's book and Digby's.