Two waies to clarifie hony.
You may boile hony either by it selfe, or else with the like quantity of water, or other liquor. But alwaies in boiling skim it, that is my bee pure. Bu it selfe you must boile it until it will yeeld no more skum, [The right skum, which is drosse, is short and brittle: which when it is cleane takenawaie, the force of the fire wil cause the very hony to rile up like a skum, but that will then be tougher and more clammie then the drosse skum, and so wil al the rest be, when it is cold, as being over-boiled: the resore be sure to take it of in time.] (which wil be about halfe an houre) and that with a very soft fire, or in a double vessel, lest, by over-heating, it get a bitter tast, and lest it soddainely run over and flame.
With water it is to be boiled and houre at the least, eve' until the water be evaporated: which thing is knwne by the bubbles that ise from the bottom, & by the wasting of the one halfe: then, to make it more pure, put into every poud of hony the [less white may serve if hony be good.] white of one egge, and aftarward skim it againe in the boiling. The fire may be more fervent at the first, but toward the end it must be slack for it is then apt to be set on fire, as the meere hony, and to become bitter with violent heate.
If you will clarifie the stone hony remaining in the combs, thus doe. When you have pared away as much of the wax as you may, breake the hony combes into a vessel to boile: and then powre faire water into it, until the water rise an inch or twaine above the bottome. Whe you have set this over the fire, stirre it together ever now and then: as soone as it is al melted and beginneth to boile, take it of and straine it, and then set it over a soft fire againe, & skim it cleane. Unto the skum put faire warm water: she you have stirred it about, crush the wax together in your hand, and lay it askide: & the water (if you make no meth) either give it to your bees, or, having boiled and skimmed it, put it to your brewlock.
The course hony being boiled and clarified hath a most pleasant & delicate tast, & is comparable for most uses to the purest bottome hony being raw.
Which pure honey is you be disposed to boil, it, wil aske lesse time to be clarified, as yeelding little or no skum at all, and in tast & vertue it is more excellent.
When your hony is boiled enough, take it from the fire, and rather too soone, then too late: for if there be any drosse remaining, you shall find it in the top, when it is cold: but overmuch boiling consumeth the spirittuous parts of the honey, and turneth the sweet tast into bitter.
And such is hony in his owne kind, both raw and boiled, It is also altered by distillation into a water, which Raimundus Lullisis that excellent Chymist calleth the quintessence of hony. This quintessece dissolveth gold, & maketh it potable, & likewise any sort of pretious stone that is put therein. It is of such vertue that if any be dying, and drink 2 or 3 drams thereof, presently he wil revive. If you wash any woud [wound] therewith, or other sore; it will heal quickly. It is also good against the cough, catarre, & paines of the melt, and against many other diseases. Being given for the space of 46 dais together to one that hath the palsie, it helpeth him. Which thing Iohn Hefter a practical Chymist, in his key of Philosophie professeth himselfe to have proved. It helpeth also the falling sicknesse, and preserveth the body from putrifaction. Of so marvellous efficacie is this water.
The making of it is after this manner. Take two pound of perfect pure hony and put it into a great glasse, that foure parts of five may remaine emptie, [The lute may be made of clay, flocks, & salt-water, tepered together, or of meal and whites of egges.] lute it well with a head & receiver, and give it fire until there appear certaine white fumes, which, by laying wet clthes on the receiver and head and changing them when they are warme, wil turne into a water of a red colour like blood. When it is al distilled, keepe the receaver close shut, and let it stand til it be cleere, and of the colour of a rubie. The' distil it in Balneo Marie leaven times, and so it wil loose this redish colour, and become yelow as gold, having a great smel & exceeding pleasant.
What are the virtues & propertie of meth, may partly be knowne by that which hath bin said of hony. For seeing hony is the chiefe matter wereof Meth is made: the meth must needs, together with the substa'ce of honey, participate the naturall qualities thereof. The which, by the purifying in boiling, together with the accesse of sundry wholsome spices and herbes, are rather confirmed & increased, then any way extenuated or diminished. Therefore saith Lobel, Mulsum, ubi aqua plurimum, mellis non multum, diuturna intestinaq, mollis ebullitione in vinum longe vtilissimum abit. [?] And Pictorius Hydromellonga vetustate transit in vivum stomacho convenientissimum. Meth, when it is olde, is a wine most agreeable to the stomake: it recoverth 1 the appetite being lost, it 2 oppeneth the passage of the spirit or breath, is 3 softeneth the bellie, it 4 is good for them that have the cough. 5 If a man take meth, not as his ordinarie drink, but, as a physick, now and then: he shal receive much benefit by it, against quartan agues, against cacexies, and against the diseases of the braine, as analepsie, & epilepsie, or the falling evill: for which wine is pernicious: it 6 cureth the yellow jaundise: it 7 is also good against henbane with milke, and against the winter-cherie, it 8 nourisheth the body, 9. So that many have attained to long old age, only by the nourishment of meth. And therefore no marvaile that Pollio Romulus, who was a hundred yeeres old, imputed the greatest cause of his long continued health: to this soveraigne drinke. 10 For being asked of Augustus the Emperor, by what meanes especially hee had so long preserved that vigour both of mind and body, his answere was, Intus mulso, foris oleo.
The same thing is more manifested by the generall example of the ancient Brittaines who, above al other nations, have ever beene addicted to Meth and Metheglen. For under heaven there is no fairer people of complexio', nor of more sound and healthfull bodies. Of whole Metheglen Lobel writeth thus, Cambricus ille potus Methegla, non patrio, uti putant illi, sed Graconomini dictus, est altera liquida & limpida Septentrionistberiaca.
[From whence commeth our word Meth, which some corruptly call Mede, because it was wont to be written with a kind of d. For whereas wee have in English two sortes of th as you may perceive in these words, sheath, shiu, that, & heath, thisse, thanke, the ancient English did expresse the former by d aspirat, which for difference from d.tenue (as in mead, shed, &c,) they noted with a dash.]
From The Feminine Monarchie, or a treatise concerning bees and the due ordering of them. by Char. Butler Maga, 1609, Oxford: Iohn Haviland. Transcribed by Susan Verberg, 2016.
Free download of the 1623 version at (newer versions also available):
https://books.google.com/books?id=f5tbAAAAMAAJ&dq=the+feminine+monarchie&source=gbs_navlinks_s
In transcription the 'vv' is typed as 'w', the 'u' is typed as 'v' and the 'f' is typed as 's' where applicable, all other middle English spelling is kept as original (as much as I was able to; any typo's are entirely my spell checkers fault.)
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