[12]“_It_ ran through his mind that _he a_ hall-house would command, _a_ great mead-house, men to make, which the sons of men should ever hear of; and there within all distribute to young and old, as to him God had given, except _the_ people’s share, and the lives of men. Then I heard _that_ widely _the_ work _was_ proclaim’d to many _a_ tribe through this mid-earth that _a_ public place was building.” Mead was considered a glorified liquor fit for MEN and is thus sung of by the bard Taliesin:— “That Maelgwn of Mona be inspired with mead and cheer us with it, From the mead-horn’s foaming, pure, and shining liquor, Which the bees provide, but do not enjoy; Mead distilled, I praise; its eulogy is everywhere Precious to the creature whom the earth maintains. God made it to man for his happiness, The fierce and the mute both enjoy it.” Mead was made from honey and water, fermented, and in many languages its name has a striking similarity. In Greek, honey is _methu_, in Sanskrit, _madhu_, and the drink made therefrom in Danish, is _miod_, in Anglo-Saxon, _medu_, in Welsh, _medd_, whence metheglyn—_medd_, mead, and _llyn_, liquor. In _Beowulf_ we frequently find mention of the _mead-horns_, and we see it vividly portrayed in the heading of this chapter, which is taken from the Bayeux Tapestry. These horns were generally those of oxen, although some were made of ivory, and were probably used because fictile ware was so easily broken in those drinking bouts in which they so frequently indulged. Another reason was doubtless that they promoted conviviality, for, like the classical _Rhyton_, they could not be set down like a bowl, but must either be nursed, or their contents quaffed. Many examples of drinking horns remain to us, and illustrations of two are here given: one that of Ulph, belonging to, and now kept at, York Minster, and the other the Pusey horn. These are veritable _drinking horns_; but there are many other tenure horns in existence, which are hunting horns. [Illustration: THE PUSEY HORN.] This horn is an old tenure horn. It was once the custom, when making a gift of land, instead of making out a deed of gift, to present some article of personal use, such as a knife, a drinking or hunting horn, and with it the manor or land, the recipient keeping the present, as a proof that the land was given him. This Pusey horn is said to have been given by King Knut to William Pewse, and on the silver-gilt band, to which are appended dog’s legs and feet, is inscribed in Gothic letters— “Kyng Knowde geve Wyllyam Pewse This horne to holde by thy lond.” It is an ox horn, dark brown, and is 25½ inches long, having a silver-gilt rim, and at the small end a hound’s head, also of silver-gilt, which unscrews, thus enabling it to be used either as a drinking or hunting horn. Ulph’s horn is considered of somewhat later date, and is of ivory.