an agreeable liquor, made of honey and water.

There are many receipts for making mead, of which the following is one of the best. Take four gallons of water, and as much honey as will make it bear an egg; add to this the rhind of three lemons: boil it, and scum it well as it rises. Then take it off the fire, and add the three lemons cut in pieces: pour it into a clean tub or open vessel, and let it work for three days: then scum it well, and pour off the clear part into a cask. Let it stand open till it cease to make a hissing noise; then stop it up close, and in three months time it will be fine and fit for bottling.—If you would give it a finer flavour, take cloves, mace, and nutmeg, of each four drams; beat them small, tie the powder in a piece of cloth, and put it into the cask.

(Dr Richard), a celebrated English Physician, was born at Stepney near London, where his father, the Reverend Mr Matthew Mead, had been one of the two ministers of that parish; but in 1662 was ejected for nonconformity, but continued to preach at Stepney till his death. As Mr Mead had a handsome fortune, he bestowed a liberal education upon 13 children, of whom Richard was the eleventh; and for that purpose kept a private tutor in his house, who taught him the Latin tongue. At 16 years of age Richard was sent to Utrecht, where he studied three years under the famous Graevius; and then choosing the profession of physic, he went to Leyden, where he attended the lectures of the famous Pitcairn on the theory and practice of medicine, and Hermont's botanical courses. Having also spent three years in these studies, he went with his brother and two other gentlemen to visit Italy, and at Padua took his degree of doctor of philosophy and physic in 1695. Afterwards he spent some time at Naples and at Rome; and returning home the next year, settled at Stepney, where he married, and practised physic with a success that laid the foundation of his future greatness.

In 1703, Dr Mead having communicated to the Royal Society an analysis of Dr Bonomo's discoveries relating to the cutaneous worms that generate the itch, which they inserted in the Philosophical Transactions; this, with his account of poisons, procured him a place in the Royal Society, of which Sir Isaac Newton was then president. The same year, he was elected physician of St Thomas's hospital, and was also employed by the surgeons to read anatomical lectures in their hall, which obliged him to remove into the city. In 1707 his Paduan diploma for doctor of physic was confirmed by the university of Oxford; and being patronized by Dr Radcliffe, on the death of that famous physician he succeeded him in his house at Bloomsbury-square, and in the greatest part of his business. In 1727 he was made physician to king George II. whom he had also served in that capacity while he was prince of Wales; and he had afterwards the pleasure of seeing his two sons-in-law, Dr Nichols and Dr Wilmot, his coadjutors in that eminent station.

Dr Mead was not more to be admired for the qualities of the head than he was to be loved for those of his heart. Though he was himself a hearty whig, yet, uninfluenced by party-principles, he was a friend to all men of merit, by whatever denomination they might happen to be distinguished. Thus he was intimate with Garth, with Arbuthnot, and with Freind; and long kept up a constant correspondence with the great Boerhaave, who had been his fellow-student at Leyden: they communicated to each other their observations and projects, and never loved each other the less for being of different sentiments. In the meantime, intent as Dr Mead was on the duties of his profession, he had a greatness of mind that extended itself to all kinds of literature, which he spared neither pains nor money to promote. He caused the beautiful and splendid edition of Thuanus's history to be published in 1713, in seven volumes folio: and by his interposition and affluency, Mr Sutton's invention of drawing foul air from ships and other close places was carried into execution, and all the ships in his majesty's navy provided with this useful machine. Nothing pleased him more than to call hidden talents into light; to give encouragement to the greatest projects, and to see them executed under his own eye. During almost half a century he was at the head of his bailiwick, which brought him one year above seven thousand pounds, and for several years between five and six thousand: Yet clergymen, and in general all men of learning, were welcome to his advice. His library consisted of 10,000 volumes, of which his Latin, Greek, and oriental manuscripts made no inconsiderable part. He had a gallery for his pictures and antiquities, which cost him great sums. His reputation, not only as a physician, but as a scholar, was so universally established, that he corresponded with all the principal literati in Europe; even the king of Naples sent to desire a complete collection of his works; and in return, made him a present of the two first volumes of Signior Bajardi, which may be considered as an introduction to the collection of the antiquities of Herculaneum. At the same time that prince invited him to his palace, that he might have an opportunity of showing him those valuable monuments of antiquity; and nothing but his great age prevented his undertaking a journey so suited to his taste. No foreigner of learning ever came to London without being introduced to Dr Mead; and on these occasions his table was always open, and the magnificence of princes was united with the pleasures of philosophers. It was principally to him that the several counties of England and our colonies abroad applied for the choice of their physicians, and he was likewise consulted by foreign physicians from Russia, Prussia, Denmark, &c. He wrote, besides the above works, 1. A Treatise on the Scurvy. 2. De variolis et morbillis dissertatio. 3. Medica sacra: sive de Morbis insignioribus, qui in Bibliis memorantur, Commentarius. 4. Monita et Praecepta medica. 5. A Discourse concerning pestilential contagion, and the methods to be used to prevent it. The works he wrote and published in Latin were translated into English, under the doctor's inspection, by Thomas Stack, M.D. and F.R.S. This great physician, naturalist, and antiquarian, died on the 16th of February 1754.