Negus is a drink made of

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

, often

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...

, mixed with hot water,

oranges An orange is a fruit of various citrus species in the family Rutaceae (see list of plants known as orange); it primarily refers to ''Citrus'' × ''sinensis'', which is also called sweet orange, to distinguish it from the related ''Citrus × ...

lemons The lemon (''Citrus limon'') is a species of small evergreen trees in the flowering plant family Rutaceae, native to Asia, primarily Northeast India (Assam), Northern Myanmar or China. The tree's ellipsoidal yellow fruit is used for culina ...

, spices and sugar.

History

According to

Malone Malone is an Irish surname. From the Irish "''Mael Eóin''", the name means a servant or a disciple of Saint John. People * Gilla Críst Ua Máel Eóin (died 1127), historian and Abbot of Clonmacnoise, Ó Maoil Eoin * Adrian Malone (1937–2 ...

(''Life of Dryden'', Prose Work. i - p. 484) this drink was invented in the early 18th Century by Col.

Francis Negus Francis Negus (1670 – 9 September 1732) of Dallinghoo, Suffolk, was an English Army officer, courtier, and Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1717 to 1732. He is the reputed inventor of the drink negus. Early life Negus is a N ...

(d.1732), a British

courtier A courtier () is a person who attends the royal court of a monarch or other royalty. The earliest historical examples of courtiers were part of the retinues of rulers. Historically the court was the centre of government as well as the official r ...

(commissioner for executing the office of

Master of the Horse Master of the Horse is an official position in several European nations. It was more common when most countries in Europe were monarchies, and is of varying prominence today. (Ancient Rome) The original Master of the Horse ( la, Magister Equitu ...

from 1717 to 1727, then

Master of the Buckhounds The Master of the Buckhounds (or Master of the Hounds) was an officer in the Master of the Horse's department of the British Royal Household. The holder was also His/Her Majesty's Representative at Ascot. The role was to oversee a hunting pack; a ...

). James Boswell refers to it repeatedly in his ''

London Journal James Boswell's ''London Journal'' is a published version of the daily journal he kept between the years 1762 and 1763 while in London. Along with many more of his private papers, it was found in the 1920s at Malahide Castle in Ireland, and was ...

''. Negus is also referred to in ''

Jane Eyre ''Jane Eyre'' ( ; originally published as ''Jane Eyre: An Autobiography'') is a novel by the English writer Charlotte Brontë. It was published under her pen name "Currer Bell" on 19 October 1847 by Smith, Elder & Co. of London. The first ...

'' by Charlotte Brontë, when Jane drinks it on arrival at

Thornfield Hall Thornfield Hall is a location in the 1847 novel ''Jane Eyre'' by Charlotte Brontë. It is the home of the male romantic lead, Edward Fairfax Rochester, where much of the action takes place. Brontë uses the depiction of Thornfield in a manner con ...

. Jane Austen mentions it as part of the fare at a ball in ''

Mansfield Park ''Mansfield Park'' is the third published novel by Jane Austen, first published in 1814 by Thomas Egerton. A second edition was published in 1816 by John Murray, still within Austen's lifetime. The novel did not receive any public reviews unt ...

.'' In ''

Wuthering Heights ''Wuthering Heights'' is an 1847 novel by Emily Brontë, initially published under her pen name Ellis Bell. It concerns two families of the landed gentry living on the West Yorkshire moorland, moors, the Earnshaws and the Lintons, and their tur ...

'' by Emily Brontë, Catherine is given it at Thrushcross Grange by the Lintons; it appears in several works by Charles Dickens, namely ''

Sketches by Boz ''Sketches by "Boz," Illustrative of Every-day Life and Every-day People'' (commonly known as ''Sketches by Boz'') is a collection of short pieces Charles Dickens originally published in various newspapers and other periodicals between 1833 and ...

'', ''

The Pickwick Papers ''The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club'' (also known as ''The Pickwick Papers'') was Charles Dickens's first novel. Because of his success with ''Sketches by Boz'' published in 1836, Dickens was asked by the publisher Chapman & Hall to s ...

'', ''

A Christmas Carol ''A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas'', commonly known as ''A Christmas Carol'', is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. ''A Christmas C ...

'' (during the party at Fezziwig's), ''

Dombey and Son ''Dombey and Son'' is a novel by English author Charles Dickens. It follows the fortunes of a shipping firm owner, who is frustrated at the lack of a son to follow him in his footsteps; he initially rejects his daughter's love before eventual ...

'', ''

David Copperfield ''David Copperfield'' Dickens invented over 14 variations of the title for this work, see is a novel in the bildungsroman genre by Charles Dickens, narrated by the eponymous David Copperfield, detailing his adventures in his journey from inf ...

'', ''

Our Mutual Friend ''Our Mutual Friend'', written in 1864–1865, is the last novel completed by Charles Dickens and is one of his most sophisticated works, combining savage satire with social analysis. It centres on, in the words of critic J. Hillis Miller, quo ...

'' and ''

Bleak House ''Bleak House'' is a novel by Charles Dickens, first published as a 20-episode serial between March 1852 and September 1853. The novel has many characters and several sub-plots, and is told partly by the novel's heroine, Esther Summerson, and ...

''; in

Harriette Wilson Harriette Wilson (2 February 1786 – 10 March 1845) was the author of ''The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson: Written by Herself'' (1825). Wilson was a famed British Regency courtesan who became the mistress of William, Lord Craven, at the age of ...

's ''Memoirs'' and Grace Dalrymple Elliott's ''Journal of My Life During the French Revolution''; and in John Buchan's ''

Midwinter Midwinter is the middle of the winter. The term is attested in the early Germanic calendars. Attestations Midwinter is attested in the early Germanic calendars, where it appears to have been a specific day or a number of days during the winter ha ...

''. Anthony Trollope in '' The Small House at Allington'' portrays the rustic Earl de Guest's violent disgust at the thought of the drink. Negus makes a number of appearances as a tonic in ''

The Forsyte Saga ''The Forsyte Saga'', first published under that title in 1922, is a series of three novels and two interludes published between 1906 and 1921 by the English author John Galsworthy, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature. They chronicle the vici ...

'' by John Galsworthy and in Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin novels and a similar reference is made in ''

Written in My Own Heart's Blood ''Written in My Own Heart's Blood'' is the eighth book in the ''Outlander'' series of novels by Diana Gabaldon. Centered on time travelling 20th century doctor Claire Randall and her 18th century Scottish Highlander warrior husband Jamie Fraser ...

'' by Diana Gabaldon. In ''

Death Comes to Pemberley ''Death Comes to Pemberley'' is a 2011 British mystery fiction novel by P.D. James that continues Jane Austen's 1813 novel '' Pride and Prejudice'' with a murder mystery. Plot summary The novel begins in October, 1803, six years after the ev ...

'' by P.D. James, it is said to be added to a white soup. Arthur Conan Doyle has John give some negus to his sister Esther to quiet her in chapter 5 of ''

The Mystery of Cloomber ''The Mystery of Cloomber'' is a novel by the British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It was first published in 1888 in the ''Pall Mall Gazette''. Plot summary The book is narrated by John Fothergill West, a Scot who has moved with his family fr ...

'', and in '' A Death in the Small Hours'' by Charles Finch, the character Frederick Ponsonby claims that a glass of hot negus "settles the stomach wonderfully". In William Makepeace Thackeray's '' Vanity Fair'', Ensign Stubble "never took his eyes off her except when the negus came in". In his ''

Confessions of an English Opium-Eater ''Confessions of an English Opium-Eater'' (1821) is an autobiographical account written by Thomas De Quincey, about his laudanum addiction and its effect on his life. The ''Confessions'' was "the first major work De Quincey published and the one ...

'', Thomas De Quincey relates that he usually took his

laudanum Laudanum is a tincture of opium containing approximately 10% powdered opium by weight (the equivalent of 1% morphine). Laudanum is prepared by dissolving extracts from the opium poppy (''Papaver somniferum Linnaeus'') in alcohol (ethanol). Red ...

infused in a glass of negus. Hyacinth Robinson is offered a glass of Negus three times by Mrs. Crookenden in

The Princess Casamassima ''The Princess Casamassima'' is a novel by Henry James, first published as a serial in ''The Atlantic Monthly'' in 1885 and 1886 and then as a book in 1886. It is the story of an intelligent but confused young London bookbinder, Hyacinth Robinson, ...

by Henry James. The Sorrows of Werter/Goethe - "I had procured her some oranges from the sideboard, where they were making negus ..."

References

The Gentleman's Magazine ''The Gentleman's Magazine'' was a monthly magazine founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January 1731. It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1922. It was the first to use the term ''magazine'' (from the French ''magazine'' ...

(Feb.1799) p. 119. Milton, 'Paradise Lost'.

External links

Negus recipe
Epicurious.com retrieved 14 December 2014

Sources

*{{EB1911, wstitle=Negus, volume=19, page=349 Cocktails with wine

History

See also

References

External links

Sources