Negus

A warm, sweet and comforting blend of port, hot water, sugar and lemon, negus was a popular drink in Victorian times, and is mentioned in more than one of Charles Dickens’ novels. In Dombey and Son, Mr. Feeder, “after imbibing several custard cups of negus, began to enjoy himself.”

According to Malone (Life of Dryden, Prose Work. i - p. 484) this drink was invented by Col. Francis Negus (d.1732), a British courtier (commissioner for executing the office of Master of the Horse from 1717 to 1727, then Master of the Buckhounds). His Negus punch was one of the most popular punches of the Georgian Era (think Jane Austen) and a standard at Regency balls. Similar to a mulled wine or grog, a traditional Negus consists of wine (often port or sherry), citrus, sugar and nutmeg, all thinned with a little hot water, though some variations are a bit fancier.

Negus is referred to in Jane Eyre (1847) , by Charlotte Brontë, when Jane drinks it on arrival at Thornfield Hall; in Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, when Catherine is given it at Thrushcross Grange by the Lintons; in Jane Austen's Mansfield Park; in Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol during the party at Fezziwig's, in David Copperfield, "Dombey and Son", The Pickwick Papers and Bleak House; and in Harriette Wilson's Memoirs. 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 by John Galsworthy, in Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin novels, and Boswell refers to it repeatedly in his London Journal. It is said to be added to a white soup in P.D. James' Death Comes to Pemberley.

Negus is similar to Smoking Bishop. Smoking Bishop is also made with port and sugar but, instead of water, it calls for dry red wine and tasty Seville oranges replace the lemons. Seville oranges are thicker-skinned and more sour than normal eating oranges and have traditionally been imported to England in January and February where they are prized for use in marmalade. Because of the seasonality of the oranges, the basic Bishop recipe (without the port) was often made in large batches and kept on hand for use in summer Bishop’s Cups and especially for making Smoking Bishop bowls at Christmastime.

Mrs. Isabella Beeton, in her weighty tome, Beeton’s Book of Household Management (1861) describes Negus as a, “beverage usually drunk at children’s parties.”

Mrs. Isabella Beeton, Book of Household Management, 1861

TO MAKE NEGUS.

1835. INGREDIENTS – To every pint of port wine allow 1 quart of boiling water, 1/4 lb. of sugar, 1 lemon, grated nutmeg to taste.

Mode.—As this beverage is more usually drunk at children’s parties than at any other, the wine need not be very old or expensive for the purpose, a new fruity wine answering very well for it. Put the wine into a jug, rub some lumps of sugar (equal to 1/4 lb.) on the lemon-rind until all the yellow part of the skin is absorbed, then squeeze the juice, and strain it. Add the sugar and lemon-juice to the port wine, with the grated nutmeg; pour over it the boiling water, cover the jug, and, when the beverage has cooled a little, it will be fit for use. Negus may also be made of sherry, or any other sweet white wine, but is more usually made of port than of any other beverage.

Sufficient—Allow 1 pint of wine, with the other ingredients in proportion, for a party of 9 or 10 children.