Aug. 4. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



19 



and perfectly knew the situation of the houses 

 of the Inquisition ; never heard the report of 

 the invented demolition, or saw any peculiar 

 guards. Made under oath, and, being read over, 

 ratified. 



Fourthly, D. L. L , native of Alicante, re- 

 sident and propi-Ietor in Madrid, Calle de J , 



aged seventy-four, declared positively, that It was 

 not true that, In the year 1809, there was any 

 house of the Inquisition five miles distant from 

 Madrid, nor at Chamartin, with walls, turrets, and 

 defended by armed guards. That It Is equally 

 f\ilse that three regiments of French troops were 

 fient to demolish It ; that they mined and blew it 

 «p. But, on the contrary, it is certain there 

 never were but two houses of the Inquisition of 

 Madrid ; one, now rebuilt, in the Calle de Maria 

 Cristina, No. 4. nuevo, No. 8. formerly ; and 

 another still retaining Its ancient form In the Calle 

 de Torija, No. 14. nuevo, formerly No. 1., where 

 the Inquisitor-General resided, in front of that 

 now occupied by the English ambassador. Lord 

 Howden. That, as to the furniture, pictures, and 

 library, he knew nothing; but as respects those 

 mentioned In the relation derived from Mr. Leh- 

 manowsky, existing in a house of the Inquisition 

 five miles from Madrid, he could at once declare 

 the description untrue, and a pure Invention, for 

 such an edifice never existed In the manner de- 

 scribed; and that he could truly make such 

 declaration, having been domiciled at Madrid for 

 sixty-seven years, living there in 1 809 ; well know- 

 ing the two houses of the Inquisition, and never 

 till now heard of the demolition, or saw the guards 

 who were the supposed defenders. 



These are testimonies of persons of known cha- 

 racter, present at the place, and of an age to be 

 perfectly cognizant, at this distance of time, of all 

 the public events of the period. They are a sub- 

 stantial summary of a set of papers drawn up In 

 form, consisting of the following parts, which may 

 be worthy of mention as a curiosity in them- 

 selves :* — A request to make a statement of the 

 subject ; the recorder's Avarrant allowing it ; the 

 declarations of four witnesses ; the recorder's de- 

 claration of the hearing and approval of witnesses' 

 veracity ; delivery of copy, three notaries verify- 

 ing the signature of the judge, notary, and re- 

 corder : the j udge verifies those of the notaries ; the 

 llegent of the Audiencia, the judge's ; the Minister 

 of Grace and Justice, the Regent's ; the political 

 director, the minister's ; the English Consul, the 

 minister's, in these words : 



" I hereby certify, that the foregoing seal and signature 

 are those ofHcially employed by Don Miguel de los Santos 

 Alvarez,«Political Director in the office of her Catholic 

 Majesty's Minister for Foreign Affairs . . . 



" Frederick Berxai., H. M.'s Consul." (Sealed.) 



[* We have seen these documents. — Ed. "K&Q."] 

 No. 301.] 



And, finally, the Under Secretary of State for 

 Foreign Affairs, the English Consul's : 



" I certify that I believe the above signature, ' Frederick 

 Bemal,' to be the handwriting of Frederick Bernal, Esq™, 

 her Britannic Majesty's Consul at Madrid. 



WoDEHOUSE, 



Under Secretary of State. 

 1855." (Seal.) 



B. B. WlFJFEN. 



WINES OF THE ANCIENTS. 



. I should be obliged to any of your readers, 

 learned in the history of wines, who would Inform, 

 me why those of the ancients were so much 

 stronger than any known in modern times. That 

 they were so, must be inferred from the fact,, 

 familiar to every reader of the classics, that the 

 Greeks and Romans always drank their wine 

 largely diluted with water. The proportions of 

 the mixture were various, according to the quality 

 of the wines, and the taste of the drinkers ; but, 

 generally, there was a much greater quantity of 

 water than of wine. Heslod recommended the 

 proportion of three to one : but some wines re- 

 quired to be still farther weakened. In the Odys- 

 sey we read, that the wine of Maron, the minister 

 of Apollo, In Thracian Ismarus, was so strong, 

 that, when he drank It, a single cup was mingled 

 with twenty of water : 



" Tbv S' ore ttCvouv jiAeAiijSea olvov epvBpov, 

 'Er Se'iras e(in-Ai;!ra! vSaro; ava elKOcri. fx^Tpa 

 Xev-"—Od. IX. 208. 



This must be understood as a proof of the strength 

 of the wine, not of the priest's temperance. But 

 It may be said, that is one of those travellers' tales 

 with which Ulysses amused the good king Alci- 

 nous after supper ; and this potent wine is as 

 fabulous as the beverage of Circe, which trans- 

 formed men into swine. Pliny, however, states, 

 that in his time the Maronean wine in the same 

 part of Thrace was of equal strength : 



" Durat etiara vis eadem in terra generi, vigorque in- 

 domitus." — Lib. xiv. cap. iv. 



It Is true, he goes on to contradict himself ;^ 

 for he says that the consul Mutianus, when he was 

 In that country, found that the wine was mixed, 

 with water in the proportion of one to eight : 



" Quippe cum Mutianus ter consul ex his qui nuper- 

 rime prodidere, sextarios singulos octonis aquae nusceri 

 compererit prajsens in eo tractu." 



But what shall we think of the following strange 

 tale, related by AthenaBus, on the grave authority ■ 

 of Aristotle ? (I quote from Mr. Yonge's trans- 

 lation, in Bohn's Classical Library) : 



" And Aristotle says, that the wine called the Sama- 

 gorean wine is so strong, that more than forty men were 

 made drunk with a pint and a half of it, after it had been 

 mixed with water." — Deipnosophists, book x. c. xxxv. 



