History of Ancient and Modern Wines. 123 



and cold is preserved during- summer, in order that, they may ice 

 their cups, notwithstanding the warmth of the season. Some boil 

 the water first, and then freeze it. In short, man is satisfied with 

 nothing;, in the state that he receives it from the hand of nature.' 

 These declamations, however, passed unheeded ; the usage in 

 question became universal, as the frequent allusions to it by an- 

 cient authors sufficiently prove, nor was it confined to the summer 

 months, but was continued by many through the depth of winter ; 

 as is still the case in the south of Italy and in Sicily, where iced 

 water has become an article of prime necessity, and is sought for 

 at all seasons with an avidity which, to a native of our northern 

 clime, appears at first view quite unaccountable. ' It is from a 

 volcano,' Dr. Irvine observes in his Letters from the latter coun- 

 try, ' that the inhabitants are abundantly supplied with this re- 

 freshment. The noise and tumult at the houses where the snow 

 is sold, as fast as it arrives from Etna, is even alarming to a 

 stranger; and I thought the first time that nothing less than murder 

 could have occurred within, seeing the doors besieged, by so cla- 

 morous a mob. When the thermometer is at 88° of Fahren- 

 heit in the shade, there is something in this eagerness which we 

 can understand : but in this country, when snow is lying on the 

 ground, when cold and damp winds send one shivering for shelter, 

 even then the Sicilian must have his iced water. There is no 

 weather so cold as to drive him from his wonted refreshment. He 

 seems as if resolved to make the greater cold expel the less.'" — 

 Pp. 108, 109. 



In the concluding chapter of this part of his work, Dr. Hender- 

 son has given us some amusing remarks connected with the use 

 of wine at the banquets of the Greeks and Romans. The drinking 

 vessels of the higher ranks were enriched with theworks of the sculp- 

 tor, lapidary, and jeweller, and even the ivy and beechen bowls 

 of the poorer classes were often so curiously carved that the 

 beauty of the workmanship compensated for the meanness of the 

 material*., Athens took the lead in the manufacture of earthen- 

 ware vases, " but the potteries of Samos soon rose into equal 

 repute, with those of Saguntum in Spain ; and Siirrentum, Arretium, 

 and one or two other towns in Italy, furnishid the chief supply." 

 These vessels are are good sainples of the perfection of the art ; 

 they were thin and ligiit, and varnished with bitumen to render 

 them impervious. The Egyptians, and particularly the Alexan- 

 drians, were no mean artists in glass, and from the banks of the 

 Nile the Romans were supplied with drinking vessels of that ma- 

 terial. Dr. Henderson here adverts to the discussion concerning 

 the nature of the celebrated Munhinc vases, and agrees in opinion 

 with JVI. de Ilozicro, that they were formed of fluor-spar; this, 

 however, is mere conjecture, and is chiefly founded upon the 



