C 290 ] 



L. On the Utility of making Family Wives from sevej'ol 

 of our Garden Fmits, especially for lenevoleni Uses. 

 Extracted froyn an Address, on different Topics, to the 

 Board of Superintendence of the Bath and JVest of Eng- 



^.land Society. By W. Matthews *. 



J- WILL now brc to be indulfred with your attention to an- 

 Other subject, which some eircumstan-ces of the times have 

 >ed me to reflect on-. I mean the present enormous price of 

 foreign wines. It may possibly occur to some of you, that 

 this subject, however serious in a iiational pomt of view^ i» 

 not among those which such a society as ours can. hope to 

 take up with success; and even, that it is not among those 

 subjects most properly cognizable by our institution ; that 

 foreign wines may be considered, which frequently has bcei\ 

 the case by the legislature, aa an article of luxury, but little 

 connected with the comfort of the great body of the people. 

 To these possible objections I am prepared in part to assent ; 

 and I would not Hghtly ask attention to a subject of doubtful 

 propriety. But my views are not directed to wine as a luxury^ 

 or to an interference with the taste and habits of persons of 

 sufficient wealth to afford the prices which are now paid for 

 the different kinds of foreign wine. From all present ap- 

 pearance, a eufficietit number of those persons will be found 

 to purchase whatever may be importable from the foreign 

 markets, at whatever shall be the current prices. I propose 

 to consider the real use of wholesome wine for medicinal 

 purposes, and those of general comfort, frugally used among 

 the middle and lower ranks of the community. Ii is allowed, 

 and justly, that for the laborious classes the refreshment of 

 »ound malt liquor is the common article of the country -^ 

 and that no substitute for that, or the wholesome unadulte- 

 rated cider of some districts, is eiiher to be expected or pru- 

 riently sought ibr. But it is to be considered that there are 

 innumerable cases in which some refreshing vinous liquor, 

 different from these, is frequently desirable, far the comfort 

 of persons in delicate situations and states of health, who. 

 cannot afford the expense of even a very little foreign wine; 



• ViOTT Letters and Pnper^ «/ tlx BuLh mid Jf'\:sl of E»g!and Society, vol. x. 



manv 



