THE FOX -GRAPE 5 



GOLD colour white wine: Tenis Pale the French man 

 of these four made eight sorts of excellent wine, and 

 of the Muscat acute boy led that the second draught 

 will fox [intoxicate] a reasonable pate four inoneths 

 old: and here may be gathered and made two hundred 

 tun in the Vintage Moneth, and re -planted will mend." 

 These grapes which Plantagenet saw, were undoubt- 

 edly native to the country; for although he uses the 

 name Muscat, it must be remembered that this word, 

 and such other foreign names as Madeira and Tokay, 

 were freely applied to wild varieties which bore a 

 general resemblance to European varieties having 

 these names. One of the significant parts of this 

 account is the use of the verb to fox for "intoxicate." 

 The term fox -grape was evidently applied to various 

 kinds of native grapes in the early days, although it 

 is now restricted to the Vitis Labrusca of the Atlan- 

 tic slope. Several explanations have been given of 

 the origin of the name fox -grape, some supposing 

 that it came from a belief that foxes eat the grapes, 

 others that the odor of the grape suggests that of 

 the fox an opinion to which Beverley subscribed 

 nearly two centuries ago and still others thinking 

 that it was suggested by some resemblance of the 

 leaves to a fox's track. William Bartram, writing 

 at the beginning of this century, in the Medical Re- 

 pository, is pronounced in his convictions: "The 

 strong rancid smell of its ripe fruit, very like the 

 effluvia arising from the body of the fox," "gave 

 rise to the specific name of this vine, and not, as 

 many have imagined, from its being the favourite 

 food of the animal; for the fox (at least the Amer- 

 ican species) seldom eats grapes or other fruit if 



