THE APPLE. 227 



and cheese to come.'' Pippins were, therefore, in 

 the time of Shakspeare, delicacies for the dessert. 

 But in another tifly years the national industry had 

 rendered the produce of the apple an important 

 article of g^eneral consumption. The fine cider 

 orchards of Herefordshire bei^an to be planted in the 

 reip^n of Charles I. The adaptation of these apples 

 to the soil was quickly discovered ; and they spread 

 over the face of the whole country. Of the varieties 

 of the cider apples, the Redstreak and the Sline were 

 formerly the most prized; and the cider of these apples, 

 and the perr\' of the Squash pear, were celebrated 

 throug'hout Europe. At the time when cider was first 

 manufactured in England it was believed that it would 

 almost wholly supersede the use of foreign wines. 

 From the period of the Norman conquest England 

 carried on a great wine trade with France, principally 

 with Bordeaux, and the neighbouring provinces. It 

 increased considerably when Henry II. married the 

 daughter of the Duke of Aquitaine ; and after the 

 kings of England subsequently became possessed of 

 some of the great wne provinces of France, the con- 

 sumption of their produce was almost universal. 

 About the middle of the sixteenth century, although no 

 wines were permitted to exceed the price of twelve- 

 pence per gallon, we find a law enacted, by which no 

 person, except those who could expend a hundred 

 marks annually, or were of noble birth, should keep 

 in his house any vessel of wine exceeding ten gal- 

 lons, — a regulation which would suggest that the 

 demand for wine was greater than the supply, 

 owing probably to the increase of the middle ranks 

 of society. In the year 1635 we find a patent 

 granted to Francis Chamberlayne, for making wine 

 from the dried grapes of Spain and Portugal ; and 

 the patentee set forth that his wines would keep 



X 2 



