THE APPLE. 229 



Traverse the extremes! world ? Why tempt the rage 



Of the rough ocean, when our native glebe 



Imparts from bounteous womb annual recruits 



Of wine delectable, that far surmounts 



Gallic or Latin grapes, or those that see 



The setting sun near Calpe's towering height ?" 



We have at length learnt that the truest way to 

 advance the prosperity of nations, is by exchanging 

 the best . natural products of one country for those 

 of another. If we are to drink the cider of Here- 

 ford, in preference to the claret of Bordeaux, for the 

 sole reason that we grow it, the same principle, ap- 

 plied to ourselves by other nations, would cut us off 

 from the greater part of that commerce with the whole 

 world which constitutes our peculiar superiority. The 

 interest of each individual, and of each country, is 

 best consulted by the facilities with which each can 

 secure a share of the natural advantages and the 

 mechanical skill that belong to the rest. The 

 advice of the well-meaning poet of cider, if acted 

 upon by individuals as well as nations, (and if it be 

 applicable to the one it must be applicable to the 

 other,) would destroy society altogether, by making 

 self the means as well as the end in everything. The 

 freedom of commercial intercourse has no tendency 

 to the repression of internal improvement, but has a 

 contrary effect. The finest cider and perry of Here- 

 fordshire is brought for exportation to the East and 

 West Indies and to America; and this foreign de- 

 mand for the better sorts keeps up an attention in 

 the cultivators which domestic consumption alone 

 could perhaps not induce. 



The Cider counties of England have always been 

 considered as highly interesting. They lie some- 

 thing in the form of a horseshoe round the Bristol 

 channel; and the best are, Worcester and Hereford, 



VOL. II. 2* 



