rOr.T AND CLARET. 119 



port — Heaven forgive tlie thought! — I am too good a 

 patriot for that, knowing as I do that to port we owe our 

 glorious constitution, our liberties as Britons, and everv- 

 tliing else ; bnt I say that port and claret are by nature 

 wedded together, one setting off and displaying the virtues 

 of the other. What introduces cool and fragrant claret 

 like old port ? and what exhibits the generosity and force 

 of the latter so well as the delicate sensibility of the 

 former? What nature, therefore, hath joined together, let 

 not man put asunder. As to the revenue, it would be 

 with wine as with all other articles of ordinary consump- 

 tion: a reduction of price naturally would increase the 

 demand, and, as in coffee, sugar, and all the rest, the 

 revenue and the consumer would rejoice together. Talking 

 of port reminds me of French port, i. e. port in France. 

 It is a fact that a Frenchman has no relish for nor at- 

 traction towards port. He does not understand it, has no 

 sympathy with it. He drinks it, and calls it " bicn bon;" 

 but so he would, from politeness, call a glass of Warren's 

 blacking. See him handle the bottle, too ; no feeling for 

 its infirmities, with a recollection of its having grown old 

 and crusty, and that it should therefore not be needlessly 

 agitated; no treating it tenderly "as though you loved it:" 

 but seizing it cruelly, shaking it rudely, and replacing it 

 with a shock enough to make the worthy creature fly in 

 your face. You would think they take it under the pre- 

 scription " when taken to be well shaken." In fact they 

 drink it, and that is all ; it descends the gullet, dies, and 

 makes no sign. Taste is superfluous ; they know nothing of 

 it but the name, and consequently they are grievously im- 



H 4 



