NIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 199 



and not wanting in aroma, or what the French call " bouquet." What the 

 original colour of Syracuse wine may be, I know not, but this resembled 

 sherry, with somewhat of a brown hue. Mr. Cyrus Redding, in his history 

 and description of modern wines, says, the wines of Sicily are good and 

 strono-. Of what strength must this have been when it first came from 

 the vat? In the time of the elder Pliny, we are told there was wine 

 selling at four pounds, of our money, per ounce, by reason of its havinj^ 

 been made during the consulship of Opimus, and consequently a century 

 older than that of the Laird of Mellerstain ! This however must have 

 been of a rare quality, for it was Pliny's opinion that, speaking generally, 

 wine was not fit to drink after its twentieth year. " Non alia res majus 

 incrementum sentit ad vigesimum annum, majusque ab eo dispendium." 



There is no more exhilirating sight than a large and affluent family 

 livino- too-ether in a state of unreserved unity and affection. No wonder 

 it has been styled the ''precious ointment," which brightens every thing by 

 its presence, or "the dew of Hermon," which refreshes as it falls, for 

 its price is not known until it is lost, and then it is often looked for again in 

 vain. This agreeable picture is to be seen in the family of which I am 

 now speaking, and in colours of the brightest hue. It is true nature has 

 fixed the limits of youth, beauty, and vigour ; but, thank heaven, she has 

 not set bounds either to the cheerfulness of the spirits, or to the gaiety 

 of the heart ; and a merrier party was never assembled than that of 

 which I had the pleasure on this day to form one within the walls of 

 Mellerstain. It was not " song on song deceived the night," but story 

 after story, anecdote after anecdote, of hounds, horses, men, and women, 

 until another scene was to open to our view— the drawing room, where 

 for the first time, I saw the dancing of the Highland reel, to its own 

 proper music, and in its own proper form. No sooner was coffee over, 



