ANCIENT VINEYARDS, 17 



engaging in the principal management with his vignerons. The 

 palace of the Louvre, as well as the other royal residences, has 

 had a collection of vines attached to it since early in the twelfth 

 century, and in the year 1160, Louis the younger assigned 

 annually from its produce six hogsheads of wine to the cure 

 of St. Nicholas. 



Philip Augustus, in the year 1200, possessed numerous vine- 

 yards at Bourges, Soissons, Orleans, and various other dis- 

 tricts of country, and the royal vineyard of Coucy, formed of 

 vines obtained direct from Greece, is often mentioned in history. 

 In fact, so numerous did the variety of wines become about 

 this period, that among the fables of the thirteenth century, 

 there is one composed in the reign of this sovereign, entitled 

 the " Battle of the Wines," in which are enumerated the very 

 great number of French wines then held in high repute, and 

 those who feel a great interest on this point, would doubtless 

 be gratified by referring to it. 



Since the year 1200, a century has not passed away without 

 augmenting the number of districts and of vineyards worthy 

 of note, and adding to the list of wines which merit our 

 approbation. Others have in like manner declined and lost 

 the esteem they once possessed. The vineyard of Mantes, 

 once counted among the most distinguished, has long since 

 lost its reputation from inattention to maintaining it. 



Deschamps announces that even in his time, the wines of 

 Burgundy and of Champagne were rivals in renown. The 

 plantations of the vine in the environs of Paris, existed at a 

 very remote period, as the emperor Julien lauded the wines 

 they yielded, but the reputation they possessed for several 

 centuries no longer exists. The primary cause of this change 

 is attributed to the vast increase of the population of Paris for 

 the last century. The great number of artisans and workmen, 

 who centered in that city, in consequence of the wants of the 

 opulent inhabitants, caused the hotels, taverns, and pleasure 

 gardens, to be greatly increased. These places of resort, 

 being constantly filled by consumers, in no wise particular in 

 their taste, they created a permanent market, and constant 



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