18 AKtJIENT VINEYARIJS. 



demand at all periods. The proprietors of vineyards, being thus 

 assured of an advantageous sale of whatever quantity they could 

 make, without the expense of sending it to a distant market, 

 decided on increasing the quantity even at the sacrifice of the 

 quality. The ease and cheapness with which they could enrich 

 the soil of their vineyards, by procuring manure so cheaply in 

 Paris, powerfully seconded their views. It was only neces- 

 sary further to neglect the culture of those vines whose pro- 

 duce was small, and to increase in their stead, those kinds, 

 however indifferent in quality, that yielded great crops, to 

 annihilate the celebrity these vineyards had before acquired 

 and justly merited. 



The vineyards of Orleans have also failed of possessing at 

 all times the same degree of favour. The decline into which 

 they have fallen, may also be traced to the immense consump- 

 tion, not as wine, but for the purpose of conversion into brandy 

 and vinegar. Under these forms, the produce of the Orleans 

 vineyards is sought after by various nations to such a degree, 

 that doubtless many proprietors deemed it of little interest to 

 strive to maintain the ancient character of the wines. In 

 1666, the king of France presented to the king of England., 

 two hundred hogsheads of wine, consisting of Champagne, 

 Burgundy, and Hermitage, they, without doubt, being deemed 

 the best of that day. 



In the Memoirs of Tully, we find the history of the wine of 

 Arbois, and some amusing anecdotes that rendered them cele- 

 brated. 



I will only further notice one of the largest and most cele- 

 brated wine districts of France, namely that of Bordeaux. The 

 major part of the wines made in this territory, having for 

 centuries continued to be a most important object of export, 

 rather than of home consumption ; it is not very surprising 

 that our writers, as these wines were in general little known, 

 should have omitted to give us more than a partial account of 

 their merits. Ausone, who lived in the fourth century, praised 

 their excellence in many of his writings. Mathieu Paris, also 

 comments upon their value in 1.251 ; and it is proved by thf 



