193 



of the cathedral at Ravenna may be seen, 

 which are made of vine-tree planks, some of 

 them twelve feet long and fifteen inches 

 broad. 



At Ecoan, at the Duke of Montmorency's 

 house, is a table of a large dimension, made 

 of vine planks. Pliny states, that vines, in 

 old times, were, on account of their size, 

 ranked among trees. Valerianus Cornelius 

 mentions a vine of one stock that encom- 

 passed and surrounded a good farm-house 

 with the branches. Upon the coast of Bar- 

 bary, vines are now growing of large dimen- 

 sions, some of them being eight or nine feet in 

 circumference ; and in Persia there are some 

 kinds of grapes so large, that a single one is a 

 mouthful. From what we find in Huetius 

 Crete, Chios, and other islands in the Archi- 

 pelago, afford bunches of grapes from ten to 

 forty pounds' weight each. Chios, now Scio, 

 has long been celebrated for its vineyards, and 

 Virgil has immortalized its wines by his pen. 



The ritual feast shall overflow with wine, 



And Chios' richest nectar shall be thine : 



On the warm hearth, in winter's chilling hour, 



We'll sacrifice; at summer, in a bow'r. Warton. 



Pliny mentions a vine, in his time, that 

 was 600 years old ; and Miller states, that 



o 



