HUT. 229 



I found, as the trout-fishing was now over, that my soli- 

 tary residence at the Chateau de Baia during winter would 

 be too dull and monotonous even for a person of my retired 

 habits, and determined to accept the offer of the friend I 

 have before alluded to, to hire an apartment for me in the 

 town of Huy. Monsieur M was the fortunate pos- 

 sessor of a small establishment in the town of Huy, which 

 was the very beau ideal of neatness and comfort. He was a 

 tanner, a wine merchant, a small landed proprietor; had a 

 wife who loved neatness and cleanliness even better than him- 

 self; and, above all, he was owner of a chasse, and a sports- 

 man, or at least what was here considered one. Although, 

 not very tall, perhaps about five feet four inches in height, 

 he was of exceedingly round proportions, and weighed 

 eighteen stone, and his great round face beamed with good 

 living, good nature, and every scarlet hue natural and 

 unnatural. 



It was in his company, and from his " cave," that I first 

 learnt to appreciate les vins de Burgogne, and never did poet 

 or philosopher expatiate on their favourite themes with more 

 expressive language or apposite illustration than did my 



friend M on this subject, over a bottle of his own 



JRomane*e His favourite supper, and the one he con- 

 sidered as the best suited to his beloved beverage, was a 

 dish of grives (or large thrush, frequenting the vineyard), 

 roasted with a sauce of juniper berries. He would then 

 produce an antique flask, reposing in a wicker cradle, 

 and two very thin but capacious verres de mousselinc. The 

 small and nearly decayed cork was extracted by a solemn 

 process, unattended with the slightest noise or movement; 

 the glasses filled in an equally quiet manner, the bowl of his 

 own being instantly grasped and enclosed in his two broad 

 palms, to restore, as he said, the warmth and genial flavour 

 that had so long remained dormant in the cold cellar; and 



