Home-made Wine. 129 



tavern, that the price of French wines whole- 

 sale was then about 11 a tun, and the 

 retail price sixteen pence a gallon, and that 

 sack, malmsey, and other sweet sorts were 

 ;8 the butt or pipe, and about two shillings 

 the gallon. 



The culture of the vine and the utilisation 

 of its fruit as well as that of other trees and 

 plants for producing wines, attracted con- 

 siderable attention during the reign of 

 Charles II. 



The principal early authors on this par- 

 ticular branch of the subject are Hughes, 

 Worlidge, and Rose, of whom the last had 

 been gardener to the Duchess of Somerset, 

 and was subsequently taken into employment 

 by the king. He was on friendly terms with 

 Evelyn, and to the third edition of the 

 French Gardener (1675) is annexed his Eng- 

 lish Vineyard, on the separate title of which 

 he is described as " Gardiner to His Majesty 

 at His Royal Garden in St. James's." The 

 essay arose out of a conversation between 

 Rose and Evelyn in the garden at Essex 

 House, and the remarks of the former ap- 



