30 THE VINE AND CIVILISATION. 
then they will be convinced that this narcotic enfeebles the 
mind, and is the most active cause among old people of a num- 
ber of paralytic affections, such as disordered nerves, prema- 
ture weakening of the brain, of the lower members, of the 
bladder, etc.; and with young persons, of lassitude, of indi- 
gence of mind, and an infinity of neuralgias. Let them quickly 
renounce this narcotic, and, in the moderate use of God-given 
wine, they will find the physical and moral health of their 
French fathers. 
‘¢‘As to England, the nobility and upper classes — who are 
chiefly the statesmen and rulers of Britain —are the principal 
consumers of the finest vintages of the Garonne, and to this 
may be reasonably attributed her high position in the rank of 
nations. The middle classes, composing the Commons House 
of Parliament, are heavy consumers of Sherry and Port, the 
products of Spain and Portugal. 
‘*Germany possesses excellent wines; an entire chapter 
would scarcely suffice to examine her political, literary and 
social phenomena connected with the culture of the vine. It 
is in the sphere of the perfume of the vineyards of the banks 
of the Rhine that the German mind shines most brilliantly ; in 
the warm and vinous Hungary lies its loyal and gallant cour- 
age. Vine producing Germany, notwithstanding all that can 
be said to the contrary, is a country of religious and philo- 
sophie liberty — its governments are paternal. Notwithstand- 
ing the reciprocal services that popes and emperors render to 
each other, their powers have always remained distinct. 
‘¢The princes of the holy empire, whose cellars were richly 
provided with the wine of Tokay, of Schiracker and Johannis- 
berg, have always been clearsighted, and have never allowed 
the least confusion to exist in affairs laical and ecclesiastical. 
Ulrich de Hutten said to an emperor of his day: ‘ Believe me, 
