NATURAL HISTORY of NORWAY. 267 



that people of fome fortune muft live there. The milk of our 

 cattle is very good and rich ; and as for all forts of wines, fpices, 

 &c. greater quantities of thefe are imported than there is occafion 

 for, or good oeconomy requires, of which I could fay a great 

 deal, if my intention were to moralife in a natural hiftory. Be 

 this as it will, moll of our merchants live in a more elegant man- 

 ner than the noblefie in other countries. All kinds of wines 

 (which I mention as a proof of this) are fo common in Norway, 

 that it may be queftioned whether there is not more confumed 

 here in private families than even in the wine-countries. This 

 makes it appear the more extraordinary, that pope Innocent VIII. 

 in the year 1490, difpenfed with the Norwegian Church from 

 uiing wine in the facrament, and allowed them to ufe mead in- 

 ftead of it. It was pretended that wine would not keep, but 

 turned four and was ipoiled by the fevere froft, though, in all 

 probability, it was then not colder than at this prefent time, and 

 we can preferve wine here now, as well as in any climate. This 

 remarkable fact is denied by Bzovius in contin. annalium, N° 39, 

 p. 329, but on this flight foundation, that the pope (which is 

 very true) had not power to grant fuch a difpenfation. " Fal- 

 fiim eft, eum aliquod tale difpenfaffe, cum fummus pontifex ali- 

 quid circa integritatem facrificii immutare non poffit." This 

 concluiion drawn, a jure ad factum, might make one doubt 

 whether the priefts in the Roman church do receive the cup alone, 

 and deny it to the reft of the congregation. But we may more 

 fafely depend upon what Volateranus writes on the occafion, in 

 commentar. Urban, lib. viii. where he fays, " Norvegiae Inno- 

 centii VIII. conceflione permiffum, line vino calicem facrificare, 

 quod immenfo frigore vinum in ilia regione importatum accefcat. 

 Cujus rei gratia legatio miffa." See more relating to this in an- 

 nal. ecclef. Dan. torn. ii. lib. vi. cap. i. p. 331. 



The peafant in Norway, as in other places, keeps clofe to the The farmers 

 cuftoms and manner of living of his forefathers ; and as he fol- food * 

 lows them in other things, fo does he likewife in eating and 

 drinking. Upon this account he enjoys, as has been obferved, 

 a conftant feries of health, and lives to a good old-age. Bread, 

 which is the chief fupport of life, is not made of rye, among 

 the peafants, but upon particular occafions, as weddings or enter- 

 tainments, becaufe they fow but little of that grain, as has been 



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