685 
W I 
But we have practical evidence of the tendency of another 
Favourite quackery of the old Greeks. They were fond of 
largely impregnating their wines with rosin:—the preserva¬ 
tion of which practice has had the effect of making many of 
the modern Greek wines absolutely undrinkable, by any but 
the natives. It was not unusual to sprinkle a quantity of 
powdered rosin or pitch on the must during the first fermen¬ 
tation ; and after this was completed, to infuse the flowers of 
the vine, cypress leaves, bruised myrtle-berries, the shavings 
of cedar and southernwood, bitter almonds, and numberless 
other articles of an aromatic nature. But a more common 
mode of proceeding seems to have been to mix all these in¬ 
gredients, in the first instance, with defrutum or inspissated 
must, to boil the whole to a thick consistence, and then to 
add the confection to the new wine. It is almost in¬ 
credible in what quantities (according to Columella) this 
vile admixture of rosin and pitch (or liquid tar) was used. 
Of the aromatic substances, however, which we have enu¬ 
merated, some are still used with advantage in the perfuming 
of wines. 
At first sight, indeed, it seems difficult to explain, on any 
principles consistent with a fine taste, how a predilection 
should come to be entertained for wines to which a quantity 
of sea-water had been added, or which were highly impreg¬ 
nated with pitch, rosin, turpentine, and a multitude of pow¬ 
erful aromatic ingredients; nor can we well imagine, that 
their strong wines, even when mellowed by age, could be 
rendered very exquisite by being exposed in smoky garrets, 
until reduced to a syrup, and rendered so muddy and thick, 
that it was necesary to strain them through a cloth in order to 
free them from impurities, or to scrape them from the sides 
of the vessels, and dissolve them in hot water, before they 
were fit to be drunk. But, when we consider the effects of 
habit, which soon reconciles the palate to the most offensive 
substances, and the influence of fashion and luxury, which 
leads us to prefer every thing that is rare and costly, to arti¬ 
cles of more intrinsic excellence and moderate price, we may 
readily conceive, that the Greeks and Romans might have 
excused their fondness for pitched and pickled wines, on the 
same plea by which we justify our attachment to tea, coffee, 
and tobacco. It was long ago observed by Plutarch, that 
certain dishes and liquors, which at first appeared intole¬ 
rable, came, in the course of time, to be reckoned the most 
agreeable; and surely the charge of indulging a perverted 
taste in wine, would proceed with an ill grace from the people 
of this country, where a notorious partiality exists in favour of 
a liquor, of which the harshness, bitterness, acidity, and other 
repulsive qualities, are only disguised by a large admixture of 
ardent spirit, but which long use has rendered so palatable 
to its admirers, that they fancy it the best of all possible 
wines. 
We may suppose the sweet wines of the Greeks (the pro¬ 
duce of the various islands in the Egean and Ionian seas) to 
have been principally of the luscious kind, like the modern 
Cyprus and Constantia; while, however, several of the dry 
wines, such as the Pramnian and Corinthian, were certainly 
distinguished by an extraordinary degree of roughness and 
astringency, and only became drinkable after they had been 
kept a great number of years. 
Of the principal Roman wines, the names, at least, are fa¬ 
miliar with every reader. The Campania Felix boasted the 
most celebrated growths; and, however minute questions of 
locality may be determined, the Falernian, Massican, Csecu- 
ban, Setine, and Surrentine wines, were all the produce of 
that beauteous region. The three first of these have been 
immortalized by Horace, who has expatiated on their gene¬ 
rous qualities with the fervour of an ainateur. 'Fl' lere seems 
reason for concluding that they were all strong durable 
wines, apt to affect the head; the popt, therefore, was no 
flincher, in such combats at least. The Csecuban is de¬ 
scribed by Galen as a generous wine, rip.enirig only after a 
long term of years. The Massican closel y resembled the Fa¬ 
lernian, if indeed it were not a kind of the same stock. Of 
“ mighty Falernian” itself, little more is known than that it 
Vol. XXIV, No. 1665. 
N E. 
was highly prized, was kept for twenty, thirty, or even forty 
years, and was naturally so strong and rough, that it could 
only be drunk when thus mellowed by age. The Setine was 
a light delicate wine; the favourite (according to Pliny) of 
Augustus, who gave the preference to it as being of all kinds 
the least apt to injure the stomach. This wine, though not 
mentioned by Horace, is celebrated both by Martial and Ju¬ 
venal. These are the only wines of ancient Italy which de¬ 
serve to be remembered ; unless the poetic eulogies of Horace 
and Juvenal be thought of weight enough to rescue the Al- 
banum from the degradation which Pliny has assigned to it 
among third rate wines. 
Among our present wines, we have no hesitation in fixing 
upon those of Xeres and Madeira as the two to which the Fa¬ 
lernian offers the most distinct features of resemblance. Both 
are straw-coloured wines, assuming a deeper tint from age, 
or from particular circumstances in the quality, or manage¬ 
ment of the vintage. Both of them present the several va¬ 
rieties of dry, sweet, and light. Both of them are exceed¬ 
ingly strong and durable wines; being, when new, very 
rough, harsh, and fiery, and requiring to be kept about the 
same length of time as the Falernian, before they attain a due 
degree of mellowness. Of the two, however, the more pal¬ 
pable dryness and bitter-sweet flavour of the Sherry might 
incline us to decide, that it approached most nearly to the 
wine under consideration : and it is worthy of remark, that 
the same difference in the produce of the fermentation is ob¬ 
servable in the Xeres vintages, as that which Galen has no¬ 
ticed with respect to the Falernian : it being impossible 
always to predict, with certainty, whether the result will be a 
dry wine, or a sweetish wine, resembling Paxarete. But, on 
the other hand, the soil of Madeira is more analogous to that 
of the Campagna Felice, and thence we may conclude, that 
the flavour and aroma of its wines are similar. Sicily, which 
is also a volcanic country, supplies seyeral growths, which 
an inexperienced judge would very readily mistake for those 
of the former island, and which would, in all probability, 
come still nearer to them in quality, if more pains were be¬ 
stowed on the manufacture. Another point of coincidence 
is deserving notice. Both Xeres and Madeira are, as is well 
known, infinitely improved by being transported to a hot 
climate ; and latterly it has become a common practice, 
among the dealers in the island, to force the Madeira wines 
by a process which is absolutely identical with the operation 
of the fumarium. It may, perhaps, be objected, that the in¬ 
fluence of heat and age upon these liquors, far from producing 
any disagreeable bitterness, only renders them sweeter and 
milder, however long they may be kept; but, then, in con¬ 
trasting them with the superannuated wines of the Romans, 
we must make allowance for the previous preparations, 
and the effect of the different sort of vessels in which 
they are preserved. If Madeira or Sherry, but particularly 
the latter, were kept in earthen jars until it was reduced 
to the consistence of honey, there can be little doubt, 
that the taste would become so intensely bitter, that, to use 
the expression of Cicero, we should condemn it as into¬ 
lerable. 
“ Of spiced wines,” says Le Grand in his Vie privee des 
Frangois, “ our poets of the thirteenth century never speak 
without rapture, and as an exquisite luxury. They consider¬ 
ed it the master-piece of art to be able to combine in one 
liquor the strength and flavour of wine, with the sweetness 
of honey and the perfume of the most costly aromatics. A 
banquet at which no piment was served would have been 
thought wanting in the most essential article. It was even 
allowed to the rponks in the monasteries on particular days 
of the year. But it was so voluptuous a beverage, and was 
deemed so unsuitable to the members of a profession which 
had forsworn all the pleasures of life, that the council of 
Aix-la-Chapelle (A. D. 817.) forbade the use of it to the re¬ 
gular clergy except on days of solemn festivals.” 
But the wines most in repute in the fourteenth century 
may be learnt from an enumeration in the metrical romance 
of the Squire of Low Degree. 
t 7 K ‘Ye 
