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it is described as one of the pleasant pursuits of our 
first parents to lead 
- “ the vine 
To wed her elm.” 
We also learn from the same authority, that in that 
garden of bliss, there were 
-“ Umbrageous grots, and caves 
Of cool recess, o’er which the mantling vine 
Laid forth her purple grape, and gently crept 
Luxuriant.” 
The next poetical intimation we have of its culture 
is from Homer : — 
“ Here order’d vines in equal ranks appear, 
With all th' united labours of the year; 
Some to unload the fertile branches run, 
Some dry the blackening clusters in the sun, 
Others to tread the liquid harvest join, — 
The groaning presses foam with floods of wine; 
Here are the vines in early flower descried, 
Here grapes discolour’d on the sunny side, 
And there in Autumn’s richest purple dyed." 
Fiction, however, apart, the cultivation of the vine 
was certainly a matter of great moment in the East. 
