APPENDIX.

Previous

THE PRINCIPAL CHAMPAGNE AND OTHER FRENCH SPARKLING WINE BRANDS.

? In this list, whenever a manufacturer has various qualities, the higher qualities are always placed first.
The lowest qualities are omitted altogether.

CHAMPAGNES.
Firms and Wholesale Agents. Brands. Qualities. On side of Corks.
Brands of Ayla and Co.
Extra (Dry) Extra.
AYALA & Co., AY First (Dry) PremiÈre.
Ayala & Co., 59 & 60 Great Tower-street,
London
Runk & Unger, 50 Park-place, New York Second.
BINET FILS & Co., REIMS
Brand of Binet Fils and Co.
Dry Elite Dry Elite.
Rutherford & Browne, 5 Water-lane, London First First quality.
BOLLINGER, J., AY
Brand of J. Bollinger
L. Mentzendorf, 6 Idol-lane, London Very Dry Extra Very Dry Extra quality.
E. & J. Burke, 40 Beaver-street, New York Dry Extra Dry Extra quality.
BRUCH-FOUCHER & Co., MAREUIL
Brand of Bruch-Foucher and Co.
Carte d’Or.
L. Ehrmann, 34 Great Tower-street, London First.
Second.
CLICQUOT-PONSARDIN, VVE., REIMS
Brand of Cliquot-Ponsardin
(WERLE & Co.) Dry England.
Fenwick, Parrot, & Co., 124 Fenchurch-
street, London Rich
Schmidt Bros., New York
DE CAZANOVE, C., AVIZE
Brand of C. De Cazanove
Vin Monarque Extra.
J. R. Hunter & Co., 46 Fenchurch-street, First.
London Second.
DEUTZ & GELDERMANN, AY
Brand of Deutz and Geldermann
Gold Lack (Extra Gold Lack.
Dry and Dry)
J. R. Parkington & Co., Crutched Friars, Cabinet (Extra Dry Cabinet.
London and Dry
DUCHATEL-OHAUS, REIMS
Brand of Duchatel-Ohaus
Carte Blanche (Dry
and Rich).
Woellworth & Co., 70 Mark-lane, London Verzenay (do.).
Sillery (do.).
DUMINY & Co., AY
Brand of Duminy
Fickus, Courtenay, & Co., St. Extra Maison fondÉe en 1814.
Dunstan’s-buildings, St. Dunstan’s-hill,
London
Anthony Oechs, 51 Warren-street, New York First
ERNEST IRROY, REIMS
Brand of Ernest Irroy
Cuddeford & Smith, 66 Mark-lane, Carte d’Or, Dry Carte d’Or, Sec.
London
F. O. de Luze & Co., 18 South William- Carte d’Or Carte d’Or.
street, New York
FARRE, CHARLES, REIMS
Brand of Charles Farre
Hornblower & Co., 50 Mark-lane, London Cabinet (Grand Cabinet Vin)
Gilmor & Gibson, Baltimore (Grand Vin).
Mel & Sons, San Francisco Carte Blanche Carte Blanche.
Hogg, Robinson, & Co., Melbourne Carte Noire Carte Noire.
Brand of Fisse, Thirion, and Co.
Cachet d’Or (Extra Cachet d’Or.
Dry and Medium
FISSE, THIRION, & Co., REIMS Dry)
Carte Blanche (Dry, Carte Blanche.
Stallard & Smith, 25 Philpot-lane, Medium Dry, and
London Rich)
Carte Noire (Dry Carte Noire.
and Medium Dry)
Brand of GÉ-Dufaut and Co.
Vin de RÉserve.
GÉ-DUFAUT & Co., PIERRY Vin de Cabinet.
L. Rosenheim & Sons, 7 Union-court, Bouzy, 1er Cru.
Old Broad-street, London Fleur de Sillery.
Brand of Gustave Gibert
Vin du Roi (Extra
GIBERT, GUSTAVE, REIMS Dry, Dry, or
Cock, Russell, & Co., 23 Rood-lane, London Rich).
Extra (Extra Dry,
Hays & Co., 40 Day-street, New York Dry, or Rich).
GIESLER & Co., AVIZE
Brand of Giesler and Co.
Extra Superior Extra.
F. Giesler & Co., 32 Fenchurch-street, India India.
London First.
Purdy & Nicholas, 43 Beaver-street
New York Second.
HEIDSIECK & Co., REIMS
Brand of Heidsieck and Co.
Dry Monopole.
Theodor Satow & Co., 141 Fenchurch- Monopole (Rich).
street, London Dry Vin Royal.
Schmidt & Peters, 20 Beaver-street, Grand Vin Royal
New York (Rich).
KRUG & Co., REIMS
Brand of Krug and Co.
Carte Blanche Carte Blanche,
Inglis & Cunningham, 60 Mark-lane, England.
London Private CuvÉe Private CuvÉe,
A. Rocherau & Co., New York England.
MAX. SUTAINE & Co., REIMS
Brand of Max Sutaine and Co.
Creaming Sillery
(VEUVE MORELLE & Co.) (Extra Dry).
H. Schultz, 71 Great Tower-st., London Creaming Sillery.
Knoepfel & Co., 60 Liberty-street, Bouzy (Dry).
New York Sparkling Sillery.
Brand of Moet and Chandon
Brut ImpÉrial Imperial, England.
MOËT & CHANDON, EPERNAY Creaming Creaming, „
Simon & Dale, Old Trinity House, 5 Extra Superior Extra Superior, „
Water-lane, London, Agents for Gt. Extra Dry Sillery White Dry, „
Britain and the Colonies White Dry Sillery „ „ , „
Renauld, FranÇois, & Co., 23 Beaver- First England.
street, New York
J. Hope & Co., Montreal Second.
MONTEBELLO, DUC DE, MAREUIL
Brand of Duc de Montebello
John Hopkins & Co., 26 Crutched Friars,
London CuvÉe Extra CuvÉe Extra.
Coyle & Turner, 31 Lower Ormond Quay, Carte Blanche Reserve.
Dublin
MUMM (G. H.) & Co., REIMS
Brand of G. H. Mumm and Co.
W. J. & T. Welch, 10 Corn Exchange Vin Brut Extra.
Chambers, Seething-lane, London Carte Blanche Carte Blanche.
F. de Bary & Co., 41 Warren-street, Extra Dry Extra Dry.
New York Extra Extra Quality.
MUMM, JULES, & Co., REIMS
Brand of Jules Mumm and Co.
Extra Dry.
J. Mumm & Co., 3 Mark-lane, London Dry.
PÉRINET & FILS, REIMS
Brand of PÉrinet and Fils
J. Barnett & Son, 36 Mark-lane, London CuvÉe RÉservÉe CuvÉe RÉservÉe.
Wood, Pollard, & Co., Boston, U.S. (Extra Dry)
Hooper & Donaldson, San Francisco White Dry Sillery White Dry Sillery.
PERRIER-JOUËT & Co., EPERNAY
Brand of Perrier-Jouet and Co.
CuvÉe de RÉserve Extra.
A. Boursot & Co., 9 Hart-st., Crutched Pale Dry Creaming.
Friars, London First.
Brand of Pfungst FrÈres and Cie.
Carte d’Or (Dry, Carte d’Or.
Extra Dry, & Brut)
Sillery CrÊmant Sillery CrÊmant.
PFUNGST FRÈRES & Cie., AY, (Extra Dry and
EPERNAY Brut)
J. L. Pfungst & Co., 23 Crutched Carte Noire (Dry, Carte Noire.
Friars, London Extra Dry, and
Brut)
Cordon Blanc (Full, Cordon Blanc.
Dry, & Extra Dry)
PIPER (H.) & Co., REIMS
Brand of H. Piper and Co.
TrÈs-Sec (Extra Kunkelmann & Co.
(KUNKELMANN & Co.) Dry)
Newton & RiviÈre, 33 Great Tower- Sec (Very Dry) „ „
street, London Carte Blanche „ „
John Osborn, Son, & Co., New York (Rich)
POL ROGER & Co., EPERNAY
Brand of Pol Roger and Co.
Reuss, Lauteren & Co., 39 Crutched Vin RÉservÉ.
Friars, London
POMMERY, VEUVE, REIMS
Brand of Veuve Pommery
Extra Sec (Vin Veuve Pommery.
(POMMERY & GRENO) Brut)
A. Hubinet, 24 Mark-lane, London
Charles Graef, 65 Broad-street, Sec.
New York
ROEDERER, LOUIS, REIMS
Brand of Louis Roederer
Reims, Carte
Grainger & Son, 108 Fenchurch-street, Carte Blanche Blanche, Gt.
London Britain.
Brand of ThÉophile Roederer and Co.
Crystal Champagne, Special CuvÉe.
ROEDERER, THÉOPHILE, & Co. Special CuvÉe
(Maison fondÉe en 1864), REIMS Extra Reserve CuvÉe Reserve CuvÉe.
J. Ashburner, Biart, & Co., 150 Carte Blanche, Ex. Carte Blanche.
Fenchurch-street, London Carte Noire, First Carte Noire.
Verzenay Verzenay.
Brand of Roper FrÈres and Co.
Vin Brut, or Natural Vin Brut.
Champagne
ROPER FRÈRES & Co., RILLY-LA First (Extra Dry) Extra Dry.
MONTAGNE Do. (Medium Dry) Medium Dry.
24 Crutched Friars, London Second.
CrÊme de Bouzy.
Brand of PÈre et Fils Ruinart
Carte Anglaise.
RUINART, PÈRE ET FILS, REIMS Dry Pale CrÊmant.
Ruinart, PÈre et Fils, 22 St. Swithin’s- Ex. Dry Sparkling.
lane, London Carte Blanche, First.
Brand of De Saint-Marceaux and Co.
Vin Brut Vin Brut.
Carte d’Or (Extra Very Dry.
Dry)
DE SAINT-MARCEAUX & Co., REIMS Bouzy Nonpareil Vin Sec.
(C. ARNOULD & HEIDELBERGER) (Dry)
Carte Blanche
Groves & Co., 5 Mark-lane, London (Medium)
Hermann BÄtjer & Bro., New York For America only.
Dry Royal Dry.
Extra Dry Extra Dry.
Second (Medium)
SAUMUR AND SAUTERNES.
Firms and Wholesale Agents. Brands. Qualities. On side of Corks.
ACKERMAN-LAURANCE, ST. FLORENT,
Brand of Ackermann-Laurance
SAUMUR Carte d’Or Carte d’Or.
J. N. Bishop, 41 Crutched Friars, London Carte Rose Carte Rose.
D. McDougall jun. & Co., St. George’s- Carte Bleue Carte Bleue.
place, Glasgow Carte Noire Carte Noire.
Brand of Louis Duvau
Carte d’Or, Ex. Sup.
DUVAU, LOUIS, AÎNÉ, CHÂTEAU DE Carte d’Argent, Ex.
VARRAINS, SAUMUR Carte Blanche, Sup.
Jolivet & Canney, 3 Idol-lane, London Carte Rose, Ord.
Brand of Jules Lorrain
Carte d’Or.
LORRAIN, JULES, CHÂTEAU DE LA Carte Blanche.
CÔTE, VARRAINS, near SAUMUR Carte Rose.
J. Lorrain, 73 Tower-st., London Carte Bleue.
ROUSTEAUX, A., ST. FLORENT, SAUMUR
Brand of A. Rousteaux
Cock, Russell, & Co., 63 Great Tower- Extra.
street, London
I. H. Smith’s Sons, Peck Slip, First.
New York
NORMANDIN (E.) & Co., CHÂTEAU-
Brand of E. Normandin and Co.
NEUF-SUR-CHARENTE Sparkling Sauternes
P. A. Maignen, 22 Great Tower-street, (Extra Dry and
London Dry).
BURGUNDIES.
Firms and Wholesale Agents. Brands. Qualities. On side of Corks.
ANDRÉ & VOILLOT, BEAUNE
Brand of AndrÉ and Voillot
RomanÉe (White).
Cock, Russell & Co., 63 Great Tower- Nuits (do.).
street, London Volnay (do.).
P. W. Engs & Sons, 131 Front-street, Saint PÉray.
New York Pink and Red Wines.
Brand of Louis Latour
RomanÉe (White).
Nuits (White and
LATOUR, LOUIS, BEAUNE Red).
Reuss, Lauteren, & Co., 39 Crutched Volnay (do.).
Friars, London Saint-PÉray (White).
Chambertin (Red).
Brand of Comte Liger-Belair
Carte d’Or (White).
LIGER-BELAIR, COMTE, NUITS & Carte Verte (do.).
VÔSNE Carte Noire (Red
Fenwick, Parrot, & Co., 124 Fenchurch- and White).
street, London Carte Blanche (Red).

MOËT AND CHANDON’S

BRUT IMPÉRIAL

DRY CHAMPAGNE.

FACSIMILE OF LABEL.

Facsimile of Moet and Chandon Label

BRAND ON CORK.

Brand on Cork of Moet and Chandon

ALSO EXTRA SUPERIOR

WHITE DRY SILLERY

AND

FIRST QUALITY CHAMPAGNES.


CHAMPAGNE.


PÉRINET & FILS,

REIMS.

Cave at PÉrinet and Fils

Sectional View of a portion of the Caves in the Rue St. Hilaire.


DEUTZ & GELDERMANN’S

‘GOLD LACK.’


MORNING POST.

‘A Wine for Princes and Senators. The district of Ay has become probably the most celebrated in the ancient province of Champagne for its grapes, and among the noted brands of that famed region not one has gained a greater popularity in this country than that of Deutz & Geldermann. The Wine of this well-known firm is invariably met with on every important occasion; and it is noticed that Deutz & Geldermann’s “Gold Lack” was specially selected for the banquet given by the Royal Naval Club at Portsmouth to H.R.H. the Prince of Wales; and some proof of its excellence may be gathered from the fact that this brand was drunk on a former visit of the Prince to the club two years since. Deutz & Geldermann’s “Gold Lack” was one of the Champagnes supplied at the late Ministerial Whitebait Dinner at the Trafalgar.’

WORLD.

‘Deutz & Geldermann’s “Gold Lack” is now being preferred by many connoisseurs, and we can bear testimony to its excellence of quality.’


Deutz & Geldermann’s ‘Gold Lack’ Champagne is shipped Brut, Extra Dry, and Medium Dry; and may be obtained of all Wine Merchants.


WHOLESALE AGENTS:

J. R. PARKINGTON & Co.

24 CRUTCHED FRIARS, LONDON, E.C.


CHAMPAGNE.

DEUX MÉDAILLES D’OR.

Label Pro Fide Fides

CHES. DE CAZANOVE,

AVIZE (CHAMPAGNE).


VIN MONARQUE.

Facsimiles
of
Medallion

Facsimile of Medallion

And Label
of
Extra Quality.

De Cazanove, Second Label

CHES. DE CAZANOVE

AVIZE, (Champagne.)

Wholesale Agents for the United Kingdom, J. R. Hunter & Co., 46 Fenchurch Street, London.


ROPER FRÈRES & CO.’S

CHAMPAGNE.


First Quality, Extra Dry . . . . . . . . at 48/-
First Quality, Medium Dry . . . . . . . . at 48/-

For Luncheons and Wedding Breakfasts, Regimental
Messes and Ball Suppers.


MORNING POST.

‘The great feature of all entertainments, public banquets, &c., is Champagne; but the high prices of really good wine naturally deter many a householder of moderate means from indulging in this luxury. ROPER FRÈRES & Co. are shipping a first quality Champagne at 48s. per dozen. At this price, it cannot be denied that the acme of cheapness is arrived at.’


SPECIAL NOTICE.

All Wine Merchants can, if requested, supply ROPER FRÈRES & Co.’s CHAMPAGNE at the above Prices; and the Public are therefore cautioned not to allow other Brands at similar prices to be substituted.


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FOOTNOTES:

[1] Diodorus.

[2] Idem.

[3] Max Sutaine’s Essai sur le Vin de Champagne.

[4] This arch is said to have been called after the God of War from the circumstance of a temple dedicated to Mars being in the immediate neighbourhood. The sculptures still remaining under the arcades have reference to the months of the year, to Romulus and Remus, and to Jupiter and Leda. Reims formerly abounded with monuments of the Roman domination. According to M. Brunette, an architect of the city, who made its Roman remains his especial study, a vast and magnificent palace formerly stood nigh the spot now known as the Trois Piliers; while on the right of the road leading to the town were the arenas, together with a temple, among the ruins of which various sculptures, vases, and medals were found, and almost immediately opposite, on the site of the present cemetery, an immense theatre, circus, and xystos for athletic exercises. Then came a vast circular space, in the centre of which arose a grand triumphal arch giving entrance into the city. The road led straight to the Forum,—the Place des MarchÉs of to-day,—and along it were a basilica, a market, and an exedra, now replaced by the HÔtel de Ville. The Forum, bordered by monumental buildings, was of gigantic proportions, extending on the one side from half way down the Rue Colbert to the Place Royale, and on the other from near the MarchÉ À la Laine, parallel with the Rue de Vesle, up to the middle of the Rue des Elus, where it terminated in a vast amphitheatre used for public competitions.

Other buildings of less importance were situated here and there: the thermÆ along the Rue du CloÎtre; a palace or a temple on the site of the archiepiscopal palace; another temple at the extremity of the Rue Vauthier le Noir, in the ruins of which a bas-relief and some small antique statues were discovered; a third temple in the Rue du Couchant, in which a votive altar was found. Four triumphal arches were erected at the four gates of the town: one dedicated to Mars; another to Ceres, on the same site as the gate of to-day; a third to Bacchus, in the present Rue de l’UniversitÉ, in front of the LycÉe; and the fourth to Venus, in the Rue de Vesle. Outside the walls, following the Rue du BarbÂtre, the road was dotted with numerous graves according to the Roman custom; while on the site of the church of St. Remi there arose a temple and a palace, and on that of St. Nicaise a vast edifice which M. Brunette supposed to be the palace of the Consul Jovinus.

[5] Henderson’s History of Ancient and Modern Wines.

[6] Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

[7] Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

[8] According to this document, published in Marlot’s Histoire de Reims, he leaves to Bishop Lupus the vineyard cultivated by the vine-dresser Enias; to his nephew Agricola, the vineyard planted by Mellaricus at Laon, and also the one cultivated by Bebrimodus; to his nephew Agathimerus, a vineyard he had himself planted at VindonisÆ, and kept up by the labour of his own episcopal hands; to Hilaire the deaconess, the vines adjoining her own vineyard, cultivated by Catusio, and also those at Talpusciaco; and to the priests and deacons of Reims, his vineyard in the suburbs of that city, and the vine-dresser Melanius who cultivated it. The will is also noteworthy for its mention of a locality destined to attain a high celebrity in connection with the wine of Champagne, namely, the town of Sparnacus or Epernay, which a lord named Eulogius, condemned to death for high treason in 499 and saved at the bishop’s intercession, had bestowed upon his benefactor, and which the latter left in turn to the church of Reims. To this church he also left estates in the Vosges and beyond the Rhine, on condition of furnishing pitch every year to the religious houses founded by himself or his predecessors to mend their wine-vessels, a trace of the old Roman custom of pitching vessels used for storing wine.

[9] Marlot’s Histoire de Reims.

[10] Henderson’s History of Ancient and Modern Wines.

[11] Victor Fievet’s Histoire d’Epernay.

[12] Bertin du Rocheret’s MÉlanges.

[13] Varin’s Archives Administratives de Reims.

[14] ‘Bien met l’argent qui en bon vin l’emploie.’ Poems of Colin Musset, 1190 to 1220.

[15] Varin’s Archives Administratives de Reims.

[16] Ibid.

[17] Ibid.

[18] J. Gondry du Jardinet’s AgrÉable Visite aux Grands CrÛs de France.

[19] ‘Chanter me fait bon vin et rejouir.’

[20]

‘Le vin en tonel,
Froit et fort et finandel,
Pour boivre À la grant chaleur.’

[21] Legrand d’Aussy’s Vie PrivÉe des FranÇais.

[22]

‘Espernai dist et Auviler,
Argenteuil, trop veus aviler
TrÈs-tos les vins de ceste table.
Par Dieu, trop t’es fait conestable.
Nous passons Chaalons et Reims,
Nous ostons la goÛte des reins,
Nous estaignons totes les rois.’

[23]

‘Espernai, trop es desloiaus;
Tu n’as droit de parler en cour.’

[24] The ‘vin d’Ausois,’ or ‘vin d’Aussai’ (for it is spelt both ways in the poem), is not, as might be supposed, the wine of Auxois, an ancient district of Burgundy now comprised in the arrondissements of SÉmur (CÔte d’Or) and Avallon (Yonne), and still enjoying a reputation for its viticultural products. MM. J. B. B. de Roquefort and Gigault de la BedolliÈre, in their notes on Henri d’Andelys’ poem, have clearly identified it with the wine of Alsace, that province having been known under the names in question during the Middle Ages. This explains its connection in the present instance with the Moselle.

[25] An incidental proof that the English taste for strong wine was an early one. As late as the close of the sixteenth century the Bordeaux wines are described in the Maison Rustique as ‘thick, black, and strong.’

[26] Probably either Aquila in the Abruzzi, or Aquiliea near Friuli.

[27] The ‘rouage’ was a duty of 2 sous on each cart and 4 sous on each wagon laden with wine purchased by foreign merchants and taken out of the town. It was only one of many dues.

[28] The old livre was about equal to the present franc; the sol was the twentieth part of a livre; and the denier the twelfth part of a sol, or about 1/24 d. English.

[29] Varin’s Archives Administratives de Reims.

[30] The Beaune cost 28 livres the tun of two queues; the St. PourÇain, a wine of the Bourbonnais, very highly esteemed in the Middle Ages, 12 livres the queue; and the wine of the district, white and red, 6 to 10 livres the queue of two poinÇons. A poinÇon, or demi-queue, of Reims was about 48 old English, or 40 imperial, gallons; while the demi-queue of Burgundy was over 45 imperial gallons.

[31] Varin’s Archives Administratives de Reims.

[32] A few examples of the retail price of wine throughout the century at Reims may here be noted. For instance, a judgment of 1303 provided that all tavern-keepers selling wine at a higher rate than six deniers, or about a farthing per lot, the rate fixed by ancient custom, were to pay a fine of twenty-two sous. The lot or pot, for the two terms are indifferently used, was about the third of an old English gallon, four pots making a septier, and thirty-six septiers a poinÇon or demi-queue, equal to about forty-eight gallons. The queue was therefore about ninety-six gallons at Reims, but at Epernay not more than eighty-five gallons. Not only had every district its separate measures,—those of Paris, for instance, differing widely from those of Reims,—but there were actually different measures used in the various lay and ecclesiastical jurisdictions into which Reims was divided.

In the accounts of the Echevinage, wine, chiefly for presents to persons of distinction, makes a continual appearance. In 1335 it is noted that ‘the presents of this year were made in wine at 16 deniers and 20 deniers the pot,’ or about 2 ¼ d. English per gallon. In 1337–8 prices ranged from ¾ d. to 4 ½ d. English per gallon, showing a variety in quality; and in 1345 large quantities were purchased at the first-mentioned rate, five quarts of white wine fetching 2 d. English. In 1352 from a 1 d. to 2 ¼ d. was paid per gallon, and five crowns for two queues. In 1363 the citizens, a hot-headed turbulent lot, who were always squabbling with their spiritual and temporal superior and assailing his officers, when not assaulting each other or pulling their neighbours’ houses down, successfully resisted the pretensions of the archbishop to regulate the price of wine when the cheapest was worth 12 deniers per pot, or 1 ½ d. per gallon. The dispute continued, and in 1367 a royal commission was issued to the bailli of Vermandois, the king’s representative, to inquire into the right of the burghers to sell wine by retail at 16 deniers, as they desired. The report of the bailli was that a queue of old French wine being worth about 20 livres, or 16 s. 8 d., and wine of Beaune and other better and stronger wines being sold in the town at higher rates, French wine might be sold as high as 3 ½ d. English per gallon, and Beaune at 4 ½ d. The great increase in production, and consequent fall in price, is shown by the wine found in Archbishop Richard Pique’s cellar in 1389 being valued, on an average, at only 1 s. 6 d. per queue.

[33] Froissart’s Chronicles.

[34] Idem.

[35] Idem.

[36] What with one kind of assessment being adopted for wine sold wholesale and another for that disposed of by retail, with one class of dues being levied on wine for export and another on that for home consumption, and with the fact of certain duties being in some cases payable by the buyer and in others by the seller, any attempt to summarise this section of the story of the wines of Reims would be impossible. The difficulty is increased when it is remembered that in the Middle Ages Reims was divided into districts, under the separate jurisdictions of the eschevins, the archbishop, the chapter of the cathedral, the Abbeys of St. Remi and St. Nicaise, and the Priory of St. Maurice, in several of which widely varying measures were employed down to the sixteenth century, and between which there were continual squabbles as to the rights of vinage, rouage, tonnieu, &c.

[37] Varin’s Archives Administratives de Reims.

[38] Froissart’s Chronicles.

[39] Baron Taylor’s Reims; la Ville de Sacres.

[40] Amongst the better known are Chamery, where the archbishop had a house, vineyard, and garden, let for 3 s. per annum, about five jours of vineyard and two jours of very good vineland; Mareuil, whence he drew ten hogsheads of wine annually; Rilly, Verzenay, Sillery, Attigny, &c. The jour cost from 5 to 8 livres per annum for cultivation, and the stakes for the vines 4 sols, or 2 d., a hundred.

[41] The chapter of the Cathedral, the church of Notre Dame, the abbeys of St. Remi and St. Nicaise, had vineyards or ‘droits de vin’ at Hermonville, Rounay les Reims, Montigny, Serzy, Villers Aleran, Maineux devant Reims, Mersy, Sapiecourt, Sacy en la Montagne, Flory en la Montagne, Prouilly, Germigny, Saulx, Bremont, Merfaud, Trois Pins, Joucheri sur Vesle, Villers aux Neux, &c.; the last named also possessing a piece of ‘vingne gonesse’ at ‘a place called Mont Valoys in the territory of Reims.’

[42] At his chÂteau at the Porte Mars were forty-four queues of red and white wine, nineteen of new red and white wine, and four of old wine, valued, on an average, at 36 sols or 1 s. 6 d. the queue; at Courville there were fifty queues of new wine (valued at 30 sols the queue), twenty of old wine (worth nothing), and four ‘cuves’ for wine-making; and at Viellarcy, eighteen tuns of new wine, valued at 60 sols or 2 s. 6 d. per tun. To take charge of all these, Jehan le Breton, the defunct prelate’s assistant butler, was retained by the executors for half a year, at the wages of 74 sols or 3 s. 2 d. At the funeral feast there were consumed three queues of the best wine in the cellars, valued at 2 s. 7 ½ d. per queue, three others at 1 s. 3 d., and five pots of Beaune at 1 ? d. English per pot, showing it to have been four times as valuable as native growths.

[43]

‘En Picardie sont li bourdeur,
Et en Champagne li buveur....
Telz n’a vaillant un Angevin
Qui chascun jor viant boire vin.’

[44]

‘Champagne est la forme de tout bien
De blÉ, de vin, de foin, et de litiÈre.’

[45] Mss. de Rogier, Max Sutaine’s Essai sur le Vin de Champagne, &c.

[46] This wine, no doubt, came from a considerable distance round, for we find P. de la Place, a mercer of Reims, seeking in 1409 to recover the value of five queues and two poinÇons ‘of wine from the cru of the town of Espernay, on the river of Esparnay,’ delivered at Reims to J. Crohin of Hainault, the origin of the same being certified by S. de Laval, a sworn wine-broker, ‘who knows and understands the wines of the country around Reims.’

[47] Varin’s Archives Administratives de Reims.

[48] Max Sutaine’s Essai sur le Vin de Champagne.

[49] Varin’s Archives Administratives de Reims. The HÔtel de la Maison Rouge occupies to-day the site of the old hostelry at which the parents of Jeanne Darc were housed.

[50] Varin’s Archives Administratives de Reims.

[51] The cost of the wine thus presented seems to have averaged from 2 ¼ d. to 3 d. per gallon. In 1477 a queue of old wine was valued at no less than 30 s.

[52] The twelve peers of France first appear at the coronation of Philip Augustus. There were six lay peers and six ecclesiastical peers:

Duke of Burgundy.
Normandy.
Guienne or Aquitaine.
Count of Toulouse.
Flanders.
Champagne.

Archbishop Duke of Reims.

Bishop Duke of Laon.
Langres.
Bishop Count of Beauvais.
Chalons.
Noyon.

As the titles of the lay peers grew extinct, and their fiefs lapsed to the crown, it became customary for them to be represented by some great nobles at the coronations of the kings of France.

[53] The following is the full text of this singular sentence. The injunction at the end, respecting the payment of tithes without fraud, shows that even in a matter like this the Church did not lose sight of its own interests.

‘In the name of the Lord, amen. Having seen the prayer or petition on behalf of the inhabitants of Villenauxe, of the diocese of Troyes, made before us, official of Troyes, sitting in judgment upon the bruhecs or Éruches, or other similar animals, which, according to the evidence of persons worthy of belief and as confirmed by public rumour, have ravaged for a certain number of years, and this year also, the fruit of the vines of this locality, to the great loss of those who inhabit it and of the persons of the neighbourhood,—petition that we warn the above-named animals, and that, using the means at the Church’s disposition, we force them to retire from the territory of the said place. Having seen and attentively examined the motives of the prayer or petition above mentioned, and also the answers and allegations furnished in favour of the said Éruches or other animals by the councillors chosen by us for that purpose; having heard also on the whole our promoter, and seeing the particular report, furnished at our command by a notary of the said Court of Troyes, on the damage caused by the said animals amongst the vines of the locality of Villenauxe already named; though it would seem that to such damage one can bring no remedy except through the aid of God; however, taking into consideration the humble, frequent, and pressing complaint of the above-mentioned inhabitants; having regard, especially, to the ardour with which, to efface their past great faults, they lately gave, at our invitation, the edifying spectacle of solemn prayers; considering that, as the mercy of God does not drive away the sinners who return to Him with humility, neither should His Church refuse, to those who run to her, succour or consolation,—We, the official above named, no matter how novel the case may be, yielding to the earnestness of these prayers, following in the footsteps of our predecessors presiding at our tribunal, having God before our eyes and full of belief in His mercy and love, after having taken counsel in the proper quarter, we deliver sentence in the following terms:

‘In the name and in virtue of the omnipotence of God, of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; of the blessed Mary, mother of our Lord Jesus Christ; of the authority of the holy apostles Peter and Paul; and of that with which we ourselves are invested in this affair, we charge by this act the above-named animals—bruches, Éruches, or of any other name by which they may be called—to retire (under penalty of malediction and anathema, within the six days which follow this warning and in accordance with our sentence) from the vines and from the said locality of Villenauxe, and never more to cause, in time to come, any damage, either in this spot or in any other part of the diocese of Troyes; that if, the six days passed, the said animals have not fully obeyed our command, the seventh day, in virtue of the power and authority above mentioned, we pronounce against them by this writing anathema and malediction! Ordering, however, and formally directing the said inhabitants of Villenauxe, no matter of what rank, class, or condition they may be, so as to merit the better from God, all-powerful dispensator of all good and deliverer from all evil, to be released from such a great plague; ordering and directing them to deliver themselves up in concert to good works and pious prayers; to pay, moreover, the tithe without fraud and according to the custom recognised in the locality; and to abstain with care from blaspheming and all other sins, especially from public scandals.—Signed, N. HUPPEROYE, Secretary.’

[54] It has been asserted that the Champagne, and notably the town of Troyes, enjoyed the dubious honour of furnishing fools to the court of France. There is certainly a letter of Charles V. to the notables of Troyes, asking them, ‘according to custom,’ for a fool to replace one named Grand Jehan de Troyes, whom he had had buried in the church of St. Germain l’Auxerrois, and who has been immortalised by Rabelais. But Brusquet was a ProvenÇal; Triboulet, his predecessor, immortalised by Victor Hugo in the ‘Roi s’amuse,’ a native of Blois; Chicot the Jester, the fool of Henry III., and the favourite hero of Dumas, a Gascon; and Guillaume, his successor, a Norman.

[55] The wine of Reims provided at the coronation of Francis II., in 1559, cost from 11 s. 8 d. to 15 s. 10 d. per queue of ninety-six gallons, and the Burgundy 16 s. 8 d. per queue, which, allowing for the cost of transport, would put them about on an equality. At the coronation of Charles IX., in 1561, Reims wine cost from 23 s. 4 d. to 28 s. 4d.; and at that of Henry III., in 1575, from 45 s. to 62 s. 6 d. per queue,—a sufficient proof of the rapidly-increasing estimation in which the wine was held.

[56] Paulmier’s treatise De Vino et Pomaceo (Paris, 1588).

[57] Jehan Pussot’s MÉmorial du Temps.

[58] Ibid. Many details respecting the yield of the vines and vineyards of the Mountain and the River are preserved in this MÉmorial, which extends from 1569 to 1625, and the author of which was a celebrated builder of Reims. During the last thirty years of the century the vines seem to have suffered greatly from frost and wet. Sometimes the wine was so bad that it was sold, as towards the end of 1579, at 5 s. 6 d. the queue; at others it was so scarce that it rose, as at the vintage of 1587, to 126 s. 8 d. the queue. At the vintage of 1579 the grapes froze on the vines, and were carried to the press in sacks. At the commencement of the vintage the new wine fetched from 12 s. to 16 s. the queue, but it turned out so bad that by Christmas it was sold at 5 s. 6 d.

[59] Maison Rustique (1574).

[60] Jehan Pussot’s MÉmorial du Temps.

[61] During the first twenty-five years of the century Pussot shows the new wine to have averaged from about 23 s. to 46 s. the queue, according to quality. In 1600 and 1611 it was as low as 16 s., and in 1604 fetched from merely 12 s. to 32 s. On the other hand, in 1607, it fetched from 57 s. to 95 s., and in 1609 from 79 s. to 95 s.

[62] Feillet’s La MisÈre aux temps de la Fronde.

[63] Dom Guillaume Marlot’s Histoire de Reims.

[64] Pluche’s Spectacle de la Nature.

[65] St. Simon’s MÉmoires.

[66] MÉmoire sur la maniÈre de cultiver la vigne et de faire le vin en Champagne.

[67] Lavardin, Bishop of Le Mans, and himself a great gourmet, was one day at dinner with St. Evremond, and began to rally the latter on the delicacy of himself and his friends the Marquis de Bois Dauphin and the Comte d’Olonne. ‘These gentlemen,’ said the prelate, ‘in seeking refinement in everything carry it to extremes. They can only eat Normandy veal; their partridges must come from Auvergne, and their rabbits from La Roche Guyon, or from Versin; they are not less particular as to fruit; and as to wine, they can only drink that of the good coteaux of Ay, Hautvillers, and Avenay.’ St. Evremond having repeated the story, he, the marquis, and the count were nicknamed ‘the three coteaux.’ Hence Boileau, in one of his satires, describes an epicurean guest as ‘profÈs dans l’ordre des coteaux.’

[68] St. Evremond’s Works (London, 1714).

[69] L’Art de bien traiter ... mis en lumiÈre, par L. S. R. (Paris, 1674).

[70] Brossette’s notes to Boileau’s Works (1716). Bertin du Rocheret, in correcting this error in the Mercure of January 1728, points out that neither the family of Colbert nor that of Le Tellier ever owned a single vinestock of the River, and that their holdings on the Mountain were very insignificant.

[71]

‘Il n’est citÉ que je prÉfÈre À Reims,
C’est l’ornement et l’honneur de la France;
Car sans conter l’ampoule et les bons vins,
Charmants objets y sont en abondance.’ Les RÉmois.

[72]

‘Sur quelle vigne À Reims nous avons hypothÈque;
Vingt muids, rangÉs chez moi, font ma bibliothÈque.’
Le Lutrin, chant iv. 1674.

[73] St. Simon’s MÉmoires.

[74] Ibid.

[75] Ibid.

[76] Max Sutaine’s Essai sur le Vin de Champagne, 1845.

[77] Henderson’s History of Ancient and Modern Wines.

[78] Æneid, i. 738.

[79] Henderson’s History of Ancient and Modern Wines.

[80] Max Sutaine’s Essai sur le Vin de Champagne.

[81]

————‘Petars de Chaalons,
Qui le ventre enfle et les talons.’

[82] Louis Perrier’s MÉmoire sur le Vin de Champagne, 1865.

[83] De Naturali Vinorum HistoriÂ. Rome, 1596.

[84] L’Art de bien traiter, &c.

[85] Maison Rustique, 1574.

[86] Max Sutaine’s Essai sur le Vin de Champagne.

[87] Pluche’s Spectacle de la Nature.

[88] Idem and Maison Rustique, 1582. M. Louis Perrier, in his MÉmoire sur le Vin de Champagne, says that the Ay wines yield but little mousse.

[89] Max Sutaine’s Essai sur le Vin de Champagne.

[90] St. Evremond’s letter to the Comte d’Olonne, already noticed. In another epistle to Lord Galloway, dated 29th August 1701, he observes: ‘As to M. de Puisieux (Roger Brulart, Marquis de Puisieux et de Sillery and Governor of Epernay), in my opinion he acts very wisely in falling in with the bad taste now in fashion as regards Champagne wine, in order the better to sell his own. I could never have thought that the wines of Reims could have been changed into wines of Anjou, from their colour and their harshness (verdeur). There ought to be a harshness (vert) in the wine of Reims, but a harshness with a colour, which turns into a sprightly tartness (sÊve) when it is ripe; ... and it is not to be drunk till the end of July.... The wines of Sillery and RonciÈres used to be kept two years, and they were admirable, but for the first four months they were nothing but verjuice. Let M. de Puisieux make a little barrel (cuve) after the fashion in which it was made forty years ago, before this depravity of taste, and send it to you.’ St. Evremond’s Works, English edition of 1728.

[91] Max Sutaine’s Essai sur le Vin de Champagne.

[92] Dom Guillaume Harlot’s Histoire de Reims.

[93] Ibid.

[94] Henderson’s History of Ancient and Modern Wines.

[95] Letter of Dom Grossart to M. DherbÈs of Ay. The measurement of the arpent varied from an acre to an acre and a half.

[96] Varin’s Archives Administratives de Reims.

[97] Pluche’s Spectacle de la Nature.

[98] Letter of Dom Grossart to M. DherbÈs of Ay.

[99] Ibid.

[100] Ibid.

[101] Bertall’s La Vigne. Paris, 1878.

[102] MÉmoire sur la ManiÈre de cultiver la Vigne et de faire le Vin en Champagne. This work is believed to have been written by Jean Godinot, a canon of Reims, born in 1662. Godinot was at the same time a conscientious Churchman, a skilled viticulturist, and a clever merchant, who enriched himself by disposing of the wine from his vineyards at Bouzy, Taissy, and Verzenay, and distributed his gains amongst the poor. He died in 1747, after publishing an enlarged edition of the MÉmoire in 1722, in which the phrase ‘for the last three years’ becomes ‘the last seven or eight years.’ Godinot’s friend Pluche used the MÉmoire as the basis for the section ‘Wine’ in his Spectacle de la Nature.

[103] Letter of Dom Grossart to M. DherbÈs of Ay.

[104] Ibid.

[105] Louis Perrier’s MÉmoire sur le Vin de Champagne.

[106] Letter of M. le Pescheur, 1706.

[107] Pluche’s Spectacle de la Nature.

[108] In Brossette’s notes to his edition of Boileau’s Works of 1716.

[109] The inscription above given is an exact transcript from the black-marble slab, and any errors in orthography are due either to the original author or to the mason who incised it.

[110] The following account of Dom Perignon and his discoveries is contained in a letter dated 25th October 1821, and addressed from Montier-en-Der, Haute Marne, to M. DherbÈs of Ay, by Dom Grossart, the last procureur of the Abbey of Hautvillers. Dom Grossart, who had fled from France during the troublous times of the Revolution, was at the date of the letter in his seventy-fourth year.

‘You know, sir, that it was the famous Dom Perignon, who was procureur of Hautvillers for forty-seven years, and who died in 1715, who discovered the secret of making sparkling and non-sparkling white wine, and the means of clearing it without being obliged to dÉpoter the bottles, as is done by our great wine-merchants rather twice than once, and by us never. Before his time one only knew how to make straw-coloured or gray wine. In bottling wine, instead of corks of cork-wood, only tow was made use of, and this species of stopper was saturated with oil. It was in the marriage of our wines that their goodness consisted; and this Dom Perignon towards the end of his days became blind. He had instructed in his secret of fining the wines (de coller les vins) a certain Brother Philip, who was for fifty years at the head of the wines of Hautvillers, and who was held in such consideration by M. Le Tellier, Archbishop of Reims, that when this brother went to Reims he made him come and sit at table with him. When the vintage drew near, he (Dom Perignon) said to this brother, “Go and bring me some grapes from the PriÈres, the CÔtes-À-bras, the Barillets, the Quartiers, the Clos Sainte HÉlÈne,” &c. Without being told from which vineyard these grapes came, he mentioned it, and added, “the wine of such a vineyard must be married with that of such another,” and never made a mistake. To this Brother Philip succeeded a Brother AndrÉ Lemaire, who was for nearly forty years at the head of the cellars of Hautvillers, that is to say, until the Revolution.... This brother being very ill, and believing himself on the point of death, confided to me the secret of clarifying the wines, for neither prior nor procureur nor monk ever knew it. I declare to you, sir, that we never did put sugar in our wines; you can attest this when you find yourself in company where it is spoken of.

Monsieur MoËt, who has become one of the gros bonnets of Champagne since 1794, when I used to sell him plenty of little baskets, will not tell you that I put sugar in our wines. I make use of it at present upon some white wines which are vintaged in certain crÛs of our wine district. This may have led to the error.

‘As it costs much to dÉpoter, I am greatly surprised that no wine-merchant has as yet taken steps to learn the secret of clearing the wine without having to dÉpoter the bottles when once the wine has been put into them.’

[111] Louis Perrier’s MÉmoire sur le Vin de Champagne.

[112] MÉmoire of 1718.

[113] Ibid. Pluche, in his Spectacle de la Nature, 1732, also says: ‘If the wine be drawn off towards the end of March, when the sap begins to rise in the vine, it will froth to such a degree as to whiten like milk, to the very bottom of the glass, the moment it is poured out. Wine will sometimes acquire this quality if it be drawn off during the ascent of the sap in August, which makes it evident that the froth is occasioned by the operation of the air and sap, which then act with vigour in the wood of the vine, and likewise in the liquor it produced. This violent ebulition, which is so agreeable to some persons, is thought by connoisseurs to be inconsistent with the goodness of the wine, since the greenest may be made to whiten into a froth, and the most perfect wines seldom discover this quality.’ In an article in the Journal de Verdun of November 1726, the following passage occurs: ‘A wine merchant of Anjou having written some time back to a celebrated magistrate in Champagne, Bertin du Rocheret, begging him to forward the secret of making vin mousseux during the vintage, the magistrate answered, “That vin mousseux was not made during the vintage; that there was no special soil for it; that the Anjou wines were suitable, since poor wine froths as well as the most excellent, frothing being a property of thin poor wine. That to make wine froth, it was necessary to draw it off as clear as could be done from the lees, if it had not been already racked; to bottle it on a fine clear day in January or February, or in March at the latest; three or four months afterwards the wine will be found effervescent, especially if it has some tartness and a little strength. When the wine works (like the vine) your wine will effervesce more than usual; a taste of vintage and of fermentation will be found in it.” The excellent wines of Ay and our good Champagne wines do not froth, or very slightly; they content themselves with sparkling in the glass.’

[114] St. Simon’s MÉmoires.

[115] Ibid.

[116] MÉmoire of 1718.

[117] Ibid.

[118] Antony RÉal’s Ce qu’il y a dans une Bouteille de Vin.

[119] Legrand d’Aussy’s Vie PrivÉe des FranÇais.

[120]

‘LÀ le nombre et l’Éclat de cent verres bien nets
RÉpare par les yeux la disette des mets;
Et la mousse petillante
D’un vin dÉlicat et frais
D’une fortune brillante
Cache À mon souvenir les fragiles attraits.’

[121]

‘Quant À la muse de St. Maur
Que moins de douceur accompagne.
Il lui faut du vin de Champagne
Pour lui faire prendre l’essor.’

[122]

‘Alors, grand’ merveille, sera
De voir flÛter vin de Champagne.’

[123]

‘Sur ce rivage emaillÉ,
OÙ NeuillÉ borde la Seine,
Reviens au vin d’HautvillÉ
MÊler les eaux d’HypocrÈne.’

[124]

‘PhÉbus adonc va se dÉsabuser
De son amour pour la docte fontaine,
Et connoÎtra que pour bon vers puiser
Vin champenois vaut mieux qu’eau d’HippocrÈne.’

[125] The father, Adam Bertin du Rocheret, was born in 1662, and died in 1736; his son, Philippe Valentin, the lieutenant criminel at Epernay, was born in 1693, and died in 1762. Both owned vineyards at Epernay, Ay, and Pierry, and were engaged in the wine-trade, and both left a voluminous mass of correspondence, &c., extracts from which have been given by M. Louis Perrier in his MÉmoire sur le Vin de Champagne. The Marshal was an old customer. At the foot of a letter of his of the 20th December 1705, asking for ‘two quartaux of the most excellent vin de Champagne, and a piÈce of good for ordinary drinking,’ Bertin has written, ‘I will send you, as soon as the river, which is strongly flooded, becomes navigable, the wine you ask for, and you will be pleased with it; but as the best new wine is not of a quality to be drunk in all its goodness by the spring, I should think that fifty flasks of old wine, the most exquisite in the kingdom that I can furnish you with, together with fifty other good ones, will suit you instead of one of the two caques.’

[126] Tocane was a light wine obtained, like the best Tokay, from the juice allowed to drain from grapes slightly trodden, but not pressed. It had a flavour of verdeur, which was regarded as one of its chief merits, and would not keep more than six months. Though at one time very popular, and largely produced in Champagne, it is now no longer made. The wine of Ay enjoyed a high reputation as tocane.

[127] Louis Perrier’s MÉmoire sur le Vin de Champagne.

[128] Letter of Dom Grossart.

[129] Louis Perrier’s MÉmoire sur le Vin de Champagne.

[130] Ample details of the systems of viticulture and wine-making pursued in the Champagne at the commencement of the eighteenth century are to be found in the anonymous MÉmoire published in 1718. These are reproduced to a great extent in the Spectacle de la Nature of Noel Antoine Pluche, a native of Reims, who composed this work (published in 1732) for the benefit of the son of Lord Stafford, to whom he was tutor. The AbbÉ Pluche, after being professor of humanity and rhetoric at the University of Reims, was about to enter into holy orders, but being denounced as an opponent of the Bull Unigenitus, abandoned all ideas of preferment, and devoted himself to private tuition and the composition of his great work, the Spectacle de la Nature. This last is a perfect encyclopÆdia, in the form of a series of dialogues, recalling those in Mrs. Barbauld’s Evenings at Home, the interlocutors being the Count, the Countess, the Chevalier, and the Prior; and the style may be best judged from the following extracts from the contemporary translation of Mr. Samuel Humphries.

In Dialogue XIII. on ‘Vines,’ the Count remarks that, after studying the methods of viticulture followed in different provinces, he ‘could not discover any to be ranked in Competition with those Precautions that have been taken by the Inhabitants of Champaign’ in the production of their wine. By ‘a long Course of Experience’ they had ‘acquired the proper Method of tinging it with the Complexion of a Cherry, or the Eye of a Partridge. They could likewise brighten it into the whitest Hue, or deepen it into a perfect Red.’

In the succeeding Dialogue on ‘Wines,’ the Count states that ‘Vines vary in their Qualities. Some are planted in a very light and strong Soil, and they yield a bright and fragrant Wine; others are placed in a more nourishing Tract of Land, and they produce a Wine of a greater Body. The reasonable Combination of these different Fruits will produce an exquisite Liquor, that will have all the Advantages of a sufficient Body, a Delicacy of Flavour, a Fragrancy of Scent, and a Liveliness of Colour, and which may be Kept for several Years without the least Alteration. It was the Knowledge of those Effects that result from intermixing the Grapes of three or four Vines of different Qualities, which improved the celebrated Wines of Sillery, Ai, and Hautvillers to the Perfection they have now acquired. Father Parignon, a Benedictine of Hautvillers on the Marne, was the first who made any successful Attempt to intermix the Grapes of the different Vines in this manner, and the Wine of Perignon d’Hautvillers bore the greatest Estimation amongst us till the Practise of this Method became more extensive.’

The Count notes that white wines from white grapes being deficient in strength, and apt to grow yellow and degenerate before the next return of summer, had gone out of repute, except for some medicinal prescriptions, whilst ‘the grey Wine, which has so bright an Eye and resembles the Complexion of Crystal, is produced by the blackest Grapes.’ ‘The Wine of a black Grape may be tinged with any Colour we think proper; those who desire to have it perfectly White have recourse to the following Method. The People employed in the Vintage begin their Labours at an early Hour in the Morning; and when they have selected the finest Grapes, they lay them gently in their Baskets, in order to be carried out of the Vineyard; or they place them in large Panniers, without pressing them in the least or wiping off the dewy Moisture or the azure Dye that covers them. Dews and exhaling Mists greatly contribute to the Whiteness of the Wine. ’Tis customary to cover the Baskets with wet Cloths in a hot Sunshine, because the Liquor will be apt to assume a red Tincture if the Grapes should happen to be heated. These Baskets are then placed on the Backs of such Animals as are of a gentle Nature, and carry their Burdens with an easy Motion to the Cellar, where the Grapes continue covered in a cool Air. When the Warmth of the Sun proves moderate, the Labours of the Vintage are not discontinued till Eleven in the Morning; but a glowing Heat makes it necessary for them to cease at Nine.’

Yet even these precautions were liable to fail, since ‘the Heat of the Sun and the Shocks of the Carriages are sometimes so violent, and produce such strong Effects upon the exterior Coat of the Grapes, that the Fluids contained in that Coat, and which are then in Motion, mix themselves with the Juice of the Pulp at the first Pressing; in consequence of which, the Extraction of a Wine perfectly white is rendered impracticable, and its Colour will resemble the Eye of a Partridge, or perhaps some deeper Hue. The Quality of the Wine is still the same; but it must be either entirely White or Red, in order to prove agreeable to the Taste and Mode which now prevail.’

The Count describes the two pressings and five cuttings, the latter term derived from the squaring of the mass of grapes with the cutting peel, and the system of ‘glewing’ this wine, ‘the weight of an ecu d’or’ of ‘Fish Glew, which the Dutch import amongst us from Archangel,’ being added to each piÈce, with the addition sometimes of a pint of spirits of wine or brandy. He then explains the method practised of drawing off the wine without disturbing the barrels, by the aid of a tube and a gigantic pair of bellows. The vessels were connected by the former, and the wine then driven from one to the other by the pressure of air pumped in by means of the latter. A sulphur-match was burnt in the empty vessels, so that it might ‘receive a Steam of Spirits capable of promoting the natural Fire and bright Complexion of the Liquor.’

Noting that the wines should be again ‘glewed’ eight days before they are bottled, Pluche says: ‘The Month of March is the usual Season for glewing the most tender Wines, such as those of Ai, Epernai, Hautvilliers, and Pieri, whose chief Consumption is in France; but this Operation should not be performed on such strong Wines as those of Sillery, Verzenai, and other Mountain Wines of Reims, till they are twelve Months old, at which Time they are capable of supporting themselves for several Years. When these Wines are bottled off before they have exhaled their impetuous Particles, they burst a Number of Bottles, and are less perfect in their Qualities. The proper Method of bottling Wine consists in leaving the Space of a Finger’s Breadth between the Cork and the Liquor, and in binding the Cork down with Packthread; it will also be proper to seal the Mouths of the Bottles with Wax, to prevent Mistakes and Impositions. The Bottles should likewise be reclined on one Side, because if they are placed in an upright Position, the Corks will grow dry in a few Months for want of Moisture, and shrink from their first Dimensions. In Consequence of which a Passage will be opened to the external Air, which will then impart an Acidity to the Wine, and form a white Flower on the Surface, which will be an Evidence of its Corruption.’

The MÉmoire of 1718 also points out the necessity of leaving a space between the cork and the wine, saying that without this, when the wine began to work at the different seasons of the year, it would break a large number of bottles; and that even despite this precaution large numbers are broken, especially when the wine is a little green. The ordinary bottles for Champagne, styled flacons, or flasks, held ‘a pinte de Paris, less half a glass,’ and cost from 12 to 15 francs the hundred; and as wood abounded in the province, several glass-works were established there for their manufacture. As the bottling of the wine, especially in the early years, was mostly to order, many customers had their flasks stamped with their arms, at a cost of about 30 per cent more. The corks—‘solid, even, and not worm-eaten’—cost from 50 to 60 sols per hundred. Wire was as yet quite unknown. The cost of bottling a poinÇon of wine in 1712 was: for 200 bottles, 30 livres; 200 corks, 3 livres; 2 baskets and packing, 8 livres; bottling, string, and sealing, 3 livres; total, 44 livres, or say 36 shillings.

It would appear from the MÉmoire that the pernicious practice of icing still Champagne, already noticed, continued in vogue as regards sparkling wine. The wine was recommended to be taken out of the cellar half an hour before it was intended it should be drunk, and put into a bucket of water with two or three pounds of ice. The bottle had to be previously uncorked, and the cork lightly replaced, otherwise it was believed there was danger of the bottle breaking. A short half an hour in the ice was said to bring out the goodness of the wine. Bertin du Rocheret counselled the use of ice to develop the real merits of a vinous wine of Ay.

[131] Max Sutaine’s Essai sur le Vin de Champagne.

[132] MÉmoires of 1718 and 1722.

[133] Ibid.

[134] Max Sutaine’s Essai sur le Vin de Champagne.

[135] MÉmoire of 1718. The perils to which it was exposed during this transit are pointed at in a letter to the elder Bertin from a customer in Paris in 1689: ‘I thought it better to wait before giving you any news of the wine you sent me until it was fit to drink. I tapped it yesterday, and found it poor. I can hardly believe but that the boatmen did not fall-to upon it whenever they had need, and took great care to fill it up again, for it could not have been fuller than they delivered it.’

[136] Pluche’s Spectacle de la Nature, 1732.

[137] MÉmoire of 1718.

[138] Louis Perrier’s MÉmoire sur le Vin de Champagne. In the MÉmoire of 1718, Ay, Epernay, Hautvillers, and CumiÈres are alone classed as Vins de RiviÈre; Pierry, Fleury, Damery, and Venteuil being reckoned only as Petite RiviÈre; and there being no mention of Avize and the neighbouring vineyards.

[139] As at Vertus, where the red wine, so highly esteemed by William III. of England, was replaced by sparkling wine.

[140] Max Sutaine’s Essai sur le Vin de Champagne.

[141] Ergo vinum Belnense potuum est suavissimus, ita et saluberrimus.

[142] An vinum Remense sit omnium saluberrimum.

[143] Of Ay, Avenay, and Hautvillers (note of Tallemant’s editor).

[144] Tallemant des RÉaux’s Historiettes.

[145] Champagne has been accused of producing not only gout, but stone, gravel, and rheumatism. As to the first-named complaint, Bertin du Rocheret disposes of it by noting, in a list compiled by him of all the deaths of any moment at Epernay, from 1644 downwards, the decease, at the age of seventy-five, on January 1, 1733, of Jeanne Maillard, ‘the only person in the district ever attacked by the gout.’ His brother-in-law, Dr. Jacques de Reims, in a letter to Helvetius in 1730, asserts that this complaint is only known by name in the Champagne; and that, as regards the stone, not more than ten people were affected therewith within a radius of ten leagues. He maintained that the non-mousseux white wine of the Champagne, drunk at maturity and tempered with water, was the best of all beverages for preserving general health; and the eminent Dr. Camille Falconnet held the same opinion. Arthur Young, moreover, furnishes spontaneous testimony with regard to rheumatism. Extolling the sparkling wine of Reims in 1787, he says, ‘I suppose fixed air is good for the rheumatism; I had some writhes of it before I entered Champagne, but the vin mousseux has absolutely banished it;’ and on reaching Ove, he regrets that ‘the vin de Champagne, which is forty sous at Reims, is three livres here, and execrably bad; so there is an end of my physic for the rheumatism’ (Travels in France in 1787–9).

[146] An vinum Remense Burgundico suavius et salubrius.

[147] In his ode entitled Vinum Burgundum, the passage aspersing the wines of Reims runs as follows:

‘Nam suum Rhemi licet usque Bacchum
Jactitent: Æstu petulans jocoso
Hic quidam fervet cyathis, et aura
Limpidus acri.
Vellicat nares avidas; venenum
At latet: multos facies fefellit,
Hic tamen spargat modico secundam
Munere mensam.’

The French version, by M. de Bellechaume, entitled an ‘Ode au Vin de Bourgogne,’ and published in his Recueil des PoÉsies latines et franÇaises sur les Vins de Champagne et de Bourgogne, Paris 1712, is as follows:

‘Vante, Champagne ambitieuse,
L’odeur et l’Éclat de ton vin,
Dont la sÈve pernicieuse
Dans ce brillant cache un venin,
Tu dois toute ta gloire en France,
A cette agrÉable apparence,
Qui nous attire et nous sÉduit;
Qu’À Beaune ta liqueur soumise
Dans les repas ne soit admise,
Que sagement avec le fruit.’

M. de la Monnoye, himself a Burgundian, has rendered this passage somewhat differently in an edition published the same year at Dijon:

‘Jusqu’aux cieux le Champagne ÉlÈve
De son vin pÉtillant la riante liqueur,
On sait qu’il brille aux yeux, qu’il chatouille le coeur,
Qu’il pique l’odorat d’une agrÉable sÈve.
Mais craignons un poison couvert,
L’aspic est sous les fleurs, que seulement par grÂce;
Quand Beaune aura primÉ, Reims occupant la place,
Vienne lÉgÈrement amuser le dessert.’

[148] Campania vindicata; sive laus vini Remensis a poeta Burgundo eleganter quidam, sed immerito culpati. Offerebat civitati Remensi Carolus Coffin. Anno Domini MDCCXII.

[149]

‘Quantum superbas vitis, humi licet
Prorepat, anteit fructibus arbores
Tantum, orbe quÆ toto premuntur
Vina super generosiora
Remense surgit. Cedite, Massica
Cantata Flacco Silleriis; neque
Chio remixtum certet audax
Collibus AÏacis Falernum.
Cernis micanti concolor ut vitro
Latex in auras, gemmeus aspici,
Scintellet exultim; utque dulces
Naribus illecebras propinet.
Succi latentis proditor halitus
Ut spuma motu lactea turbido
Crystallinum lÆtis referre
Mox oculis properet nitorem.’

La Monnoye renders this as follows:

‘Autant que, sans porter sa tÊte dans les cieux,
La vigne par son fruit est au-dessus du chÊne;
Autant, sans affecter une gloire trop vaine,
Reims surpasse les vins les plus dÉlicieux.
Qu’Horace du Falerne entonne les louanges
Que de son vieux Massique il vante les attraits;
Tous ces vins fameux n’Égaleront jamais
Du charmant Silleri les heureux vendanges.
Aussi pur que la verre ou la main l’a versÉ,
Les yeux les plus perÇants l’en distinguent À peine;
Qu’il est doux de sentir l’ambre de son haleine
Et de prÉvoir le goÛt par l’odeur annoncÉ,
D’abord À petits bonds une mousse argentine
Etincelle, petille et bout de toutes parts,
Un Éclat plus tranquille offre ensuite aux regards
D’un liquide miroir la glace cristalline.’

[150]

‘Non hÆc malignus quidlibet obstrepat
Livor; nocentes dissimulant dolos
Leni veneno. Vina certant
Inguenuos retinere Gentis
Campana mores. Non stomacho movent
Ægro tumultum; non gravidum caput
Fulagine infestant opacÂ.’

Bellechaume renders these lines in the Recueil as follows:

‘Il n’a point, quoiqu’on insinue
De poison parmi ses douceurs,
Et de sa province ingÉnue
La Champagne a gardÉ les moeurs.
Il n’excite point de tempÊte
Dans les estomacs languissants;
Son feu lÉger monte À la tÊte,
Eveille et rÉjouit les sens.’

La Monnoye gives them thus:

‘Taisez-vous envieux dont la langue cruelle
Veut qu’ici sous les fleurs se cache le venin;
Connaissez la Champagne, et respectez un vin
Qui des moeurs du climat est l’image fidÈle.
Non, ce jus qu’À grand tort vous osez outrager
De images fÂcheux ne trouble point la tÊte,
Jamais dans l’estomac n’excite de tempÊte;
Il est tendre, il est net, dÉlicat et lÉger.’

[151]

‘Ergo ut secundis (parcere nam decet
Karo liquori) se comitem addidit
Mensis renidens Testa; frontem,
Arbitra lÆtitiÆ, resolvit
Austeriorum. Tune cyathos juvat
Siccare molles: tunc hilaris jocos
Conviva fundit liberales;
Tunc procul alterius valere.’

Bellechaume has rendered this:

‘SitÔt que sur de riches tables
De ce nectar avec le fruit
On sert les coupes dÉlectables,
De joie il s’ÉlÈve un doux bruit;
On voit, mÊme sur le visage
Du plus sÉvÈre et du plus sage,
Un air joyeux et plus serein:
Le ris, l’entretien se reveille;
Il n’est plus de liqueur pareille
A cet Élixir souverain.’

La Monnoye’s version is as follows:

‘Vers la fin du repas, À l’approche du fruit,
(Car on doit mÉnager une liqueur si fine),
AussitÔt que parait la bouteille divine,
Des GrÂces À l’instant l’aimable choeur la suit
Parmi les conviÉs, s’ÉlÈve un doux murmure;
Le plus stoÏque alors se deride le front.’

[152] That of Utrecht, concluded the following year, 1713.

[153] Ad clarissimum virum Guidonem-Crescentium Fagon regi a secretoribus consiliis, archiatrorum comitem; ut suam Burgundo vino prestantiam adversus Campanum vinum asserat.

[154] The original lines and the translation, published by Bellechaume the same year in his Recueil, prove, as do the extracts already quoted from Coffin, that a sparkling wine was meant. The former run thus—

‘Hinc inversa scyphis tumet, fremitque;
Spumasque agglomerat furore mixtas
Æstuans, levis, inquies proterva;’

Bellechaume’s translation is as above—

‘EnflÉs du mÊme orgueil tous ses vins bondissants
N’ÉlÈvent que des flots Écumeux frÉmissants
Leur liqueur furieuse, inconstante et lÉgÈre
Etincelle, petille, et bout dans la fougÈre.’

[155] These epigrams and their translation are given anonymously, as follows, in Bellechaume’s Recueil:

‘Quid medicos testa implores Burgunda? Laboras
Nemo velit medicam poscere sanus opem.
Cur fugis ad doctum, Burgundica testa, Fagonem?
Arte valet multa, sed nimis Ægra jaces.’
‘A ce que je me persuade
Sur la qualitÉ des bons vins,
Grenan, ta cause est bien malade,
Tu consultes les mÉdecins.
Quand on s’adresse au mÉdecin
C’est qu’on Éprouve une souffrance;
Bourgogne, vous n’Êtes pas sain
Puisqu’il vous faut une ordonnance.’

[156] Decretum medica apud insulam Coon facultatis super poetica lite Campanum inter et Burgundum vinum ort post editum a poeta Burgundo libellum supplicem. By several writers this poem has been ascribed to Grenan; but M. Philibert Milsaud, in his ProcÉs poÉtique touchant les Vins de Bourgogne et de Champagne (Paris, 1866), clearly shows that, although in favour of Burgundy, the judgment is an ironical one, and that the signature C. C. R. stands for Carolus Coffin Remensis.

[157] Ode À Messieurs Coffin et Grenan, Professeurs de Belles Lettres, sur leurs Combats poÉtiques au sujet des Vins de Bourgogne et de Champagne, in Bellechaume’s Recueil.

[158]

‘Pour connaÎtre la diffÉrence
Du nectar de Beaune et de Reims,
Il faut mettre votre science
A bien goÛter de ces deux vins.’

[159] In an anonymous letter addressed to Grenan on February 1712, and published in the Recueil.

[160]

‘Un franc Bourguignon se fait gloire
D’Être avec un Remois À boire;
Ils sont tous deux bons connaisseurs,
Et ne sont pas moins bons buveurs.’

[161] Les CÉlÉbritÉs du Vin de Champagne. Epernay, 1880. Maucroix died in his ninetieth year in 1708.

[162] Henderson’s History of Ancient and Modern Wines.

[163] In the Journal des Savants.

[164]

‘Vieux Bourguignon, jeune Champagne
Font l’agrÉment de nos festins.’

From La Critique, an opera of Panard’s, produced in 1742.

[165] ‘With what vivacity,’ he exclaims, with a strange blending of poetry and science, ‘does this divine liquid burst forth in sparkling foam-bells! And what an agreeable impression it produces upon the olfactory organs! What a delicious sensation it creates upon the delicate fibres of the palate! ... It is fixed air which, by its impetuous motion, forms and raises up that foam, the whiteness of which, rivalling that of milk, soon offers to our astonished eye the lustre of the most transparent crystal. It is this same air that, by its expansion and the effervescence it produces, develops the action of the vinous spirit of which it is the vehicle, in order that the papillÆ of the nerves may more promptly receive the delicious impression.... Vainly calumny spreads the report on all sides that the sparkle of our wines is injurious; vainly it asserts that they have only a hurtful fire and a worthless flavour. Incapable of hiding under an insidious appearance a perfidious venom, they will always present a faithful image of the ingenuousness of their native province.’

[166] Max Sutaine’s Essai sur le Vin de Champagne.

[167] Henderson’s History of Ancient and Modern Wines. Pluche, in his Spectacle de la Nature, notices the controversy regarding the respective merits of the wines of the Marne and the CÔte d’Or in the following terms:

‘Count: If we will be determined by the finest palates, the Champaign wine is much preferable to Burgundy.

Prior: It is a sufficient honour for Champaign to be admitted to the same degree of estimation with Burgundy; and it may very well dispense with the priority. I always thought Burgundy had some similitude with a solid understanding, which affects us with lasting impressions, and that Champaign resembles a lively wit, which glitters more upon the imagination, but which is not always serviceable to its possessor.

Count: If you had made the froth of some Champaign wines and the sallies of a sprightly wit your parallel, I should have thought it unexceptionable; and several pleasant remarks might be made on this sprightliness without solidity. But such a Champaign wine as that of Sillery unites all the vigour of Burgundy, with an agreeable flavour peculiar to itself.

Prior: I prefer useful qualities to those that are merely agreeable. Burgundy seems to be a more salutary wine than Champaign, and will always be triumphant for that reason. Its colour alone declares it to be a wine of a good body, and I must confess I am apt to be diffident of all dazzling appearances.

Count: People believe that this deep colour, so esteemed in Burgundy wines, is an indication of their wholesomeness; but it is observable in the grossest wines, and results from an intermixture of the husky parts of the grape. Wine, in proportion to the quantity of these particles blended with it, will be less qualified for digestion. The gout, therefore, and the stone, with which the inhabitants of wine-countries are so frequently afflicted, are distempers hardly known either at Reims or on the banks of the Marne, where the wines are very moderately coloured.... Wines may be made almost as white in Burgundy as they are in Champaign, though not so good; and, on the other hand, the Champenois press a wine as red as the Burgundy growth, and the merchants sell it either as the best species of Burgundy to the wine-conners, who are the first people that are deceived in it, or as red Champaign to the connoisseurs, who prefer it to any other wine. If we may judge of the merit of wines by the price, we shall certainly assign the preference to Champaign, since the finest species of this wine is sold in the vaults of Sillery and Epernai for six, seven, or eight hundred livres, when the same quality of the best Burgundy may be purchased for three hundred.

Countess: Let me entreat you, gentlemen, to leave this controversy undecided. The equal pretensions that are formed by these two great provinces promote an emulation which is advantageous to us. The partisans for Burgundy and Champaign form two factions in the State; but their contests are very entertaining, and their encounters not at all dangerous. It is very usual to see the zealots of one party maintaining a correspondence with those of the other; they frequently associate together without any reserve, and those who were advocates for Burgundy at the beginning of the entertainment are generally reconciled to Champaign before the appearance of the dessert.’

[168] Letters, &c. Hamburg and Paris, 1788. The translator adds, as a note, ‘People do not any longer get drunk on Champagne.’

[169] MÉmoires du Duc de St. Simon.

[170] Journal de Barbier.

[171] A curious proof of the popularity of sparkling Champagne, and of the singular system of provincial government into which France was broken up during the reign of Louis XV., is found in a decree of the Council of State, dated May 25, 1728. The decree in question begins by setting forth that, by the Ordonnance des aides de Normandie, wine was forbidden to be brought into Rouen or its suburbs in bottles, jugs, or any less vessels than hogsheads and barrels—with the exception of vin de liqueur packed in boxes—under pain of confiscation and one hundred livres’ fine, and that carriers were prohibited from conveying wine in bottles in the province without leave from the fermier des aides. Nevertheless, petitions had been presented by the maire and Échevins of Reims, stating ‘that the trade in the gray wines of Champagne had considerably increased for some years past, through the precautions taken at the place of production to bottle them during the first moon of the month of March following the vintage, in order to render them mousseux; that those who make use of the gray wine of Champagne prefer that which is mousseux to that which is not; and that this gray wine cannot be transported in casks into the interior of the kingdom or to foreign countries without totally losing its qualities,’—a statement probably intentionally overdrawn, since Bertin du Rocheret used to export it in casks to England. Yet the fermiers des aides de Normandie claimed to prohibit the transport of wines in bottle; and if their pretension held good, the trade in the gray wine of Champagne would be destroyed. ‘Shifting the cause, as a lawyer knows how,’ the decree recapitulates the plea of the fermiers that the transport of wine in bottles offered facilities for defrauding the revenue, since a carrier with a load could easily leave some of it en route with innkeepers, and these in turn could hide bottles holding a pinte de Paris from the officers in chests, cupboards, &c., and sell them subsequently, to the detriment of the droits de dÉtail.

The foregoing duly rehearsed, there follows the decree permitting ‘to be sent in bottles into the province of Normandy, for the consumption of the said province, gray wine of Champagne in baskets, which must not hold less than one hundred bottles,’ but prohibiting the introduction in bottles of any other growth or quality, under the penalty of confiscation and one hundred livres’ fine. Permission is also given to pass gray and red wine of Champagne, or of any other cru or quality, in baskets of fifty or one hundred bottles for conveyance into other provinces, or for shipment to foreign parts by the ports of Rouen, Caen, Dieppe, and Havre. The wagoners, however, in all cases are to have certificates signed and countersigned by all manner of authorities, and are only to enter the province by certain specified routes. All wine, too, is to pay the droit de dÉtail, except in the case of people not continuously residing in the province, who may be going to their estates, or those bound for the eaux de Forges, a celebrated watering-place, both of whom may take a certain quantity in bottle with them for their own consumption free of duty.

[172] ‘To be drunk as nouveau or bottled,’ says M. Louis Perrier in his MÉmoire sur le Vin de Champagne.

[173] D’Argenson’s MÉmoires.

[174] Bois-Jourdain’s MÉlanges Historiques. The editor of the Journal de Barbier observes in a note to a passage referring to the King’s suppers at La Muette with Madame de Mailly, under the date of November 1737: ‘These suppers were drinking bouts. It was there that the King acquired a taste for Champagne.’

[175] Clauteau’s Relation de ce qui s’est passÉ au Passage du Roi. Reims, 1744.

[176] Ibid.

[177] Varin’s Archives Administratives de Reims.

[178] Louis Paris’ Histoire de l’Abbaye d’Avenay.

[179] Amongst these may be cited the AbbÉ Bignon, who, in a letter to Bertin du Rocheret dated January 1734, says: ‘The less the wine is mousseux and glittering, and the more, on the contrary, it shows at the outset of what you style liqueur, and I, in chemical terms, should rather call balsamic parts, the better I shall think of it.’

[180] Louis Perrier’s MÉmoire sur le Vin de Champagne.

[181]

‘Chloris, EglÉ me versent de leur main
D’un vin d’Ay dont la mousse pressÉe,
De la bouteille avec force ÉlancÉe,
Comme un Éclair fait voler son bouchon.
Il part, on rit; il frappe le plafond:
De ce vin frais l’Écume pÉtillante
De nos FranÇais est l’image brillante.’

[182]

‘De ce vin blanc dÉlicieux
Qui mousse et brille dans le verre,
Dont les mortels ne boivent guÈres;
Et qu’on ne sert jamais qu’À la table des dieux
Ou des grands, pour en parler mieux,
Qui sont les seuls dieux de la terre.’

[183] Desaulx, a canon of Reims Cathedral, rendered Lebatteux’s ode as follows:

‘Ce n’est point sur les monts de Rhodope et de Thrace
Que j’irai t’invoquer; ces monts couverts de glace,
Sont-ils propres À tes faveurs?
Non, Reims te voit rÉgner bien plus sur ses collines;
LÀ je t’offre mes voeux; de nos cÔtes voisines
Embrases moi de tes ardeurs.
Soit que d’un lait mousseux l’Écume pÉtillante,
Soit qu’un rouge vermeil, par sa couleur brillante,
T’annonce À mes regards surpris,
Viens, anime mes vers; ma muse impatiente
Veut devoir en ce jour les accords qu’elle enfante
A la force de tes esprits.’

[184]

‘Non, telles gens ne boivent pas
De cette sÈve dÉlectable,
L’Âme et l’amour de nos repas,
Aussi bienfaisante qu’aimable.
Leur palais corrompu, gÂtÉ,
Ne veut que du vin frelatÉ,
De ce poison vert, apprÊtÉ,
Pour des cervelles frÉnÉtiques.
Si, tenons-nous pour hÉrÉtiques
Ceux qui rejettent la bontÉ
De ces corpusculs balsamiques
Que jadis Horace a chantÉs.
Non, telles gens ne boivent pas
De cette sÈve dÉlectable,
L’Âme et l’honneur de nos repas,
Aussi bienfaisante qu’aimable.
De ce vin blanc dÉlicieux,
Qui dÉsarme la plus sÉvÈre;
Qui pÉtille dans vos beaux yeux
Mieux qu’il ne brille dans mon verre.
Buvons, buvons À qui mieux mieux,
Je vous livre une douce guerre;
Buvons, buvons de ce vin vieux,
De ce nectar dÉlicieux,
Qui pÉtille dans vos beaux yeux
Mieux qu’il ne brille dans mon verre.’

The above was set to music by M. Dormel, organist of St. GeneviÈve.

[185] Marmontel’s MÉmoires d’un PÈre pour l’instruction de ses Enfants. M. Louis Paris, in his Histoire de l’Abbaye d’Avenay, identifies this spot as one known indifferently as Le Fay or Feuilly. He furnishes some interesting details respecting Mademoiselle de Navarre, who, after being the mistress of Marshal Saxe, married the Chevalier de Mirabeau, brother to the Ami des Hommes and uncle of the celebrated orator, and then goes on to say: ‘In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the wines of Avenay shared with those of Hautvillers the glory of rivalling the best of Ay. “Avenay, les bons raisins,” was the popular saying inscribed on the banner of its chevaliers de l’Arquebuse (a corps of local sharpshooters). La BruyÈre, St. Evremond, Boileau himself, Coulanges, L’Atteignant, and many others had celebrated the tender and delicate wines of our vineyards; and that of Madame l’Abbesse especially had acquired such a reputation, that several great families, strangers to the locality, thought it the right thing to have a vendangeoir at Avenay, and to pass part of the autumn in the renowned Val d’Or.’

[186]

‘Vois ce nectar charmant
Sauter sous ces beaux doigts;
Et partir À l’instant;
Je crois bien que l’amour en ferait tout autant.
Et quoi sous ces beaux doigts
Bouchon a donc sautÉ pour la premiÈre fois?
Croyez-vous que l’amour
Leur fit un pareil tour?’

[187]

‘Le jus que verse GanimÈde
A Jupiter dans ses repas
A ce vin de Champagne cÈde,
Et nous sommes mieux ici bas.’

From the edition of his Poesies published in 1757.

[188]

‘Et quand je dÉcoiffe un flacon
Le liÈge qui pette
Me fait entendre un plus beau son
Que tambour et trompette.’

Panard’s Œuvres, Paris, 1763.

[189]

‘Diaphorus au marchand de vin
Vend bien cher un extrait de riviÈre;
Le marchand vend au mÉdecin
Du Champagne arrivÉ de Nanterre,
Ce qui prouve encor ce refrain-ci
A trompeur, trompeur et demi.’

[190]

‘Pour jouir d’un destin plus tranquille et plus doux
De ce bruyant sÉjour, amis, Éloignons nous,
Allons, dans mon cellier, du Champagne et du Beaune
GoÛter les doux appas.
Les plaisirs n’y sont pas troublÉs par l’embarras,
Et le funeste ennui qui monte jusqu’au trÔne
Dans les caveaux ne descend pas.’

[191]

‘C’est alors qu’un joyeux convive,
Saississant un flacon scellÉ,
Qui de Reims ou d’Ai tient la liqueur captive,
Fait sauter jusqu’À la solive
Le liÈge deficellÉ;
Tout le cercle attentif porte un regard avide
Sur cet objet qui les ravit;
Ils prÉsentent leur verre vide,
Le nectar pÉtillant aussitÔt les remplit.
On boit, on goÛte, on applaudit,
On redouble et par l’assemblÉe
La mousse Champenoise À plein verre est sablÉe.
De lÀ naissent les ris, les transports Éclatans,
La sÈve et tout son feu, jusqu’au cerveau montants,
Font naÎtre des dÉbats, des querelles polies
Qui rÉveillent l’esprit de tous les assistants.’

[192] An allusion to the vin gris of the Champagne.

[193]

‘GrÂce À la liqueur
Qui lave mon coeur,
Nul souci ne me consume.
De ce vin gris
Que je chÉris
L’Écume,
Lorsque j’en boi
Quel feu chez moi
S’allume!
Nectar enchanteur,
Tu fais mon bonheur;
Viens, mon cher ami! Que j’t’hume!
Champagne divin,
Du plus noir chagrin
Tu dissipes l’amertume.
Tu sais mÛrir,
Tu sais guÉrir
Le rhume.
Quel goÛt flatteur
Ta douce odeur
Parfume!
Pour tant de bienfaits
Et pour tant d’attraits;
Viens, mon cher ami! Que j’t’hume!’

[194] Max Sutaine’s Essai sur le Vin de Champagne.

[195] M. Sutaine observes that in 1780 a merchant of Epernay bottled 6000 bottles, and that the importance of this tirage was noted as something remarkable; and this statement has been repeated by every other writer on Champagne. Yet here is a tirage of 6000 bottles taking place thirty-four years previously. The extent of the bottled-wine trade is confirmed by Arthur Young, who in 1787 visited Ay, where M. Lasnier had 60,000 bottles in his cellar, and M. DorsÉ from 30,000 to 40,000. Marmontel in 1716 mentions Henin de Navarre’s cellars at Avenay as containing 50,000 bottles of Champagne.

[196] E. J. MaumenÉ’s TraitÉ du Travail des Vins, 1874.

[197] Ibid. The casse of 1776 has never been forgotten at Epernay; and M. Perrier, in a letter of August 1801, mentions a recent one at Avize amounting to 85 per cent. That of 1842 flooded the cellars throughout the Champagne. Even in 1850 M. MaumenÉ mentions a casse in a Reims cellar which had reached 98 per cent at his visit, and was still continuing.

[198] Max Sutaine’s Essai sur le Vin de Champagne. The AbbÉ Bignon confirms this in a letter of December 20, 1736, to Bertin du Rocheret, respecting wine received from him. ‘The wine sealed with a cipher in red wax,’ he observes, ‘seemed to me very delicate, but having as yet some liqueur which time may get rid of, though after that I am afraid there will not remain much strength. Another, also sealed with red wax, but with a coat-of-arms, seems to have more quality and vinosity, though also very delicate and very light, both sablant perfectly, though they cannot be called mousseux. As to that which is sealed with black, the people who esteem foam would bestow the most magnificent eulogies upon it. It would be difficult to find any that carries this beautiful perfection further. Three spoonfuls at the bottom of the glass is surmounted with the strongest foam to the very brim; on the other hand, I found in it a furious vert, and not much vinosity.’

[199] In 1734 he speaks of his mousseux sablant, and forwards to the Marquis de Polignac both mousseux and petillant. In 1736 he offers M. VÉron de Bussy his choice of demi-mousseux, bon mousseux, and saute bouchon; and the following year distinguishes his Ay mousseux from his saute bouchon.

[200] Respecting the price of sparkling Champagne during the first half of the eighteenth century, a few instances from the correspondence of Bertin du Rocheret may here he quoted. In 1716 he offers Marshal d’Artagnan 1500 bottles at 35 sols, cash down, and taken at Epernay. In 1725 he offers flacons blancs mousseux liqueur at from 30 to 50 sols, and ambrÉs non mousseux, sablant, at 25 sols. Ten years later saute bouchon is quoted by him at 40 and 45 sols, and in 1736 at 3 livres, demi-mousseux ranging from 36 to 40 sols, and bon mousseux from 45 to 50 sols. The following year saute bouchon fetched 3 livres 6 sols, and mousseux 42 sols. In 1736 he insisted upon his flacons holding a pinte; and a royal decree of March 8, 1755, which regulated the weight and capacity of sparkling-wine bottles, required these to weigh 25 ounces, and to hold a pinte de Paris, or about 1.64 imperial pint. They were, moreover, to be tied crosswise on the top of the cork, with a string of three strands well twisted. Their cost was 15 livres per hundred in 1734 and 1738, and from 17 to 19 livres in 1754.

[201] Louis Perrier’s MÉmoire sur le Vin de Champagne.

[202] It would appear from Bidet that the wines of the Mountain had not been transformed into vin mousseux as late as 1752, as, in his book on wine published during that year, he only includes in the list of places producing sparkling wine Ay, Avenay, Mareuil, Dizy, Hautvillers, Epernay, Pierry, Cramant, Avize, and Le Mesnil.

[203]

‘Votre palais, usÉ, perclus
Par liqueur inflammable,
PrÉfÈre de mousseux verjus
Au nectar vÉritable.’

[204] Louis Perrier’s MÉmoire sur le Vin de Champagne. In the thesis in favour of Champagne, written by Dr. Xavier of Reims in 1777, the acidulous character of the wine is confirmed by the author, who naÏvely remarks that it is as efficacious in preventing putrefaction as are other acids. He also compares it to acidulated waters.

[205] Legrand d’Aussy’s Vie privÉe des FranÇais, 1782.

[206] Louis Perrier’s MÉmoire sur le Vin de Champagne. The pretended secret of Dom Perignon, quoted from the MÉmoire of 1718, and mentioning the addition of sugar to the wine of Hautvillers, is flatly contradicted by Dom Grossart’s letter to M. DherbÈs (see page 41 ante). But it is probable that the suggestion thus made public was acted upon, though at first only timidly.

[207] Chaptal’s Art de faire du Vin. As Minister of the Interior, he forwarded the results of his experiments to the prÉfets, with the recommendation to spread them throughout their departments.

[208] Louis Perrier’s MÉmoire sur le Vin de Champagne.

[209] Letter of M. Nicolas Perrier to M. Cadet-Devaux, dated August 1801.

[210] As bourru, tocane, and en nouveau.

[211] Louis Perrier’s MÉmoire sur le Vin de Champagne.

[212] The letter in which he mentions this is extant, but the secret which was enclosed in it is missing.

[213] Dom Grossart, who had retired to Montier-en-Der in 1790, was unacquainted with this plan when he wrote to M. DherbÈs in 1821, although it had been practised for twenty years past.

[214] In a MS. quoted in Varin’s Archives Administratives de Reims.

[215] The gifts presented by the municipality on this occasion included flowers, pears, and gingerbread, Reims being as famed for the latter as for its wines. The guild of gingerbread-makers at Reims was established in the sixteenth century, and from that time forward was engaged in continual squabbles with the bakers and pastrycooks of the city, who could not be brought to understand that they had not the right to make gingerbread. Countless reams of paper were scribbled over by the lawyers of the two contending interests; but though the Bailli of Reims on several occasions pronounced a formal verdict, to the effect that no one but a sworn and accepted gingerbread-maker should have act or part in the making of the indigestible delicacy, the contumacious bakers continued to treat his edicts as naught. Eventually a royal edict of 1776, which suppressed the privileges of the majority of the guilds in France, deprived the Reims gingerbread-makers for ever of the right of figuring with swords by their sides and three-cornered hats on their heads at all local ceremonies, civil or religious, and threw their trade open to all.

It was at the close of Louis XIV.’s reign that the pain d’Épice of Reims reached the summit of its renown. At the coronation of his successor, the Échevins of Reims presented the monarch with several baskets of it; and when Maria Leczinska passed through Reims in January 1725, the notables offered her twelve wicker baskets, covered with damask and ornamented with ribbons, containing fresh and dried pears, conserves, preserved lemons, almond-cakes, and a new kind of gingerbread, which received the name of nonnette À la Reine.

[216] This escutcheon shows the arms of Reims, which at first consisted of rinÇeaux or branches; subsequently a cross and a crozier, placed saltire-wise, and a sainte Ampoule, were added. When the government of the city passed from the archbishop, the entwined olive-branches and chief strewn with fleurs de lis were adopted, the old motto, ‘Dieu en soit garde,’ being retained. The iron gates of the Porte de Paris were removed to their present position in 1843, to allow of the passage of the canal.

[217] From the days of Charles VIII. to those of Louis XIV., it was customary on these occasions for the keys to be presented by a young girl styled the Pucelle de Reims; and J. M. C. Leber, in his work Des CÉrÉmonies du Sacre, is of opinion that this custom arose in some way from the visit of Joan of Arc. Louis XV. was the first who received them from the lieutenant.

[218] Baron Taylor’s Reims, la Ville de Sacres.

[219] N. Menin’s TraitÉ du Sacre et Couronnement des Rois.

[220] P. TarbÉ’s Reims, ses Rues et ses Monuments.

[221] H. Taine’s L’Ancien RÉgime.

[222] Ibid.

[223] Arthur Young’s Travels in France in 1787–9.

[224] Ibid. Another grievance alleged against the monasteries was the presence of the innumerable fishponds belonging to them scattered throughout the country. The Cahier des Plaintes, DolÉances, et Remontrances du Tiers Etat du Baillage de Reims, on the Assembly of the States General under Louis XVI., ask that ‘all fishponds situate outside woods and, above all, those which lie close to vineyards, may be suppressed, as hurtful to agriculture.’

[225] H. Taine’s L’Ancien RÉgime.

[226] Instructions of local directeurs des aides, quoted from the Archives Nationales by Taine.

[227] H. Taine’s L’Ancien RÉgime.

[228] Les CÉlÉbritÉs du Vin de Champagne, Epernay, 1880.

[229] H. Taine’s L’Ancien RÉgime. At Rethel a poinÇon of the jauge de Reims paid 50 to 60 francs for the droit de dÉtail alone.

[230] Arthur Young’s Travels in France in 1787–9.

[231] H. Taine’s L’Ancien RÉgime.

[232] Crebillon the younger’s Les Bijoux Indiscrets.

[233] A MS. account of the wine culture of Poligny in the Jura states that in 1774 attempts were made to imitate the gray and pink wines of the Champagne, then selling at 3 livres 10 sous the bottle.

[234] Erckmann-Chatrian’s Histoire d’un Paysan.

[235] ‘Suppose Champagne flowing,’ says Carlyle, when describing this banquet in his French Revolution.

[236] Carlyle’s French Revolution.

[237] The date ‘An 1er de la libertÉ’ may possibly refer to the ‘Year One’ of the Republican calendar (1792), in which Mirabeau fell in a duel at Fribourg. But an earlier edition of the same caricature seems to have been published, according to De Goncourt in the Journal de la Mode et du GoÛt, in May 1790.

[238]

‘MalgrÉ les calembours, les brocards, les dictons,
Je veux À mes repas vuider mes deux flacons,’

are the lines assigned to him in Le Vicomte de Barjoleau, ou le Souper des Noirs, a two-act comedy of the epoch.

[239]

Le Gourmand

LE GOURMAND: AN INCIDENT OF LOUIS XVI.’S FLIGHT FROM PARIS
(From a caricature of the period).

This caricature, which is neither signed nor dated, is simply entitled ‘Le Gourmand;’ though Jaime, in his Histoire de la Caricature, states that it represents Louis XVI. at Varennes. According to Carlyle, however, the king reached Varennes at eleven o’clock at night, was at once arrested in his carriage, and taken to Procureur Sausse’s house. Here he ‘demands refreshments, as is written; gets bread-and-cheese, with a bottle of Burgundy, and remarks that it is the best Burgundy he ever drunk.’ At six o’clock the following morning he left Varennes, escorted by ten thousand National Guards. Very likely there may have been a story current at the time to the effect that the arrest was due to the king’s halting to gratify his appetite. Or the caricature may represent some incident that occurred, during his return to Paris, as he passed through the Champagne district, and halted at the HÔtel de Rohan at Epernay.

[240] De Goncourt’s SociÉtÉ FranÇaise pendant la RÉvolution.

[241] Ibid.

[242] St. Aubin’s ExpÉdition de Don Quichotte.

[243] Aux voleurs! aux voleurs! quoted by De Goncourt.

[244] Lettres du PÈre DuchÊne, quoted by De Goncourt.

[245] Les CÉlÉbritÉs du Vin de Champagne, Epernay, 1880.

[246] Journal de ce qui s’est passÉ d’intÉressant À Reims en 1814.

[247] Ibid.

[248] G. A. Sala’s Paris Herself Again.

[249] Gronow’s Celebrities of London and Paris, 1865.

[250] Gronow’s Reminiscences, 1862.

[251]

‘J’aime mieux les Turcs en campagne
Que de voir nos vins de Champagne
ProfanÉs par des Allemands.’

BÉranger’s Chansons.

[252]

‘RÔtis sur la haute montagne
Tout flamme et miel, le MÉdÉah,
Le Mascara, le Milianah
Feront pÂlir le gai Champagne.’

PoÉsies de J. Boese, de Blidah.

[253]

‘Il a conduit Pomponnette
Chez Vachette,
Dans le cabinet vingt-deux;
Et lÀ, mÊme avant la bisque,
Il se risque
A lui dÉclarer ses feux.
Elle demeure accoudÉe,
ObsÉdÉe,
RÉsolue À rÉsister,
Inexorable et charmante
Dans sa mante,
Qu’elle ne veut pas quitter.
Un troisiÈme personnage,
A la nage
Dans un seau d’argent ornÉ,
Se soulÈve sur la hanche,
TÊte blanche,
Cou de glace environnÉ.
C’est le Champagne; il susurre:
“Chose sÛre!
Quand mon bouchon partira,
Tout À l’heure, cette belle
Si rebelle
Mollement s’apaisera.
BientÔt tu verras, te dis-je,
Ce prodige
Cesse d’invoquer l’enfer;
Ton courroux est trop facile;
ImbÉcile,
Arrache mon fil de fer!
Car je suis maÎtre Champagne,
Qu’accompagne
Le dÉlire aux cent couplets;
Je dompte les plus sÉvÈres.
A moi, verres,
Coupes, flÛtes et cornets!”
Aussi dit le vin superbe,
Moins acerbe,
La femme se sent capter.
C’est une cause que gagne
Le Champagne;
Son bouchon vient de sauter.’

Le Parfait Vigneron, Paris, 1870.

[254] Titi Livii Foro-Juliensis Vita Henrici Quinti. The author was a protÉgÉ of Duke Humphrey of Gloucester.

[255] Francisque Michel’s Histoire du Commerce et de la Navigation À Bordeaux. It was not till the marriage of Henry III. with Eleanor of Aquitaine that we began to import Guienne wine from Bordeaux.

[256] Varin’s Archives Administratives de Reims.

[257] Ibid.

[258] Victor FiÉvet’s Histoire d’Epernay.

[259] Francisque Michel’s Histoire du Commerce et de la Navigation À Bordeaux.

[260] Published in 1615.

[261] That of 1574. Surflet’s translation appeared in 1600.

[262] Venner’s Via recta ad longam Vitam, 1628.

[263] Writing to Sir Walter Mildmay in 1569, the Earl of Shrewsbury, who had charge of the royal prisoner, complains that his regular allowance of wine duty free is not enough. ‘The expenses I have to bear this year on account of the Queen of the Scots are so considerable as to compel me to beg you will kindly consider them. In fact, two butts of wine a month hardly serve for our ordinary use; and besides this, I have to supply what is required by the Princess for her baths and similar uses.’

[264] Clarendon’s Memoirs.

[265] Letter of Guy Patin, 1660.

[266] Otway’s Soldier’s Fortune, act iv. sc. 1, 1681.

[267] Ibid.

[268] Redding’s History and Description of Modern Wines.

[269] Otway’s Friendship in Fashion, 1678.

[270]

‘Nous parler toujours des vins
D’Ay, d’Avenet, et de Reims.’

Œuvres de Saint-Evremond.

[271]

‘Perdre le goÛt de l’huitre et du vin de Champagne
Pour revoir la leur d’un dÉbile soleil
Et l’humide beautÉ d’une verte campagne,
N’est pas À mon avis un bonheur sans pareil,
La faveur de la Marne, hÉlas, est terminÉe,
Et notre montagne de Reims,
Qui fournit tant d’excellens vins,
A peu favorisÉ nostre goÛt cette annÉe.
O triste et pitoyable sort!
Faut-il avoir recours aux rives de la Loire,
Ou pour le mieux au fameux port,
Dont Chapelle nous fait l’histoire!
Faut-il se contenter de boire
Comme tous les peuples du Nord?
Non, non, quelle heureuse nouvelle!
Monsieur de Bonrepaus arrive, il est icy,
Le Champagne pour lui tousjours se renouvelle,
Fuyez, Loire, Bordeaux! fuyez, Cahors, aussy!’

Œuvres de Saint-Evremond:
Sur la Verdure qu’on met aux cheminÉes en Angleterre.

In these verses we trace the custom, elsewhere spoken of, of drinking the Marne wines when new. St. Evremond himself, in a passage of his prose works, says that the wines of Ay should not be kept too long, or those of Reims drunk too soon.

[272] Sparkling is not used here in the modern sense of effervescing: see page 90.

[273] Sir George Etherege’s Man of the Mode, or Sir Fopling Flutter, act iv. sc. 1, 1676.

[274] Otway’s Friendship in Fashion, act ii. sc. 1, 1678.

[275] Etherege’s She wou’d if she cou’d, act iv. sc. 2, 1668.

[276] Sir Charles Sedley’s Mulberry Garden, act ii. sc. 2, 1668.

[277] Otway’s Friendship in Fashion, act i. sc. 1, 1678.

[278] Shadwell’s Virtuoso, act ii. sc. 2, 1676.

[279] By Dr. Charleton, and published as late as 1692.

[280] Oldham’s Paraphrases from Horace, book i. ode xxxi., 1684.

[281] Oldham’s Works, &c., 1684.

[282] Butler’s Hudibras, part ii. canto i., 1664. Stum is unfermented wine; and the term brisk applied to Champagne is here employed not to denote effervescence, but to indicate the contrast between the thick immature fluid and the clear carefully-made wines of the Champagne.

[283] Butler’s Hudibras, part iii. canto iii., 1678.

[284] Sedley’s The Doctor and his Patients. No date, but Sedley died in 1701.

[285] Thomson’s Poems.

[286] Cyrus Redding’s evidence before the Parliamentary Committee on the Wine-Duties, 1851.

[287] Redding’s French Wines.

[288] Varin’s Archives Administratives de Reims.

[289] Louis Perrier’s MÉmoire sur le Vin de Champagne.

[290] St. Simon’s MÉmoires.

[291] Redding’s French Wines.

[292] Farquhar’s Love and a Bottle, act ii. sc. 2, 1698.

[293] An evident allusion to its effervescence; whilst the words ‘straw doublet’ most likely refer to the covering of the flask.

[294] Cibber’s Love makes a Man, act i. sc. 1, 1700.

[295] Farquhar’s The Inconstant, or the Way to win Him, act i. scene 2, 1703.

[296] Epilogue to the Constant Couple, or a Trip to the Jubilee of Farquhar, spoken by Wilks in 1700. Locket’s tavern, which stood on the site now occupied by Drummond’s bank at Charing Cross, was especially famous for its Champagne. In the Quack Vintners, a satire against Brooke and Hilliers, published in 1712, we read:

‘May Locket still his ancient fame maintain
For Ortland dainties and for rich Champaign,
Where new-made lords their native clay refine,
And into noble blood turn noble wine.’

[297] Farquhar’s Twin Rivals, act v. sc. 1, 1705.

[298] Several other writers, who speak of ‘bottles’ of other wines, use the word ‘flask’ when referring to Champagne.

[299] Farquhar’s Beaux’ Stratagem, act iii. sc. 3, 1706.

[300] Memoir, prefixed to Leigh Hunt’s edition of Congreve’s works.

[301] Cunninghame’s History of Britain from the Revolution to the Hanover Succession.

[302] Farquhar’s The Constant Couple, or a Trip to the Jubilee, act v. sc. 1, 1700. M. Francisque Michel, in his Histoire du Commerce et de la Navigation À Bordeaux, clearly establishes that from the beginning to the middle of the eighteenth century all the best growths of the MÉdoc were bought and shipped for England. It was not until after 1755 that any went to Paris.

[303]

‘Vos, Ô Britanni (foedera nam sinunt
Incoepta pacis) dissociabilem
Tranate pontum. Quid cruento
Perdere opes juvat usque Marte.
LÆtis Remensam quam satius fuit
Stipare Bacchum navibus; et domum
Anferre funestis trophÆis
Exuvias pretiosiores!’

Coffin’s Campania vindicata, 1712. The force of the reference to England is better understood when it is mentioned that no other nation is alluded to as purchasing the wines of the Champagne.

[304] A practice not lost sight of at a later date, to judge from Borachio’s observation, ‘I turn Alicant into Burgundy and sour cider into Champagne of the first growth of France.’ Jephson’s Two Strings to your Bow, act i. sc. 2.

[305] The Tatler, No. 131, Feb. 9, 1709.

[306] Mrs. Centlivre’s A Bold Stroke for a Wife, act v. sc. 1, 1718.

[307] Gay’s poem On Wine, published in 1708.

[308] Gay’s Welcome from Greece.

[309] Prior’s Alma, or the Progress of the Mind.

[310] Prior’s Alma, or the Progress of the Mind.

[311] Prior’s Bibo and Charon.

[312] Shenstone’s Verses written at a Tavern at Henley.

[313] Vanbrugh’s Journey to London, act i. sc. 2. Left unfinished at his death in 1726.

[314] Swift’s Journal to Stella, March 12, 1712–13.

[315] Ibid. Feb. 20, 1712–13.

[316] Ibid. April 9, 1711.

[317] Ibid. March 18, 1710.

[318] Ibid. March 29, 1711–12.

[319] Ibid. Dec. 21, 1711.

[320] Ibid. April 7, 1711.

[321] Letter to Mr. Congreve, April 7, 1715.

[322] Mrs. Centlivre’s A Bold Stroke for a Wife, act i. sc. 1, 1718.

[323] Fielding’s The Miser, 1732.

[324] The Rake’s Progress, or the Humours of Drury Lane: a poem published in 1735, to accompany a set of prints pirated from Hogarth’s.

[325] Blunt’s Geneva: a poem dedicated to Sir R. Walpole, 1729.

[326] Hoadley’s Suspicious Husband, act iv. sc. 1, 1747.

[327] This wine, though sometimes sent by way of Dunkirk, was usually forwarded vi Calais, by the intermediary of a Sieur Labertauche, a commission-agent at that port, the cost of transport from Epernay to Calais being from 70 to 75 livres per queue. A bobillon of wine was sent with each lot of casks for filling up. Moreover, from 1731 Bertin annually despatches a certain quantity of cream of tartar, destined to cure the ropiness to which all white wines were especially subject before the discovery that tannin destroys the principle engendering this disease.

[328] Chabane appears to have been fully cognisant of the method of collage and soutirage (fining and racking) practised in the Champagne; and Bertin, in one of his letters dated July 1752, mentions the enclosure of a receipt for a kind of collage, by following which all necessity to dÉpoter the bottles is obviated. This enclosure is unfortunately lost.

[329] Ms. correspondence of Bertin du Rocheret, quoted by M. Louis Perrier in his MÉmoire sur le Vin de Champagne. M. Perrier states that the prohibition was removed by an act of the 1st Nov. 1745; and a letter of Bertin to Chabane, the following year, bears this out. It is therefore singular to find the following entry in Bubb Doddington’s Diary, under the date of Feb. 1, 1753: ‘Went to the House to vote for liberty to import Champaign in bottles. Lord Hillsborough moved it; Mr. Fox seconded it. We lost the Motion. Ayes, 74; Noes, 141.’

[330] Letter to Sir Horace Mann, June 18, 1751.

[331] Jesse’s Selwyn and his Contemporaries. It is very probable that the name printed as Prissieux is really Puissieux, a title of the Sillery family.

[332] Lady Mary Wortley Montague’s Letter from Arthur Grey, the Footman, to Mrs. Murray. Written in the autumn of 1721.

[333] Lady M. W. Montague’s The Lover. This is generally designated ‘a ballad to Mr. Congreve,’ but is headed in Lady Mary’s note-book, ‘To Molly,’ and, as Mr. Moy Thomas has suggested, was probably addressed to Lord Hervey, Pope’s ‘Lord Fanny.’

[334] Note to his Letter on Bowles.

[335] Westminster Magazine, 1774.

[336] Grainger’s The Sugar Cane, 1764.

[337] Coleman and Garrick’s Clandestine Marriage, act i. sc. 2, 1766.

[338] Garrick’s Bon Ton, or High Life above Stairs, act i. sc. 2, 1775.

[339] Ibid.

[340] Ibid. act ii. sc. 1.

[341] Townley’s High Life below Stairs, act ii. sc. 1, 1759.

[342] So in Mrs. Cowley’s Which is the Man? Burgundy is extolled and ‘vile Port’ denounced; and in Cumberland’s The Fashionable Lover (1772) a sneer is levelled at a ‘paltry Port-drinking club.’ Burgundy, too, is in favour in Holcroft’s The Road to Ruin, 1792.

[343] Foote’s The Lame Lover, act iii. sc. 1, 1770.

[344] Garrick’s The Country Girl, act v. sc. 1.

[345] Foote’s The Fair Maid of Bath, act i. sc. 1, 1771.

[346] Holcroft’s The Road to Ruin, act iv. sc. 2, 1792.

[347] Sir Edward Barry’s Observations, Historical, Critical, and Medical, on the Wines of the Ancients, and the analogy between them and Modern Wines, 1775.

[348] Tickell’s Poems.

[349] Timbs’ Clubs and Club Life.

[350] In the EncyclopÉdie MÉthodique.

[351] Arthur Young’s Travels in France in the Years 1787–9.

[352] Sheen’s Wine and other fermented Liquors.

[353] Amongst other English customers of the firm in 1788, 1789, and 1790 were ‘Milords’ Farnham and Findlater, the latter of whom was supplied with 120 bottles of the vintage of 1788; Manning, of the St. Alban’s Tavern, London, who ordered 130 bottles of vin de Champagne, at 3 livres or 2 s. the bottle, to be delivered in the autumn by M. Caurette; Messrs. Felix Calvert & Sylvin, who took two sample bottles at 5 s.; and Mr. Lockhart, banker, of 36 Pall Mall, who in 1790 paid 3 s. per bottle for 360 bottles of the vintage of 1788. The high rate of exchange in our favour is shown by the 54 l. covering this transaction being taken as 1495 livres 7 sols 9 deniers, or about 28 livres per pound sterling.

[354] Walker’s The Original.

[355] ‘The Fair of Britain’s Isle’ (Convivial Songster, 1807).

[356] Diary of Mrs. Colonel St. George, written during her Sojourn amongst the German Courts in 1799 and 1800.

[357] Moore’s The Twopenny Post-bag, 1813.

[358] Moore’s Parody of a Celebrated Letter.

[359] The compound known as ‘the Regent’s Punch’ was made out of 3 bottles of Champagne, 2 of Madeira, 1 of hock, 1 of curaÇoa, 1 quart of brandy, 1 pint of rum, and 2 bottles of seltzer-water, flavoured with 4 lbs. bloom raisins, Seville oranges, lemons, white sugar-candy, and diluted with iced green tea instead of water (Tovey’s British and Foreign Spirits).

[360] Captain Gronow’s Reminiscences.

[361] Ibid.

[362] Prince Puckler Muskau’s Letters.

[363] Miss Burney’s Memoirs.

[364] Henderson’s History of Ancient and Modern Wines, 1824. Henderson, who appears to have visited the Champagne in 1822, remarks of the remaining crÛs of the province: ‘The wines of the neighbouring territories of Mareuil and Dizy are of similar quality to those of Ay, and are often sold as such. Those of Hautvillers, on the other hand, which formerly equalled, if not surpassed, the growths just named, have been declining in repute since the suppression of the monastery, to which the principal vineyard belonged.’

[365] Moore’s The Fudge Family Abroad, 1818.

[366] Moore’s The Sceptic.

[367] Moore’s Illustration of a Bore.

[368] Moore’s The Summer FÊte, 1831.

[369] Ibid.

[370] Ibid.

[371] Moore’s Diary, June 1819.

[372] Lockhart’s Life of Sir Walter Scott.

[373] Scott’s Diary, November 15, 1826.

[374] Byron’s English Bards and Scotch Reviewers, 1808.

[375] Byron’s Don Juan, canto xv. stanza lxv., 1821.

[376] Ibid. canto xvi. stanza ix.

[377] Ibid. canto xiii. stanzas xxxvii., xxxviii.

[378] According to recent statistics issued by the Chamber of Commerce of Reims, the department of the Marne contains 16,500 hectares of vineyards (40,755 acres), of which 2465 hectares are situated in the district of Vitry-le-FranÇois; 555 hectares in that of ChÂlons; 700 in that of Sainte Menehould; 7624 in that of Reims; and 5587 in the Epernay district, where the finest qualities of Champagne are grown. The value of the wine produced annually in these districts exceeds 60,000,000 francs (nearly 2 ½ millions sterling). During the last thirty years, the value of these vineyards has increased fourfold. The ‘population vigneronne’ of the department is 16,093 inhabitants.

[379] In the year 1871.

[380] The blending of black and white grapes together, although its advantages had been recognised in the Maison Rustique of 1574, appears not to have been successfully carried out at Ay till the days of Dom Perignon. ‘Formerly,’ remarks Pluche, ‘it was very difficult to preserve the wine of Ay longer than one year. When the juice of the white grapes, whose quantity was very great in that vineyard, began to assume a yellowish hue, it became predominant, and created a change in all the wine; but ever since the white grapes have been disused, the Marne wines may be easily kept for the space of four or five years’ (Spectacle de la Nature, 1732).

[381] From time immemorial the vineyards of Ay and Dizy paid tithes to the Abbey of Hautvillers, the former a sixtieth and the latter an eleventh of their produce. These dues were, by a decree of 1670, levied at the gate of Ay. In 1772, Tirant de Flavigny, a large wine-grower, who farmed, amongst other vineyards, ‘Les Quartiers’ at Hautvillers, insisted on leaving the tithe of grapes at the foot of the vine for collection by the abbey tithe-collectors. The Abbot Alexandre Ange de Talleyrand PÉrigord refused to accept them, and insisted in turn that the whole of the grapes should either be brought to the gate of Hautvillers or converted into wine in the vineyard, and the eleventh part of this wine handed to his representative. From a procÈs verbal drawn up by the Mayor of Ay, it seems that the inhabitants were willing to pay a monetary commutation, as was the prevailing custom, or to leave the abbot’s share of grapes in the vineyards; but objected to the tithe being taken, usually with considerable delay, on each basket, whereby the remaining grapes were bruised, and the possibility of bright white wine being made from them rendered exceedingly doubtful. It was not till 1787 that it was finally settled that the tithes should be paid in money at the rate of so much per arpent, and it is plain that the abbot’s chief object was to throw as much difficulty as he could in the way of rival makers of fine wines.

[382] This curse is alluded to in the following verse from a sixteenth-century ballad written against the men of Ay:

‘Tu n’auras ni chien ni chat
Pour te chanter Libera,
Et tu mourras mau-chrÉtien,
Toi qu’a maudit Saint TrÉzain.’

The fountain of St. Tresain, which enjoys the reputation of curing diseases, and in the water of which it is pretended stolen food cannot be cooked, still exists at Mareuil.

[383] The yield from the Ay vineyards averages five piÈces, or 220 gallons per acre. Arthur Young, writing in 1787, estimated that the arpent (rather more than the acre) produced from two to six piÈces of wine, or an average of four piÈces, two of which sold for 200 livres, one for 150 livres, and one for 50 livres. He valued the arpent of vines at from 3000 to 6000 livres. Henderson, in his History of Ancient and Modern Wines, says that in 1822 there were a thousand arpents on the hill immediately behind the village of Ay valued at from 10,000 to 12,000 francs the arpent, and that one plot had shortly before fetched 15,000 francs per arpent.

[384] In 1873, two years later, the price mounted as high as 1000 francs; while in 1880, owing to the yield being far below an average one and the quality promising to be exceedingly good, the wine was bought up before the grapes were pressed at prices ranging from 1100 to 1400 francs the piÈce.

[385] In one of these, dated 1243, mention is made of the ‘vinea parva’ belonging to the Abbey of Avenay, and of the ‘vineam Warneri in loco qui dicetur Monswarins,’ perhaps the existing clos Warigny. In another of Philip the Fair, dated 1300, and confirming the abbey in the possession of property purchased from Jeanne de Sapigneul, we read of ‘unam vineam dictam la grant vigne domine Aelidis sitam en Perrelles’ and ‘unam vineam dictam a la Perriere.’ In charters of the fourteenth century vineyards are mentioned at Avenay and Mutigny, under the titles of Les Perches, Haut-Bonnet, PraËlles, Les Foissets, Fond de Bonnet, Berard, Chassant, &c. One sold to the abbey in 1334 by Guillaume de Valenciennes was at a spot then, as now, styled Plantelles. In 1336 the justices at ChÂteau-Thierry confirmed the Abbess, Madame ClÉmence, in the ‘droit de ban vin’—that is, the right of selling her wine before any one else in the territory of Avenay. This was again confirmed in 1344 by the Bailly of SÉzanne, who held that she alone had the right of selling during the month after Christmas, the month after Easter, and the month after Pentecost. Amongst other records is one noting the condemnation of Perresson Legris, clerk, of Avenay, who was sentenced in 1460 by the Bailly of Epernay to a fine of 60 sols, for selling his wine during the month after Christmas without permission of the Dames d’Avenay. The charters of the fifteenth century also abound in references to vineyards, or ‘droits de vinage,’ appertaining to the abbey at Les Coutures, Champ Bernard, Auches, Bois de Brousse, Thonnay, &c., in the territory of Avenay, and Les CharmiÈres, Torchamp, Saussaye, &c., at Mutigny.

[386] In 1668, an epoch at which the wines of Avenay had acquired a high reputation, the abbey owned 43 arpents of vineland at Avenay, Mutigny, and Mareuil, yielding the preceding year 200 poinÇons of wine, the sale of which produced 6000 livres. It also had 13 pressoirs banaux, which were farmed for 50 poinÇons of wine, and tithes of wine at Mareuil amounting to 14 poinÇons and 460 livres in money, and at Ambonnay amounting to 3 poinÇons, the total of 67 poinÇons fetching 1206 livres. The valet who looked after the vines had 50 livres per annum, and the cooper who looked after the wines, 40 livres. The total cost of stakes, manure, culture, pruning, wine-making, and casks was 2700 livres per annum. Ten piÈces of wine ‘of the best of the abbey, and worth 300 livres,’ were annually given away in caques and bottles to ‘persons of quality and friends of the house, and travellers of condition who pass;’ whilst 120 poinÇons, valued at 3000 livres, were consumed at the abbey itself. The abbey was partially destroyed by fire in 1754; and its destruction was completed during the Revolution, at which epoch its vineyards yielded a net revenue of 2500 livres.

[387] In addition to Madame de la Marck, who was connected, by the marriage of one of her brothers to a princess of the house of Bourbon, with Henri Quatre, and to whose influence with that monarch the execution of the ‘TraitÉ des Vendanges’ was mainly due, the roll of the Abbesses of Avenay comprises several illustrious personages, amongst them St. Bertha; Bertha II., daughter of the Emperor Lothaire; the ex-Empress Teutberga; BÉnÉdicte de Gonzague, daughter of the Duke de Nevers, and sister of the Princess Palatine, who took such an active part during the troubles of the Fronde; and ladies of the illustrious families of Saulx Tavannes, Craon, Levis, Beauvillers, Brulart de Sillery, Boufflers, &c. M. Louis Paris, in his Histoire de l’Abbaye d’Avenay, gives some curious instances of the exercise of the ‘haut et basse justice’ possessed by these ladies. In 1587, under the rule of Madame de la Marck, we find the Bailly of Avenay, acting as ‘first magistrate of Madame l’Abbesse,’ sentencing one man and four women ‘to be hung, strangled, and burnt, and the goods belonging to them confiscated to the profit of the Lady Justiciary,’ for the crime of sorcery. In 1645 we find a ‘sentence of the Bailly of Avenay against Simeon Delacoste, accused and convicted of the crime of homicide committed upon the person of Jean Bernier, and for this condemned to be hung and strangled by the executioner on a gallows erected in the public market-place, with confiscation of 300 livres, to be levied on his goods, to the profit of the Lady Justiciary.’ When the criminal could not be caught, as was the case with Nicholas Thimot, vine-grower at Avenay in 1555, the sentence ran that he should ‘be hung in effigy, and his goods confiscated to the profit of Madame.’

[388] The following lines, quoted by M. Philibert Milsand in his ProcÈs poÉtique touchant les Vins de Bourgogne et de Champagne, may be taken as referring either to the wine or the scenery:

‘Si quis in hoc mundo vult vivere corde jocoso,
Vadat Cumerias sumere delicias.’

[389] In Arthur Young’s time (1787–9) an arpent of vineyard at Hautvillers, valued at 4000 livres, yielded from two to four piÈces, or hogsheads, of wine, which sold from 700 to 900 livres the queue (two piÈces). This is more than the wine would ordinarily realise to-day, although in years of scarcity it has fetched 700 francs the piÈce, and in 1880 as much as 1000 francs.

[390] Cazotte, ex-Commissary-General of the Navy and author of the Diable Amoureux, who was guillotined as a Royalist in 1792, had a magnificently fitted mansion at Pierry. He distinguished himself by his opposition to the pretensions of the Abbey of Hautvillers, which in 1775 claimed the right of taking tithes at Pierry not only in the vineyards, but on the wine in the cellars. Cazotte argued that unless the monks chose to take their due proportion of grapes left for them at the foot of each vine, all they were entitled to was a monetary commutation of the tithe; for the wine being usually made of grapes from a dozen different sources, many of them beyond their domain, it would be impossible to ascertain the proportion that was their due. The Parliament of Paris decided, however, that the abbey might take the fortieth of the wine a month after it was barrelled, unless the vine-growers preferred to give them the fortieth part of all the grapes brought to the press. The fact was that the monks really wished to check the practice of mixing grapes from different districts at the press, for fear wine equal to their own should result from this plan, first satisfactorily put in practice by Dom Perignon. Arthur Young mentions that an arpent of vines at Pierry was valued at 2000 livres, half the price the same extent commanded at Hautvillers.

[391] M. Armand Bourgeois, in his work on Le Sourdon et sa VallÉe, mentions a local tradition to the effect that Saint Remi, who from his will is shown to have owned vinelands of some extent in a part of this district still known as the EvÊchÉ, installed a hermit in this said grotto of the Pierre de Saint Mamert to supervise his vineyards.

[392] Bertin du Rocheret writes thus in 1744, and adds that the aspect of Avize had at that epoch become entirely changed by the numerous fine ‘maisons de vendange’ erected there.

[393] In 1205 Gilbert Belon conferred an annual gift on the Abbey of St. Martin of seven hogsheads of vinage derived from the vineyards of Oger.

[394]

‘Je fus jadis de terre vertueuse
Nez de Virtuz, pais renommÉ,
OÙ il avait ville trÈs gracieuse,
Dont li bon vin sont en maints lieux nommÉs.’

Eustache Deschamps’ poem on the Burning of Vertus.

[395]

‘Quant vient de si noble racine
Come du droit plan de Beaune,
Qui ne porte pas couleur jaune
Mais vermeille, franche, plaisant,
Qui fait tout autre odeur taisant,
Quand elle est aportÉe en place.’

Deschamps’ La Charte des Bons Enfans de Vertus.

[396]

‘Si vous alez au benefice
Mieulx vous vauldra que ung clistÈre.’—Ibid.

[397] In 1880 the Vertus wine realised the remarkably high price of from 1200 to 1400 francs the piÈce.

[398] St. Evremond’s Letters (London, 1728).

[399] St. Simon’s MÉmoires.

[400] Bertin du Rocheret’s MS. extracts from the Registre des AssemblÉes du peuple de la ville d’Epernay.

[401] Henderson’s History of Ancient and Modern Wines.

[402] Arthur Young’s Travels in France in 1787–8–9.

[403] Anonymous Journal de ce qui s’est passÉ d’intÉressant À Reims en 1814.

[404] Dom Chatelain, in his MS. notes on the History of Reims, relates that Henri Quatre, being one day at Sully’s, asked the Minister for some breakfast, and after drinking a glass or two of wine, exclaimed, ‘Ventre Saint Gris, this is a grand wine; it beats mine of Ay and all others. I should like to know where it comes from.’ ‘’Tis my friend Taissy,’ answered Sully, ‘who sends it to me.’ ‘Then I must be introduced to him,’ said the King; which was accordingly done. The wines of Taissy had a high reputation as late as the eighteenth century. They were classed by St. Evremond and Brossette, the commentator of Boileau, amongst the best vintages of the Champagne, and their reputation was maintained by the care bestowed by the AbbÉ Godinot on the vineyards which he owned here.

[405]

‘Qu’Horace du Falerne entonne les louanges,
Que de son vieux Massique il vante les attraits;
Tous ces vins si fameux n’Égaleront jamais
Du charmant Sillery les heureuses vendanges!’

Translation by Le Monnoye in the Recueil des PoÉsies Latines et FranÇaises, &c., Paris, 1712.

[406] The wine of Verzenay, like that of Bouzy, owes much of its reputation to the example set in the eighteenth century by the AbbÉ Godinot, author of the MÉmoire on the cultivation of the grape and the manufacture of wine in the Champagne, published in 1711. He owned extensive vineyards at Verzenay and Bouzy, and his prolonged investigations as to the species of vines and composts best suited to the district led to a complete revolution in the system of culture and mode of pressing the fruit. Bertin du Rocheret praises ‘the excellent wine of Verzenay’ served at the banquets celebrating the conclusion of the assembly of the Etats de Vitry, held at ChÂlons in 1744.

[407] The value in 1880 of a hectare of vines, equivalent to nearly two and a half acres, was as follows:

At Verzy, Verzenay, and Sillery, 35 to 38,000 francs.
Bouzy and Ambonnay, 38 40,000
Ay and Dizy, 40 45,000
Hautvillers, 20 22,000
Pierry, 18,000
Cramant and Avize, 38 40,000
Le Mesnil, 22 25,000

[408] This was far from being the first appearance of the pest in this district. From 1779 to 1785 similar ravages drove the vignerons to despair; but the weather during the last-named year suddenly turning wet and cold, just at the epoch of the butterflies emerging from their chrysalids, the evil disappeared as though by enchantment, an event duly acknowledged by parochial rejoicings and religious processions. In 1816 similar ravages took place; and from 1820 to 1830 the pyrale also caused great devastation.

In the year 1613, Jehan Pussot, the local chronicler of Reims, notes that a large proportion of the vines were destroyed by ‘a great concourse of worms,’ which attacked those plants which the frost had spared. This would establish that either the pyrale or the cochylis was known to the Champenois viticulturists at the commencement of the seventeenth century.

[409] In 1873, in all the higher-class vineyards, as much as two francs and a quarter per kilogramme (11 d. per lb.) were paid, being more than treble the average price. And yet the vintage was a most unsatisfactory one, owing to the deficiency of sun and abundance of wet throughout the summer. The market, however, was in great need of wine, and the fruit while still ungathered was bought up at most exorbitant prices by the spÉculateurs who supply the vin brut to the Champagne manufacturers.

In 1874 the grapes of the Mountain sold from at 55 to 160 francs the caque, according to the crus; and those of the CÔte d’Avize at from 1 f. 25 c. to 2 f. per kilogramme. In 1875, on the other hand, grapes could be obtained at Verzenay, Verzy, Ambonnay, and Bouzy at from 45 to 55 francs the caque; and at Vertus, Le Mesnil, Oger, Grauves, Cramant, and Avize, at from 40 to 70 centimes the kilogramme. By far the highest price secured by the growers for their grapes was in 1880, when the produce of the grand crus of the Mountain fetched as much as 220 f. the caque, equal to nearly 3 f. 60 c. the kilogramme, or about 1 s. 5 d. per lb. It was, as usual, scarcity rather than quality that caused this unprecedented rise in price.

[410] M. MaumÉnÉ relates in his TraitÉ du Travail des Vins that on one occasion, when, as an experiment, 3000 first-class bottles, which had already been used, were employed anew, only fifteen or sixteen of the whole number resisted the pressure. Moreover, if much broken glass is remelted down and used in the manufacture, the bottles do not turn out well, the second fusion of silicates never having the same cohesion as the first. The glass-works of SÈvres and Bercy, which melt down most of the broken glass collected in Paris, have never been able to supply bottles strong enough for sparkling wines.

[411] Loivre is about seven miles from Reims on the road to Laon.

[412] It is calculated that wine, the grape sugar in which yields ten per cent of alcohol, according to the average in Champagne, would, if bottled immediately after pressing, produce enough carbonic acid gas to develop a pressure of thirty-two atmospheres. But such a pressure is never developed, as the wine is not bottled directly it leaves the press; besides which no bottle could stand it. From four to six atmospheres insure a lively explosion and a brisk creamy foam. It is necessary, therefore, that fermentation should have been carried on till at least three-fourths of the sugar have been converted into alcohol and carbonic acid gas before the wine is drawn off for bottling, for even the very best bottles burst under a pressure of eight atmospheres.

A few words on the origin and development of the effervescent properties of Champagne will not be out of place here. These are due, as already explained, to the presence of a large quantity of carbonic acid gas, the evolution of which has been prevented by the bottling of the wine prior to the end of the alcoholic fermentation. The source of carbonic acid gas exists in all wines, and they may be all rendered sparkling by the same method of treatment. Still, no effervescent wine can compare with the finest growths of the Champagne, for these possess the especial property of retaining a large portion of their sugar during, and even after, fermentation; besides which, the soil imparts a native bouquet that no other wine can match.

Carbonic acid gas is one of the two products of the fermentation of grape sugar, the other being alcohol. In wine fermented in casks it rises to the surface, and escapes through the bunghole left open for the purpose. The case is different with wine fermenting in bottles tightly secured by corks. Part of the gas developed rises into the chamber or vacant space left in the bottle, where, mingling with the atmospheric air, it exercises a constantly increasing pressure on the surface of the wine. This pressure at length becomes so strong as to keep all the gas subsequently formed dissolved in the wine itself, which it saturates, as it were, and thereby converts into sparkling wine. Upon the bottle being opened, the gas accumulated in the chamber rushes into the air, producing a slight explosion, or pop, and freeing from pressure the gas which had remained dissolved in the wine, and which in turn escapes in the shape of numberless tiny bubbles, forming the foam so pleasing to the eye on rising to the surface.

Sometimes on opening a bottle of Champagne the pop is loud, but the effervescence feeble and transitory; and, on the other hand, there is merely a slight explosion, and yet the wine froths and sparkles vigorously and continuously. The two bottles may contain the same quantity of gas, but in the one there is more in the chamber and less dissolved in the wine, and hence the loud pop and slight sparkle; while in the other the pressure is low, and the explosion consequently slighter, but there is more gas in the wine itself, and the effervescence is proportionately greater and more lasting. In the former case the wine has received the addition of, or has contained from the outset, some matter calculated to diminish its power of dissolving carbonic acid gas, and is unsuitable for making good sparkling wine. The nature of the effervescence is one of the best tests of the quality of the wine. Gas naturally dissolved does not all escape at once on the removal of the pressure, but, on the contrary, about two-thirds of it are retained by the viscidity of the wine. The better and more natural the wine, the more intimately the carbonic acid gas remains dissolved in it, and the finer its bubbles.

The form of the glass out of which Champagne is drunk has an influence on its effervescence. The wine sparkles far better in a glass terminating in a point, like the old-fashioned flÛte, or the modern goblet or patera, with a hollow stem, than in one with a rounded bottom. The reason is that any point formed around the liquid, as instanced in the pointed bottoms of these glasses, or in the liquid, as may be proved by putting the end of a pointed glass rod into the wine, favours the disengagement of the gas. Powder of any kind presents a number of tiny points, and hence the dropping of a little powdered sugar into Champagne excites effervescence. Porous bodies like bread-crumbs produce the same effect. Even dust has a similar action; and the wine will froth better in a badly-wiped glass than in one perfectly clean, though it would hardly do to put forward such an excuse as this for using dirty goblets.

The lively pop of the cork is less esteemed in England than in certain circles in France, where many hosts would be sadly disappointed if the wine they put before their guests did not go off with a loud bang, causing the ladies to scream and the gentlemen to laugh. A brisk foam, too, is absolutely necessary for the prestige of the wine, and ‘grand mousseux’ is a quality much sought after by the general public on the other side of the Channel. It is not rare to meet with wines of a high class in which the removal of the cork produces a loud explosion; but unfortunately the brisk report and sharp but transitory rush of foam are features easily imparted by artificial means. The ordinary white wines of Lorraine and other provinces receive a certain addition of spirit and liqueur, and are then artificially charged with carbonic acid gas obtained from carbonate of lime, chalk, and similar materials, after the fashion in which soda-water is made. These wines, sold as Champagne, eject their corks with a loud pop, but three-fourths of the carbonic acid gas escape at the same time, and the wine soon becomes flat and dead; whereas a naturally sparkling wine of good quality left open for three hours and then recorked will be found fresh and drinkable the next day.

Both the explosion and the subsequent effervescence are aided by a high temperature, which assists the development of the gas. Cold has the opposite effect, and iced wine neither pops nor sparkles. It, however, retains, if genuine, the whole of the carbonic acid gas held dissolved, which is not the case with the imitations spoken of.

Were it not that the question has been seriously started on more than one occasion, and only solved to the satisfaction of the questioner by a chemico-anatomical explanation, it would hardly be worth while touching upon the supposed hurtfulness of the carbonic acid gas contained in sparkling wines. The fact of accidents frequently occurring in breweries, distilleries, wine-presses, &c., from the accumulation of this gas, to breathe which for a few seconds is mortal, has led some people to wonder how Champagne, whilst containing so large a proportion of it, can be swallowed with impunity. The gas, however, which produces fatal results when inhaled into the lungs, by depriving the blood of the oxygen which it should find there, has in the stomach a beneficial effect, serving to promote digestion. In drinking Champagne it is conveyed direct to this latter region, so that no danger whatever exists, any more than in the mineral waters.—Mainly condensed from E. J. MaumÉnÉ’s TraitÉ du Travail des Vins.

[413] For a long time the most erroneous ideas as to the cause of such breakage and the means of preventing it prevailed. Tasting, which was most relied on for ascertaining how far fermentation had gone, could not be depended upon with accuracy, though the rule of thumb laid down by some makers was that the time to bottle with the least risk of breakage was when the sweet taste had disappeared, and vinous flavour developed itself. The aerometers subsequently introduced failed to answer the purpose, because the saccharine matter was not the only thing capable of influencing them. The result usually was either the bottling of a must so full of effervescence as to break the bottles, or of wine already completely fermented and incapable of effervescing at all.

[414] In some establishments tables made after the same fashion replace the racks, whilst another plan of coaxing the sediment down towards the cork is to stack the bottles at the outset in double rows, with their necks inclining downwards, laths placed between each layer maintaining them in their position. This method effects a great economy of time and space, the bottles requiring on an average only a few days on the racks prior to shipment to thoroughly complete the operation.

[415] As the real origin of this system is a matter which has excited no small amount of controversy, and as several claimants to the honour of its discovery have had their names put forward by different writers, the following extracts from a letter from M. Alfred WerlÉ, of the house founded by Madame Clicquot, may serve to render honour where it is really due: ‘Already, in 1806 (I am unable to speak of an earlier period with absolute certainty), the bottles were placed on tables, like to-day, with their heads downwards; each bottle being taken out of its hole, raised in the air, and shaken with the hand, so as to cause the cream of tartar and the deposit it contained to fall upon the cork, the holes being round, and the bottles placed straight downwards. This lasted till 1818, when a man named MÜller, an employÉ of Madame Clicquot, suggested to her that the bottles should be left in the table whilst being shaken, and that the holes should be cut obliquely, so that the bottles might remain inclined. He maintained that one would thus obtain a wine of far greater limpidity. The trial was made, and every day, with a view of keeping this new process a secret, MÜller and Madame Clicquot shut themselves up alone in the cellars, and shook the bottles unperceived. In 1821 MÜller was assisted by a workman named Mathieu Binder; and in 1823 or 1824, Madame Clicquot having purchased from M. Morizet a cuvÉe of wine which was shaken and prepared in this merchant’s cellars, one of his employÉs named Thomassin became acquainted with the new method, and resolved to practise it; since when it gradually spread, and eventually was generally adopted. M. WerlÉ senior recollects perfectly well that when he arrived at Madame Clicquot’s in 1821 it was only at her establishment that the bottles were shaken in this manner. The practice of shaking the bottles was a very old one, and no more invented by MÜller than by Thomassin; but the former certainly effected great improvements by employing the system of oblique holes, and shaking the bottles in the table and not in the air.’

[416] M. MaumÉnÉ has pointed out that if a solution of tannin or alum has been added to the cuvÉe at the time of fining, the deposit is certain to be granular and non-adherent. But he justly remarks that these solutions, especially the latter, though doing good to the wine, have a precisely opposite effect upon the human stomach that consumes it.

[417] The Regiment de Champagne was one of the most famous of the vieux corps, and claimed to be the second oldest regiment in the French army.

[418] The system of dosing the wine does not appear to have been practised prior to the present century.

[419] The high favour in which sugar-candy is held for mixing with this Champagne liqueur dates from the latter part of the last century, when there was a perfect mania for everything in a crystallised form, as being the height of condensation and purity. The competition between the first houses of Reims and Epernay to secure the largest and finest crystals was very keen, and it was considered disgraceful for any firm of standing to make use of sugar-candy of a yellow tinge or in small crystals. Latterly it has been demonstrated that these expensive crystals contain more water and less saccharine matter than an equal weight of loaf-sugar, and that they sometimes contain a glutinous element capable of imparting an insipid flavour to the wine.—MaumÉnÉ’s TraitÉ du Travail des Vins.

[420] Instances have been known of additions of 25 and even 30 per cent of liqueur, though the average may be taken to be for Germany and France, 15 to 18 per cent; America, 10 to 15 per cent; England, 2 to 6 per cent.

[421] The corrosive action of rust upon the wire has led to several attempts to replace it, and some Champagne houses have adopted more or less ingenious appliances of metal, &c. Tinned iron wire has been found to resist rust, but is too expensive; whilst an experiment with galvanised wire resulted in serious illness amongst the workmen handling it, owing to the poisonous fumes evolved by the zinc when acted upon by the acids of the wine.

[422] M. Viollet-le-Duc, Dictionnaire raisonnÉ de l’Architecture du Vme au XVIme SiÈcle.

[423] An engraving of this tower, removed while the present work was passing through the press, will be found on p. 50.

[424] See the engraving on p. 16.

[425] Read before the Academy of Reims in February 1845, printed by them in their Transactions, and subsequently republished in volume form.

[426] It is generally supposed that the gate took its name from a hospital standing a short distance without the walls, and destined for the reception either of lepers or of pilgrims arriving after nightfall. The prevalent opinion is that it bore the inscription Dei merito, translated as Dieu le mÉrite, which became corrupted into Dieu-LumiÈre. Under Louis XI. it certainly figures as Di Merito.

[427] A curious old engraving copied from an ancient tapestry represents the entry of the royal procession into Reims through the Porte Dieu-LumiÈre. Joan of Arc, beside the king and in company with the Dukes of Bourbon and AlenÇon, bears the banner of France; whilst her father and mother are seen arriving with the king’s baggage by another road.

[428] A.D. 499.

[429] Victor Fievet’s Histoire d’Epernay.

[430] M. A. Nicaise’s Epernay et l’Abbaye de St. Martin.

[431] Ibid.

[432] Victor Fievet’s Histoire d’Epernay. In December 1540, when the eschevins fixed the ‘vinage,’ the queue of wine was valued at eight to nine livres.

[433] The partiality of Charles V. for the wine of Ay has been elsewhere spoken of. The vendangeoir mentioned was in existence in 1726.

[434] Victor Fievet’s Histoire d’Epernay.

[435] M. A. Nicaise’s Epernay et l’Abbaye de St. Martin.

[436] Ibid.

[437] The thoroughfare at Epernay known as the Rempart de la Tour Biron commemorates the above event.

[438] Victor Fievet’s Histoire d’Epernay.

[439]

‘Ce diable À quatre
A le triple talent
De boire et de battre,
Et d’Être vert-galant.’

[440]

‘On lui verse le vin de la cÔte voisine,
PÉtillant, savoureux qui soudain l’illumine
D’Étincelants rayons de joie et de gaÎtÉ;
Redevenant poËte, il chante la beautÉ
Qui l’aide À conquÉrir doucement la Champagne.’

M. Camille Blondiot’s Henri IV. au SiÈge d’Epernay.

[441]

‘Viens aurore,
Je t’implore,
Je suis gai quand je te voi;
La bergÈre
Qui m’est chÈre
Est vermeille comme toi.
Elle est blonde,
Sans seconde,
Elle a la taille À la main;
Sa prunelle
Etincelle
Comme l’astre du matin.
De rosÉe,
ArrosÉe,
La rose a moins de fraÎcheur;
Une hermine
Est moins fine,
Le lis a moins de blancheur.
D’ambroisie,
Bien choisie,
Dupuis se nourrit À part;
Et sa bouche
Quand j’y touche
Me parfume de nectar.’

[442] From the Extrait du Registre et Papiers des AssemblÉs du Peuple de la Ville d’Epernay, preserved in the MSS. of Bertin du Rocheret.

[443] Bertin du Rocheret’s MSS.

[444] Ibid.

[445] MÉmoire concernant la Ville d’Epernay, by MaÎtre FranÇois Stapart, notaire au bailliage, published in 1749.

[446] Max Sutaine’s Essai sur le Vin de Champagne.

[447] Arthur Young’s Travels in France in the Years 1787–8–9.

[448] Victor Fievet’s Histoire d’Epernay. In the list of expenses incurred on the passage of Louis XVI. and his family, four hundred livres are set down to ‘the Sieur Memmie Cousin, innkeeper and merchant at Epernay, for the dinner of the king, the queen, and the royal family, as well as for an indemnity for the furniture broken at the said Cousin’s.’

As regards the price of the wines of the River during the Revolutionary epoch, an old account-book of Messrs. MoËt & Chandon shows that in 1797 the firm paid for the white wine of Epernay and Avize 200 francs, for that of Chouilly 180 francs, and for that of Pierry and Cramant 150 francs per piÈce; whilst that of Ay cost from 565 to 600 francs the queue. Bottles in 1790 only cost 16 livres 10 sols the hundred.

[449] The Clos St. Pierre is now the property of M. Charles Porquet, and the ancient seignorial residence of the monks of St. Pierre, at Pierry, is occupied by M. Papelart. Both these gentlemen are wine-merchants.

[450] Cazotte, writing in October 1791, speaks of the village as peopled with ‘gros propriÉtaires;’ and in November, that it had ‘thirty-two households of well-to-do people.’ Amongst its inhabitants were the Marquis Tirant de Flavigny, Dubois de Livry, Quatresols de la Motte, De Lastre d’Aubigny, De Lantage, &c., most of whose residences are still extant. In October 1792 several accusations were made against soldiers for picking and eating grapes in the vineyards of Pierry and Moussy, belonging to Cazotte, De la Motte, De Lantage, D’Aubigny, &c.

[451] Part of it now serves as the ‘maison communale’ and school-house of the village.

[452] Arrested at Pierry in August 1792, in consequence of the discovery, on the sacking of the Tuileries, of a new plan of escape for the royal family, sent by him to his friend Ponteau, secretary of the Civil List, Cazotte was brought to Paris and immured, in company with his daughter Elizabeth, in the prison of the Abbaye. Arraigned before the self-constituted tribunal presided over by the butcher Maillard, on the night of the 3d September, the fatal words ‘To La Force,’ equivalent to a sentence of death, were pronounced; and Cazotte was about to fall beneath the sabres already raised against him, when Elizabeth covered his body with her own, and by her heroic appeals induced the assassins to forego their prey. She even had the courage to drink with them to the Republic, and with her father was escorted home in triumph. A few days later, however, he was rearrested, condemned to death by the Revolutionary Tribunal, and on the 25th September ascended the scaffold, from whence he cried with a firm voice to the multitude, ‘I die as I have lived, faithful to God and my king.’

Under date of the 10 Prairial An II. (1793), the citizen Bourbon was appointed by the municipality of Pierry to cultivate the vineyards ‘du gillotinÉ (sic) Cazotte.’

[453] In 1775 the Abbot of Hautvillers, as dÉcimateur of Pierry, claimed to take tithe of a fortieth of all wines in the cellars of the village. This claim being rejected by the baillage of Epernay in 1777, he appealed to the Parliament of Paris. Cazotte undertook the case of his fellow-proprietors, pleading that the abbey, which, according to strict law, was bound to take the tithe in the shape of grapes left at the foot of each vine, had long since replaced this by a monetary commutation; and that the inhabitants of Pierry, like the other wine-growers of the Champagne, being ‘obliged, in order to obtain perfection in their wines, to mix the grapes of several crus and different tithings, it would be impossible to tithe the wine itself.’ He also argued that the question had been settled by a decision on the same point in favour of the inhabitants of Ay and Dizy. However, the monks obtained a decree from parliament authorising them to take the fortieth of the vintage a month after the wines had been barrelled, unless the wine-growers preferred ‘to pay the tithe at the wine-press, in form of the fortieth load of grapes free from all mixture.’ The inhabitants appealed in 1780, pleading the impossibility of this plan of tithing at the press, on account of the expense and of the difficulty of sorting out the grapes from those brought from Moussy, Vinay, Monthelon, Cuis, Epernay, and other districts in which they had also vineyards. The Revolution cut the Gordian knot of this affair, which really arose from the wish of the monks to hinder as much as possible that plan of mixing grapes from different sources, to which the perfection of their own wine was due.

[454] In January 1790 the inhabitants of Pierry unanimously elected Cazotte their first mayor under the new rÉgime. A decree signed by him in this capacity, and dated April 11, 1790, fixes the price for a day’s work in the vineyards at 12 sols. In 1793 the municipality of the adjoining district of Moussy fixed the day’s hire of the vintager at 25 sous, of horses employed in the vintage at 7 livres 10 sous, and of asses at 5 livres. As regards the price of the local cru, amongst the items of the accounts of the syndic of Moussy for the years 1787–8 is the following: ‘For thirteen bottles of stringed wine (vin fisselÉ) sent to Paris to the procureur of the community (Failly lawsuit), 13 livres.’ The community were then engaged in a lawsuit with the Count de Failly respecting a wood. During the Revolutionary epoch it was decreed by the municipality of Pierry that a vineyard known as les Rennes should, on account of the resemblance to les Reines, be in future styled les Sans-culottes. It has since resumed its old name.

[455] The story of Cazotte prophesying not only his own fate, but that of the king and queen, Condorcet, Bailly, Malesherbes, Nicolai, the Duchess de Grammont, and others who perished during the Terror, at a dinner given at an Academician’s in 1788, has been proved to be a mere invention on the part of La Harpe. Nevertheless there seems but little doubt that he distinctly foresaw many coming evils; and a native of Pierry, M. Armand Bourgeois, asserts that his maternal grandfather was one day at Cazotte’s house in the village, when the entire company were completely upset by their host’s prophecies of a coming revolution.

[456] P. Jannet’s Recueil des PoÉsies franÇaises des 15me et 16me SiÈcles.

[457] Louis Perrier’s MÉmoire sur le Vin de Champagne.

[458] St. Evremond’s Letters, &c. (London, 1714).

[459] Max Sutaine’s Essai sur le Vin de Champagne.

[460] Bertin du Rocheret’s MSS. Histoire d’Epernay.

[461]

‘Ay produit les meilleurs vins—
J’en prends À tÉmoin tout le monde;
Mais vous prÉfÉrez ceux de Reims,
Ay produit les meilleurs vins.
Ce sont les premiers, les plus fins,
Et Saint Evremont me seconde.
Ay produit les meilleurs vins—
J’en prends À tÉmoin tout le monde.
Charles Quint s’y connoissoit bien
Il en faisoit la diffÉrence;
Et mieux que son maÎtre Adrien,
Charles Quint s’y connoissoit bien,
Pour en boire, il ne tint a rien
Qu’il ne vÎnt demeurer en France.
Charles Quint s’y connoissoit bien
Il en faisoit la diffÉrence.
Pour qu’on ne pÛt le mÉlanger,
Et que sa table fÛt complÈte,
Lui mÊme faisoit vendanger,
Pour qu’on ne pÛt le mÉlanger.
LÉon craignant mÊme danger,
D’un pressoir d’Ay fit emplÈte,
Pour qu’on ne pÛt le mÉlanger,
Et que sa table fÛt complÈte.’

The Adrien mentioned in the second verse was Pope Adrian VI., who had been the Emperor’s preceptor, and who by his influence obtained the tiara on the death of Leo X. Unlike his predecessor, he was very simple in his habits.

[462] Maison Rustique, edition of 1574.

[463] Louis Perrier’s MÉmoire sur le Vin de Champagne.

[464] An allusion to the curse pronounced by St. Tresain against the men of Ay.

[465] Maison Rustique (1582), translated by Richard Surflet (London, 1600).

[466] Ibid.

[467] Ibid.

[468] Paulmier’s treatise, De Vino et Pomaceo (1588).

[469] Maison Rustique (1582).

[470] Legrand d’Aussy’s Vie privÉe des FranÇais.

[471] Louis Perrier’s MÉmoire sur le Vin de Champagne.

[472] Recueil des PoÉsies latines et franÇaises sur le Vin de Champagne (Paris, 1712). Gonesse, a village of the department of Seine-et-Oise, about ten miles to the north of Paris, had a high reputation for its bread for several centuries.

[473]

‘Notre bon roi, le grand Henry,
En rÉgaloit sa belle hÔtesse,
Quand il couchoit À Damery,
Notre bon roi, le grand Henry,
C’Étoit-lÀ son jus favori;
Et son pain, celui de Gonesse,
Notre bon roi, le grand Henry,
En rÉgaloit sa belle hÔtesse.’

Published in the Mercure of January 1728. Henry was accustomed to speak of the PrÉsidente as his ‘belle hÔtesse.’

[474] Circa 1590.

[475] ThÉÂtre de l’Agriculture et Mesnage des Champs (1600).

[476] Published at Orleans, 1605. As regards the price of the newly-made wine of Ay at this epoch, Jehan Pussot says that, in 1604, it fetched from 25 to 45 livres; in 1605, from 60 livres upwards; and in 1609, from 100 to 120 livres, at the epoch of the vintage.

[477] Chaulieu says that St. Evremond

‘Ne chante dans ses vers heureux
Que l’inconstance et la Tocane’—

Tocane being usually made of the wine of Ay.

[478] St. Evremond’s Works (London, 1714).

[479] Chaulieu extols the Tocane of Ay, and some verses of Voltaire have been quoted on p. 61.

[480] Arthur Young’s Travels in France in the Years 1787–8–9.

[481]

CHAMPAGNE.

Less for thy grace and glory, land of ours,
Than for thy dolour, dear,
Let the grief go; and here—
Here’s to thy skies, thy women, and thy flowers!
France, take the toast, thy women and thy roses;
France, to thy wine, more wealth unto thy store!
And let the lips a grievous memory closes
Smile their proud smile once more!
Swarthy Falernian, Massica the Red,
Were ye the nectars poured
At the great gods’ broad board?
No, poor old wines, all but in name long dead,
Nectar’s Champagne—the sparkling soul of mirth,
That, bubbling o’er with laughing gas,
Flashes gay sunbeams in the glass,
And like our flag goes proudly round the earth.
‘I am the blood Burgundian sunshine makes;
A fine old feudal knight,
Of bluff and boisterous might,
Whose casque feels—ah, so heavy when one wakes!’
‘And I, the dainty Bordeaux, violets’
Perfume, and whose rare rubies gourmets prize;
My subtile savour gets
In partridge wings its daintiest allies.’
Ah, potent chiefs, Bordeaux and Burgundy,
If we must answer make,
This sober counsel take:
Messeigneurs, sing your worth less haughtily,
For ’tis Champagne, the sparkling soul of mirth,
That, bubbling o’er with laughing gas,
Flashes gay sunbeams in the glass,
And like our flag goes proudly round the earth.
Ay, ’tis the true, the typic wine of France;
Ay, ’tis our heart that sparkles in our eyes,
And higher beats for every dire mischance.
It was the wit that made our fathers wise,
That made their valour gallant, gay,
When plumes were stirred by winds of waving swords,
And chivalry’s defiance spoke the words:
‘A vous, Messieurs les Anglais, les premiers!’
Let the dull beer-apostle till he’s hoarse
Vent his small spleen and spite—
Fate fill his sleepless night
With nightmares of invincible remorse!
We sing Champagne, the sparkling soul of mirth,
That, bubbling o’er with laughing gas,
Flashes gay sunbeams in the glass,
And like our flag goes proudly round the earth.

Transcriber’s Note:

This e-text is based on the 1882 edition. The original spelling, as well as the use of punctuation and quotation marks, have been retained.

The following errors have been corrected:

# p. xi: ‘Sauturnes’ ? ‘Sauternes’
# p. 52: ‘which ne declares’ ? ‘which he declares’
# p. 154: ‘its owes’ ? ‘it owes’
# p. 204: ‘Bonaporte’ ? ‘Bonaparte‘
# p. 220: ‘histriographer’ ? ‘historiographer’
# p. 229: ‘Reputatiou’ ? ‘Reputation’
# p. 256: ‘Saint-Poray; ? ‘Saint-PÉray;
# Footnote 412: ‘tho gas’ ? ‘the gas’






                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

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