[Illustration: “DRINKS”]
DRINKS
OF THE
WORLD
BY
JAMES MEW,
Author of “Types from Spanish Story,” &c., &c.,
AND
JOHN ASHTON,
Author of “Social Life in the Reign of Queen Anne,” &c., &c.
_ONE HUNDRED ILLUSTRATIONS._
1892.
_LONDON:_
_The Leadenhall Press, 50, Leadenhall Street, E.C.
Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co., Ltd._
_NEW YORK: Scribner & Welford._
* * * * *
“Ingeniosa Sitis.”—_Martial, Epig._ xiv. 117.
“J’y ai songé comme un autre, et je suis tenté de mettre l’appétence
des liqueurs fermentées, qui n’est pas connue des animaux, à côté de
l’inquiétude de l’avenir, qui leur est étrangère, et de les regarder
l’une et l’autre comme des attributs distinctifs du chef-d’œuvre de la
dernière révolution sublunaire.”—_Brillat-Savarin, Physiologie du Goût,
Medit._ 9.
“Ac si quis diligenter reputet, in nulla parte operosior vita est, ceu
non saluberrimum ad potum aquæ liquorem natura dederit, quo cætera omnia
animantia utuntur.”—_Pliny, Nat. Hist._ xiv. 28.
“Wine that maketh glad the heart of man.”—_Ps._ civ. 15.
INDEX.
Absinthe, 162-166
Adulteration of Beer, 199
Aërated Drinks, 324
Waters, Introduction of, 332
African Beers, 200
Wines, 58
Aix-la-Chapelle Council Decree, 158
Aizen, 355
Alcohol in Wine, 53
Effects on different Races, 51
Origin of the word, 116
Alcoholic strength of Gin, 140
Ale Conners, 200-220
Syllabub, 335
and Wine drinkers, social difference in, 93
Early mention of, 39
Origin of the word, 196
Various, 226
American Beers, 201
Drinks, 180
Terms, explanation of, 180-181
Wines, 59
Aminean Wine, 26
Analysis of Tea, 246
Anglo-Saxon Liquors, 44
Animals’ Blood, 355
Anisette, 165
Aqua Vite Composita recipe, 120
Early esteem of, 117
Arrack, 113, 343
Araffer, 359
Artificial Wines, 157
Assur-ba-ni-pal’s List of Wines, 19
Assyrian Wines, 18
Athenæus on Egyptian Wines, 15
Athol-brose, 148
Auld Man’s Milk, 185
Augustus’ favourite Drink, 30
Australian Wines, 60
Austrian Beers, 202
Bacon’s value of Cider, 111
Baga Wine, 17
Ballston Waters, 353
Barbot’s description of Kola, 296
Barley Wine, 198
Bastard Wine, 48
Bavarian Beers, 202
Beer, 49
Adulteration of, 199
Antiquity of, 197
Belgian, 202
English, The Metropolis of, 219
English, Popularity of, 207
Egyptian, 16
Manufacture of, 195-196
Origin of the word, 196
The Inventor of, 197
Various, 226
Beowulf, 37, 38, 45
Besdon, 360
Biliousness, Liqueur Specific for, 176
Black Jack Jug, 213
Bon Gaultier Ballads, 149
Bordeaux Wines, 69
Borneo Beers, 203
Bottled Beer, origin of, 219
Bottling, Italian mode of, 97
Brandy, 115
German Legend, 115
Origin of the name, 123
and Port, 361
Braket, 352
Brewers’ Company, 220
Brick Tea, 243
Bull, 359
Burgundy, 80
Burns, Robert, 148
Burton (Robert) and Coffee, 306
Burton-on-Trent, 219
Burton Brewery, early mention of, 209
Cæcuban Wine, 30
Caffeine, 317
Capnian Wine, 26
Canaries Wines, 62
Caravan Tea, 243
Cassis, 166, 175
Catherine de Medicis, 164
Cattia Edulis, 298
Ceylon Tea, 243
Champagne Country, The, 64
Champagne Cyder, 328
Champagne Manufacture, 65
Chemicals used in non-alcoholic Drinks, 329
Chinese Beers, 204
Tea, Substitutes for, 298
Tea Trade, 243
Natural Beverage, 237
Chocolate, 323
Cider, 45, 110
The finest, where made, 113
Claret, 69
Clergy Drinking, 46
Cobbler, The, 180, 181
Coca, 279
Cultivation of, 291
Early mention of, 280
Leaf, Medicinal qualities, 294
Cocaine, 295
Cocks’ Wines of Bordeaux, 75
Cocktail, 181
Cocoa, 320
Substitute, 323
Tax, 322
Cocoa, Its Manufacture, 321
Where grown, 320
Coffee, 303
Adulteration, 319
Legend about, 304, 305
Species of, 316, 319
Prosecution for the Sale of, 309
Value of different Species, 316
Its Growth, 303, 304
Its Medicinal qualities, 308
How to make, 318
Where most drunk, 303
Coffee-Leaf Tea, 300
Coffee and Liqueur, 159
Coffee Houses, a Poem on, 312
Rules and Orders of, 311
Popularity of, 309
The first, 306
Columella’s Wine Receipt, 31
Continental Liqueurs, 165
Cooked Wine, 157
_Cordial Makers’ Guide_, 167
Cordials (Non-Alcoholic), 331
Cornish Drink, 124
Corsican Wines, 82
Cowley’s Poem on Cuca, 288
Cow’s Milk, Formula for Fermenting, 341
Cream Syrup, 330
Crème de Noyau, 175
Croker’s Irishman and Whiskey, 144
Crusta, The, 181
Cuca, 279
Curaçoa, 165, 177
Curious Records, 132
Cuttach, 20
Danish Drinking Vessels, 49
Dantzig Liqueurs, 171
Date Coffee, 319
Definition of Wine, 52
Distilling Brandy, Mode of, 126
Drinking Cups, 49
Mode of Keeping, 34
Health, Origin of, 33
Horns, 41
Vessels, 213-214-216
Drinks, Pliny’s List of, 33
Drunkards, Punishment of, 51
Drunkenness, Common Cause of, 132
Cure for, 298
Duty on Gin, 133
Eau Clairette de Framboises, 176
Chamberri, 177
de Cerises, 176
Ecbolada, 16
Egg-nogg, 185
Egyptian Process of Wine Making, 14
Egyptians’ Early Use of Wine, 13, 16
Eichhoff, 156
Elixir, Derivation of, 166
English National Drink, 207
Wines, 62
Falernian Wine, 31
Fall of Madame Geneva, 134
Fathers of Brandies, 160
Fenkål, 361
Fermenting Cow’s Milk, 341
Ferrintosh, 148
Flannel, 182
Flip, 181
“Food of the Gods”, 320
Francatelli’s Service of Wine, 55
on Gin Sling, 188
French Beers, 228
Liqueurs, 172
Wines, 64
Fruit Syrups, 330
Garapa, 360
Garway’s Tea Advertisement, 253
Garoe, 349
Gartmore Estate Tea, Sale of, 244
Galazyene, 340
Gallebodde Estate Tea, Sale of, 244
Ganges Water, 350
Generous Wines, 57
Geneva (Gin), 128, 130
Gerard and the Use of Cider, 111
German Beers, 228
Liqueurs, 70
Wines, 83
Ghee, 354
Gill-house, 130
Gin, 128
Lane, 138
Sling, 140, 188
Alcoholic Strength of, 140
Ginger Ale, 327
Gingerade, 326
Ginger Beer, 324
Recipes (old & new fashions), 324-325
Glenlivet, 149
Goethe’s Opinion of Wines, 89
Gongonha, 277
Gout, Accredited Agent, 104
Grecian Wines, 26, 90
Dessert Wines, 32
Process of Wine Making, 27
Gregory of Tours, 157
Greybeard Jug, 216
Grieve (Dr. J.) and Koumiss, 339
Guru, 297
Hanway’s Essay on Tea, 266
Harrison’s (Gen.) Favourite Beverage, 185
Haynau (Gen.) & Brewer’s Draymen, 225
Heather Beer, 227
Hebrews and Wines, 22
Heidelberg Tun, 83
Helbon, The Wine of, 18
Herb Wine, 157
Hervey (Lord) and Drunkenness, 132
Hippocras, 158
Hippocrates and the Virtue of Wines, 33
Hittites and Wines, 20
Hock, 85
Hogarth’s Gin Lane, 138
Holy Tree, The, 349-350
Homer’s Wine of Thrace, &c., 25
Hunding, King, Death of, 48
Hungarian Wines, 93
Hydromel, 48, 158
Hypoteques, 177
Indian Beers, 231
Tea, 245
Irish Whiskey, 146
Italian Mode of Bottling, 97
Wines, 94
Japanese Beers, 232
Jekyll, Sir Joseph, 133
Jerry Thomas, 180
Jewish Prayers respecting Wine, 345
Johnson (Dr.) on Tea, 267
The Gin Act, 137
Different Liquors, 124-267
Julep, 181-182
Kef, 355
Kirsch, 178
Kola, 296
Koumiss, 336-355
Its Curative Properties, 339
Its Manufacture, 341-342
Kümmel, 165-174
Kvas, 112
Ladakh Beer, 360
Ladies’ Tippling, 121
Lamb Wine, 356
Lapps, The Common Drink of, 360
L’Eau Clairette de Groseilles, 176
Grenade, 177
Coings, 177
Leather Bottel, The, 214
Leake’s Description of Grecian Wines, 93
Leban, 355
Lemonade, 327
Liqueurs, 156
(Non-Alcoholic), 331
_Liqueur Makers’ Guide_, 167
Lovage Receipt, 168
Madeira Wines, 97
Mahogany Drink, 124
Maimonides, 347
Makasso, 297
Malmsey Wine, 100
Maraschino, 175
Markham on the Coca Leaf, 291
Marryatt, Capt., and Mint Julep, 182
Maté, 272
Production of, 273
Maturing Spirits, New Process, 151
Mead, 41-48
Mead-hall, 40
Mead-horns, 41
Medicinal Quality of Tea, 255
Médoc Wines, 72
Melo-cacti, 351
Methylated Spirits, 362
Metropolis of English Beer, 219
Milk, 334, 354
Beer, 355
As a Beverage, Disadvantages of, 334
Mineral Waters, 331
Mint Julep, 183
Misson on Coffee Houses, 310
Monastical Liqueurs, 160
Montaigne, 159
_Moonshine_ on American Drinks, 193
Morat, 45-158
Morewood and Birch Wine, 63
Motteux’s Poem in praise of Tea, 264
Mulder, Professor, 54
Mulls, 181-183
Murrey, 158
Murrhine Cups, 34
Mushroom Drink, 351
Nantz, 123
Negus, 181-185
Nile Water, 350
Nogg, 181-185
Non-Alcoholic Cordials & Liqueurs, 331
Northern Love of Drinking, 47-50
Noyau, 175
Olaus Magnus, 47
Old Falernian, 156
Old Tom, Origin of, 141
Ombulbul, 359
Omeire, 358
Oporto Wine Co., 99
Osiris, 197
Paraguay Tea, 272
Parfait Amour, 177
Pepys, 209-260
Pereira, 169
Perry, 114
Persian Wines, 97
Perlin’s description of English society, 209
Peter’s Pence, 162
Pigment, 45, 158
Pliny’s List of Drinks, 33-197-349-353
Poem on Tea, 261
Polo (Marco), 339-355-356-357
Pombe, 361
Pomeranzen, 178
Pope, 129-130
Popularity of Tea, 237-238
Populo, 164
Port Wines, 99-100
Portuguese Wines, 99
Private Brewing, 209
Procope, 175
Psithian Wine, 26
Ptisana, 351
Pulque, 359
Pulteney’s Duty on Gin, 133
Punch, 181-185-187
Punishment of Drunkards, 51
Pusey Horn, The, 42
Raspail, 178
Ratafia, 166-175-176
Recipes (Drinks):—
A Yard of Flannel, 190
Archbishop, 192
Black Stripe, 193
Blue Blazer, 192
Bimbo Punch, 191
Bishop, 192
Bottled Velvet, 191
Champagne Cyder, 328
Cardinal, 192
Ginger Ale, 327
Gingerade, 326
Ginger Beer, 324-325
Lemonade, 327
Locomotive, 192
Pope, 192
Pousse l’Amour, 192
Rumfustian, 191
Sleeper, 191
Stone Fence, 191
White Tiger’s Milk, 190
Recipes (Liqueurs):—
Amiable Vainqueur, 173
Eau Aerienne, 172
d’Amour, 170
de Pucelle, 171
de Scubac, 173
de Sultane Zoraide, 170
de Yalpa, 170
Divine, 171
Miraculeuse, 171
Nuptiale, 170
Elixir de Garus, 173
Guignolet d’Angers, 173
Huile des Jeunes Mariés, 173
Vespetro, 172
Recipe for Cream Syrup, 330
Fermenting Cow’s Milk, 341
Redding, Cyrus, 60-83-85-94-107
Redi’s _Bacco in Toscana_, 95
Reis’ Classification of Wines, 56
Reland, 55
Rhine Wines, 83
Rhodes, Father, on Tay, 249
Roman Wines, 30-32
Roots’ Cuca Cocoa, 293
Rosee’s Handbill on Coffee, 307
Rossolio, 164
Roussillon, 81
Rubruquis and Koumiss, 339
and Rice Wine, 357
Rice Wine, 357
Rules & Orders of the Coffee House, 311
Rum, 153
Russian Beers, 233
Wines, 104
Sabzi, 355
Sacred Wine Tree, 356
St. Vincent and the Holy Tree, 349, 350
Saguer, 357
Samchou, 361
Sangaree, 181, 188
Saprian Wine, 26
Saratoga Water, 354
Säure, 355
Sbitena, 358
Scandal and the Tea Table, 263
Schiedam, 139
Scotch Whiskey, 147
Earliest Account of, 148
Sea Water Wine, 349
Setine Wine, 30
Shandy-gaff, 324
Sherries, 106
Shrub, 181, 188
Sicilian Wines, 105
Silent Spirit, 151, 154
Sir John Barleycorn, 210
Slemp, 336
Sling, 181, 188
Sloe Poison, 271
Small Still Whiskey, 150
Smash, 181, 189
Social difference in Ale & Wine drinkers, 39
Soda Water, 332
Spanish Wines, 106
Sparkling Wines, 57
Spirit Beading, 167
Spruce Beer, 233
“Still Room”, 119
Strabo, 55
Substitutes for Chinese Tea, 298
Surrentine Wine, 31
Swedish Beers, 233
Drinking Vessels, 49
Swiss Wines, 108
Syllabub, 335
Syra, 355
Syrups, List of, 330
Table Wines, 56
Taidge, 360
Tartary Beers, 234
_Tatler_, The, 262
Tay, 250
Tea Advertisement, Garway’s, 253
Tea, 237
Duty, 238
Houses, 237
Statistics, 245
Trade, Centre of, 238
Plant, Growth of, 241
Value in time of Queen Anne, 262
Analysis of, 246
Earliest mention of, 248, 249
Early Duty on, 253
High Prices for, 244, 245
How to Make, 268
Introduction to England, 253, 260
Largest Consumers of, 239
Legendary Origin of, 239
Medicinal Qualities of, 255
Poems on, 261-263-264-265
The Finest, 243
When First Used, 240
Where Grown, 239
Teas, Various, 242
Thales, 348
The Brown Jug, 216
Theine, 295, 296
Theobromine, 322
Thudicum, Dr., 150
Toak, 359
Toast Water, 351
Toby Philpot, 216
Toddy, 189
Tokay Wine, 94
Toupare, 359
Trade Rum, 154
Transition Wines, 57
Tree Water, 349
Tschudi on the Cuca Plant, 289
Ulph’s Horn, 43
Usquebath, Recipe for, 146
Varieties of Wines, 53
Vega’s Description of Cuca, 282
Vermuth, 178
Village Ale-house, The, 225
Villeneuve, 161-163-164
Vine, Cultivation of, 39-99
Vine’s Treatise on Home-made Wines, 62
Vinegar, 351
Vizitelly and White Wines, 76
Vontaca, 359
Waller’s Poem on Tea, 261
Walnut Liquor, 357
Walpole, Sir Robert, 133
Ward, Edward, and Ladies’ Drinking, 122
Ward’s Dialogue: Claret & Darby Ale, 212
Warm Water, 354
Wassail Song, 206
Water, 348
Water Melon Drink, 358
Water of Life, 144
Whiskey, 144
Distillation, 146
Manufacture, 145
Maturing, 151
Duty on, 149
Whistling Shop, 143
White Ratafias, 177
White Wines of the Médoc District, 75
Wine Making by Greeks & Romans, 27
Vessels, 24
Alcohol in, 53
Definition of, 52
Distinguishing Qualities, 52
Origin of, 54
Oldest Records of, 13
Egyptian Process of, 14
Varieties of, 53
and Beer, Merits of, 197
Wines, Assyrian, 18
Francatelli’s Service of, 55
Goethe’s Opinion of, 89
Reis’ Classification of, 56
Wolff’s Description of Kirsch, 178
Women’s Tears, 347
Youourt, 355
Ywera, 358
Zythum, 16
[Illustration: “DRINKS”
Dedicated to those who know how to use and thankfully enjoy the good
things so bountifully provided by Dame Nature.]
[Illustration]
Introduction.
From the Cradle to the Grave we need DRINK, and we have not far to look
for the reason, when we consider that at least seventy per cent. of
the human body is composed of water, to compensate the perpetual waste
of which, a fresh supply is, of course, absolutely necessary. This is
taken with our food (all solid nutriment containing some water), and by
the drink we consume. But, as the largest constituent part of the body
is fluid, so, naturally, its waste is larger than that of the solid;
this fluid waste being enormous. Besides the natural losses, every
breath we exhale is heavily laden with moisture, as breathing on a cold
polished surface, or a cold day by condensing the breath, will show;
whilst the twenty-eight miles of tubing disposed over the surface of the
human body will evaporate, _invisibly_, two or three pounds of water
daily. Of course, in very hot weather, or after extreme exertion, this
perspiration is much more, and is visible.
To remedy this loss we must DRINK, as a stoppage of the supply would
kill sooner than if solid food were withheld, for then the body would,
for a time, live upon its own substance, as in the cases of the fasting
men of the last two years; but few people can live longer than three
days without drinking, and death by thirst is looked upon as one of the
most cruel forms of dissolution. To palliate thirst, however, it is not
absolutely necessary to drink, as a moist atmosphere or copious bathing
will do much towards allaying it,—the one by introducing moisture into
the system by means of the lungs, the other through the medium of the
skin.
Thirst is the notice given by Nature that liquid aliment is required
to repair the waste of the body; and, as in the case of Hunger, she
has kindly provided that supplying the deficiency shall be a pleasant
sensation, and one calculated to call up a feeling of gratitude for the
means of allaying the want. Indeed, no man knows the real pleasures of
eating and drinking, until he has suffered both hunger and thirst.
Water, as a means of slaking man’s thirst, has been provided for him
in abundance from the time of Father Adam, whose “Ale” is so vaunted
by abstainers from alcoholic liquors. But Water, unless charged with
Carbonic Acid gas, or containing some mineral in solution, is considered
by some, as a constant drink, rather vapid; and Man, as he became
civilized, has made himself other beverages, more or less tasty, and
provocative of excess, and also more or less deleterious to his internal
economy. The juice of luscious fruits was expressed, the vine was made
to give up its life blood; and, probably through accident, alcoholic
fermentation was discovered, and a new zest was given to drinking. A good
servant, Alcohol is a bad master; but that it satisfies a widely felt
craving, probably induced by civilization, is certain, for most savage
tribes, emerging from their primitive and natural state, manufacture
drinks from divers vegetable substances, more or less alcoholic.
The present volume is intended for that class of the public which is
known as “the general reader”; and its object is to interest rather than
to inform. Therefore it deals at no great length with what may be termed
the _caviare_ of the subject, as, for instance, the varied opinions of
the medical faculty with respect to the hygienic value of drinks, their
supposed uses in health and disease, and their chemical constituents,
or analyses. Nor is the question of price discussed, nor long lists
of vineyard proprietors given, nor the names of the brewers, nor the
number of casks of beer brewed. In short, as few statistics have been
introduced as possible. In deference to a maxim not always remembered in
books on beverages, “_De gustibus non est disputandum_,” or its English
equivalent, abhorred of Chesterfield, “What is one man’s meat is another
man’s poison,” the verdicts of enthusiasts and vendors have been, except
in rare instances, alike rejected.
Nor has very much been said on the inviting topic of adulteration. It
would be almost cruel to disturb the credulity of the good people who
drink and pay for gooseberry as Champagne, or _Val de peñas_ as curious
old Port. It is a pretty comedy to watch the _soi-disant_ connoisseur
drinking a wine fully accredited with crust, out of a bottle ornamented
with fungus and cobwebs of proper consistency—a wine flavoured with
_essence_ at so much a pound, and stained with _colour_[1] at so much per
gallon. There is no need to proclaim upon the housetops the constituents
of Hamburg sherry, nor how the best rum is flavoured with “R.E.,” or
brandy with “Caramel” or “Cognacine.”
We have generally avoided the profane use of trade or professional
jargon, too often the outcome of ignorance, pretence, and affectation,
such as “full,” “fruity,” “smooth on palate,” “round in the mouth,” “full
of body,” “wing,” “character,” etc.; nor have we touched, or desired to
touch, on the influence of alcohol on man’s social or other well-being.
Peter the Hermit is fully represented already, and we have no mission to
call upon our fellow-countrymen to “rise to the dignity of manhood,” and
never touch another glass of Madeira.
The authors have followed the example of the illustrious Molière in
taking their matter wherever they could find it. The information
contained in this work is derived either from other books, oral
information, or personal experience. “The sun robs the sea, the moon
robs the sun, the sea robs the moon,” says Timon of Athens, repeating
Anacreon, who adds that the earth robs them all. So preceding authors are
indebted to one another, and the present volume to them all. It has been
written, it is hoped, without bias or prejudice of any kind; but, as the
drinks containing Alcohol are many more than those in which it is absent,
more have been mentioned. That a full record of all drinks should appear,
is impossible; nor could any critic expect it; but an attempt has been
made to give a fairly full list, and to render it as pleasant reading as
the subject admits.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
THE DRINKS OF ANTIQUITY.
EGYPT: Method of Wine-Making—Early Wines—Names of Wines—Ladies
and Wine—Beer, etc. ASSYRIA: List of Assur-ba-ni-pal’s
Wines—Method of Drinking—Different Sorts of Wine. HITTITE: Two
Ladies Drinking—Their Appreciation of Wine—The Hittite Bacchus.
JUDEA: Mention of Wines in the Old Testament—Wine as an Article
of Commerce—Mixed Wines—Wine Vessels.
Has any man been bold enough to attempt to fix upon the discoverer of
Wine? Not to our knowledge. Nor can a date be even hazarded as to its
introduction. It was so good a thing, that we may be sure that men very
soon came to know its revivifying effects. We do know this: that the
oldest records of which we have any cognisance, those of the Egyptians
(who were in a high state of civilization and culture when the Hebrews
were semi-barbarous nomads), show us that they had wine, and used it in
a most refined manner, as we see by the headpiece to this chapter. Here
a father is nursing his child, who invites him to smell a lotus flower,
another blossom of which his mother is showing him. An attendant proffers
wine in bowls wreathed with flowers, and another is at hand with a bowl
possibly of water, and a napkin. This wreathing the bowls with flowers
shows how highly they esteemed the “good creature,” and, also, that they
were then at least as civilized as the later Greeks and Romans, who
followed the same practice.
We have the Egyptian pictures showing the whole process of wine-making.
We see their vines very carefully trained in bowers, or in avenues,
formed by columns and rafters; their vineyards were walled in, and
frequently had a reservoir of water within their precincts, together
with a building which contained a winepress; whilst boys frightened the
birds away with slings and stones, and cries. The grapes, when gathered,
were put into deep wicker baskets, which men carried either on their
heads or shoulders, or slung upon a yoke, to the winepress, where the
wine was squeezed out of a bag by means of two poles turned in contrary
directions, an earthen pan receiving the juice. But they also had large
presses, in which they trod the fruit with their naked feet, supporting
themselves by ropes suspended from the roof.
The grape juice having fermented, it was put into earthen jars,
resembling the Roman _amphoræ_, which were closed with a lid covered with
pitch, clay, mortar or gypsum, and sealed, after which they were removed
to the storehouse, and there placed upright. The Egyptians had a peculiar
habit, which used also to be general in Italy and Greece, and now
obtains in the islands of the Archipelago, of putting a certain quantity
of resin or bitumen at the bottom of the amphora before pouring in the
wine. This was supposed to preserve it, but it was also added to give it
a flavour—a taste probably acquired from their having been used to wine
skins, instead of jars, and having employed resins to preserve the skins.
The Egyptians had several kinds of wine, even as early as the fourth
dynasty (above 6000 years ago, according to Mariette), when four kinds
of wine, at least, were known. Pliny and Horace say that the wine of
Mareotis was most esteemed. The soil, which lay beyond the reach of the
alluvial deposits, suited the vine, and extensive remains of vineyards
near the Qasr Karóon, still found, show whence the ancient Egyptians
obtained their wines. Athenæus says, “the Mareotic grape was remarkable
for its sweetness;” and he thus describes the wine made therefrom: “Its
colour is white, its quality excellent, and it is sweet and light, with
a fragrant _bouquet_; it is by no means astringent, nor does it affect
the head.... Still, however, it is inferior to the Teniotic, a wine which
receives its name from a place called Tenia, where it is produced. Its
colour is pale and white, and there is such a degree of richness in it,
that, when mixed with water, it seems gradually to be diluted, much in
the same way as Attic honey when a liquid is poured into it; and besides
the agreeable flavour of the wine, its fragrance is so delightful as to
render it perfectly aromatic, and it has the property of being slightly
astringent. There are many other vineyards in the valley of the Nile,
whose wines are in great repute, and these differ both in colour and
taste; but that which is produced about Anthylla is preferred to all the
rest.” He also commends some of the wines made in the Thebaïd, especially
about Coptos, and says that they were “so wholesome that invalids might
take them without inconvenience, even during a fever.”
Pliny cites the Sebennytic wine as one of the choice Egyptian _crûs_, and
says it was made of three different sorts of grapes. He also speaks of a
curious wine called _Ecbolada_.
Wine took a large part in the Egyptian ritual, and was freely poured
forth as libations to the different deities; and in private life women
were not restricted in its use. In fact, the ungallant Egyptians have
left behind them several delineations of ladies in a decided state of
“how came you so?” It was probably put down to the Egyptian equivalent
for Salmon.[2] But if they noticed the failings of their womankind, they
equally faithfully portrayed their own shortcomings, for we see them
being carried home from a feast limp and helpless, or else standing on
their heads, and otherwise playing the fool.
Still, wine was the drink of the wealthy, or at least of those, as we
should call them, “well to do.” They had a beer, which Diodorus calls
_zythum_,[3] and which, he says, was scarcely inferior to the juice of
the grape. This beer was made from barley, and, hops being unknown, it
was flavoured with lupins and other vegetable substances. This old beer
was called _hega_, and can be traced back as far as the 4th dynasty. Then
they also had Palm wine, and another wine called _baga_, supposed to be
made from dates or figs; and they also made wines from pomegranates and
other fruits, and from herbs, such as rue, hellebore, absinthe, etc.,
which probably answered the purpose of our modern “bitters.”
[Illustration]
The Assyrians, who rank next in antiquity to the Egyptians, were no
shunners of wine; they could drink sociably, and hob-nob together, as we
see by the accompanying illustration.
Their wine cups were, in keeping with all the dress and furniture of
the royal palaces, exceedingly ornate; and it is curious to note the
comparative barbarism of the wine skin, and the nervous beauty of the
wine cups being filled by the effeminate eunuch. The numerous bas-reliefs
which, happily, have been rescued, to our great edification, afford many
examples of wine cups of very great beauty of form. The inscriptions give
us a list of many wines, and among them was the wine of Helbon, which was
grown near Damascus, at a village now called Halbûn. It is alluded to in
Ezekiel xxvii. 18: “Damascus was thy merchant, by reason of the multitude
of the wares of thy making, for the multitude of all riches; in the wine
of Helbon, and white wool.”
Wm. St. Chad Boscawen, Esq., the eminent Assyriologist, has kindly
favoured us with the following illustration and note on the subject of
Assyrian wines:—
[Illustration]
“This list of wines is found engraved upon a terra-cotta tablet from the
palace of Assur-ba-ni-pal, the Sardanapalus of the Greeks, and evidently
represents the wines supplied to the royal table. It reads:
Col. I. Wine of the Land of Izalli.
Wine, the Drink of the King (_Daniel_ i. 5).
Wine of the Nazahrie.
Wine of Ra-h-ū (_Shepherds’ Wine_).
Wine of Khabaru.
Col. II. Wine of Khilbunn or Helbon.
Wine of Arnabani (_North Syria_).
Wine of Sibzu (_Sweet Wine_).
Wine of Sa-ta-ba-bi-ru-ri (_which I think means Wines which
from the Vineyard come not_).
Wine of Kharrubi (_Wine of the Carrob or Locust bean_).”
On Phillips’s Cylinder (col. i. l. 21-26) is a list of wines which
Nabuchodorossor is said to have offered: “The wine of the countries
of Izalla, Toúimmon, Ssmmini, Helbon, Aranaban, Souha, Bit-Koubati,
and Bigati, as the waters of rivers without number.” And among the
inscriptions deciphered appear a long list of wines which the Assyrian
monarchs are said to have carried into their country as booty, or to have
received as tribute.
We see the process of filling the wine cups at a feast. They were dipped
into a large vase instead of being filled from a small vessel. Nor were
they alone contented with grape wine, they had palm wine, wine made from
dates, and beer even as the Egyptians had.
[Illustration]
According to the _Abodah Zarah_, a treatise on false worship, there was a
mixed drink used in Babylon called _Cuttach_, which possessed marvellous
properties. “It obstructs the heart, blinds the eyes, and emaciates the
body. It obstructs the heart, because it contains whey of milk; it blinds
the eyes, because it contains a peculiar salt which has this property;
and it emaciates the body, because of the putrefied bread which is mixed
with it. If poured upon stones, it breaks them; and of it is a proverb,
‘That it is better to eat a stinking fish than take _Cuttach_.’” The same
treatise also mentions Median beer and Edomite vinegar.
[Illustration]
The Hittites had been a powerful and civilized nation when the Jews
were in an exceedingly primitive condition, and Abraham found them the
rightful possessors of Hebron, in Southern Palestine (Gen. xxiii.), and
so far recognised their rights to the soil, as to purchase from them
the Cave of Machpelah for “four hundred shekels of silver, current money
with the merchant.” Their power afterwards waned, as they had left Hebron
and taken to the mountains, as was reported by the spies sent by Moses,
four hundred years afterwards (Num. xiii.), but they have left behind
them carvings which throw some light upon their social customs. For
instance, here is one of two ladies partaking of a social glass together.
Unfortunately, we do not know at present the true meaning of their
inscriptions, for scholars are yet at variance as to the translation
of them. That they thoroughly cherished wine may be seen from the
accompanying illustration, which represents one of their deities, who
appears to be a compound of Bacchus and Ceres, and aptly illustrative of
the two good things of those countries, corn and wine, which, with the
olive and honey, made an earthly Paradise for the inhabitants thereof. It
shows how much they appreciated wine, when they deified it.
[Illustration]
As to the Hebrews, they were well acquainted with wine, and placed Noah’s
beginning to be a husbandman, and planting a vineyard, as the earliest
thing he did after the subsidence of the flood. Throughout their sacred
writings, wine is frequently mentioned, and intoxication must have been
very well known among them, judging by the number of passages making
mention of it. A great variety of wines is not named—nay, there are only
two specifically mentioned: the wine of Helbon, which, as we have seen,
was an article of merchandise at Damascus, a fat, luscious wine, as its
name signifies; and the wine of Lebanon, which was celebrated for its
_bouquet_. “The scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon” (Hos. xiv.
7). It is possible that this _bouquet_ was natural, or it might have been
artificial, for it was the custom to mix perfumes, spices, and aromatic
herbs so as to enhance the flavour of the wine, as we see in Canticles
viii. 2: “I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my
pomegranate;” by which illustration we also see that the Hebrews made
wines other than those from grapes.
[Illustration]
That it was commonly in use is proved, if it needed proof, by the miracle
at the marriage at Cana, where the worldly-wise ruler of the feast says,
“Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have
well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine
until now.” That they drank water mixed with wine may be inferred by
the two verses (Prov. ix. 2, 5): “She hath mingled her wine”; “Drink
of the wine that I have mingled.” Their wine used to be trodden in the
press, the wine being put into bottles or wine skins, specially mentioned
in Joshua ix. 4, 13. In later days they had vessels of earthenware and
glass, similar to those in the illustration, which were found whilst
excavating in Jerusalem.
That the ancient Jews knew of other intoxicating liquors, such as palm
and date wines, there can be very little doubt.
J. A.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
CLASSICAL WINES.
GREEK.[4]
Homer’s Wine of the Coast of Thrace—Pramnian Wine—Psithian,
Capnian, Saprian, and other Wines—The Mixing of Wines—Use of
Pitch and Rosin—Undiluted Wine—Wine Making—Spiced Wines—A Greek
Symposium.
The only wine upon which Homer dilates, in a tone of approval approaching
to hyperbole, is that produced on the coast of Thrace, the scene of
several of the most remarkable exploits of Bacchus. This wine the
minister of Apollo, Maron, gave to Ulysses. It was red and honey sweet,
so strong that it was mingled with twenty times its bulk of water, so
fragrant that it filled even when diluted the house with perfume (_Od._
ix. 203). Homer’s _Pramnian_ wine is variously interpreted by various
writers.
The most important wines of later times are those of the islands Chios,
Thasos, Cos, and Lesbos, and a few places on the opposite coast of Asia.
The _Aminean_ wine, so called from the vine which produced it, was of
great durability. The _Psithian_ was particularly suitable for _passum_,
and the _Capnian_, or smoke-wine, was so named from the colour of the
grapes. The _Saprian_ was a remarkably rich wine, “toothless,” says
Athenæus, “and sere and wondrous old.”
Wine was the ordinary Greek drink. Diodorus Siculus says Dionysus
invented a drink from barley, a mead-like drink called βρύτος; but
there is nothing to show that this was ever introduced into Greece. The
Greek wine was conducive to inebriety, and Musæus and Eumolpus (_Plato,
Rep._ ii.) made the fairest reward of the virtuous an everlasting
booze—ἡγησάμενοι κάλλιστον ἀρετῆς μισθὸν μέθην αἰώνιον. Different sorts
of wine were sometimes mixed together; sea water was added to some wines.
Plutarch (_Quæst. Nat._ 10) also relates that the casks were smeared with
pitch, and that resin was mixed with their wine by the Eubœans.
Wine was mingled with hot water as well as with cold before drinking. To
drink wine undiluted was looked on as a barbarism. Straining, usual among
the Romans, seems to have been the reverse among the Greeks. It is seldom
mentioned. The Roman wine was most likely filtered through wool. The
Spartans (_Herodotus_, vi. 84) fancied Cleomenes had gone mad by drinking
neat wine, a habit he had learned from the Scythians. The proportions of
the mixture varied, but there was always more water, and half and half
ἴσον ἴσῳ was repudiated as disgraceful.
[Illustration]
The process of wine-making was essentially the same among the Greeks
and the Romans. The grapes were gathered, trodden, and submitted to
the press. The juice which flowed from the grapes before any force was
applied was known as πρόχυμα, and was reserved for the manufacture of a
particular species of rich wine described by Pliny (_H. N._ xiv. II), to
which the inhabitants of Mitylene gave the name of πρόδρομος. The Greeks
recognised three colours in wines—black or red, white or straw-colour,
and tawny brown (κιῤῥός, _fulvus_). When wine was carried, ἀσκοί, or
bags of goat-skin, were used, pitched over to make them seam-tight. The
cut above, from a bronze found at Herculaneum (_Mus. Borbon._ iii. 28)
exhibits a Silenus astride one of them.
The mode of drinking from the ἀμφορεύς, bottle or amphora, and from a
wine skin, is taken from a painting on an Etruscan vase.
[Illustration]
A spiced wine is noticed by Athenæus under the name of τρίμμα. Into the
οἶνοι ὑγιεινοί, or medical wines, drugs, such as horehound, squills,
wormwood, and myrtle-berries, were introduced to produce hygienic
effects. Essential oils were also mixed with wines. Of these the
μυῤῥινίτης[5] is mentioned by Ælian (_V. H._ xii. 3 I). So in the early
ages when Hecamede prepares a drink for Nestor, she sprinkles her cup
of _Pramnian_ wine with grated cheese, perhaps a sort of Gruyère, and
flour. The most popular of these compound beverages was the οἰνόμελι[6]
(_mulsum_), or honey wine, said by Pliny (xiv. 4) to have been invented
by Aristæus. Greek wines required no long time to ripen. The wine drank
by Nestor (_Odyss._ iii. 391) of ten years old is an exception.
The sweet wines of the Greeks (the produce of various islands on the
Ægean and Ionian Seas) were probably something like modern Cyprus and
Constantia, while the dry wines, such as the Pramnian and Corinthian,
were remarkable for their astringency, and were indeed only drinkable
after being preserved for many years. Of the former of these Aristophanes
says that it shrivelled the features and obstructed the digestion of all
who drank it, while to taste the latter was mere torture.
[Illustration]
CLASSICAL WINES.
ROMAN.
Falernian, Cæcuban, and other Wines—Galen’s Opinion—Columella’s
Receipt—The Roman Banquet—Dessert Wines—The Supper of
Nasidienus—Dedication of Cups—Wines mentioned by Pliny made of
Figs, Medlars, Mulberries, and other Fruits.
Of Roman wines the Campania Felix boasted the most celebrated growths.
The Falernian, Massican, Cæcuban, and Surrentine wines were all the
produce of this favoured soil. The three first of these wines have been,
as the schoolboy (not necessarily Macaulay’s) is only too well aware,
immortalised by Horace, who doubtless had ample opportunities of forming
a matured judgment about them.
The Cæcuban is described by Galen as a generous wine, ripening only after
a long term of years. The Massican closely resembled the Falernian. The
Setine was a light wine, and, according to Pliny, the favourite drink of
Augustus, who perhaps grounded his preference on his idea that it was the
least injurious to the stomach. Possibly Horace differed from his patron
in taste. He never mentions this wine, which is however celebrated both
by Martial and by Juvenal.
As for the Surrentine, the fiat of Tiberias has dismissed it as generous
vinegar. Dr. Henderson has no hesitation in fixing upon the wines of
Xeres and Madeira as those to which the celebrated Falernian bears the
nearest resemblance. Both are straw-coloured, assuming a deeper tint
from age. Both present the varieties of dry and sweet. Both are strong
and durable. Both require keeping. The soil of Madeira is more analogous
to that of the Campania Felix, whence we may conclude perhaps that the
flavour and aroma of its wines are similar to those of the Campania.
Finally, if Madeira or sherry were kept in earthen jars till reduced
to the consistence of honey, the taste would become so bitter that,
to use the expression of Cicero (_Brut._ 83), we should condemn it as
intolerable.
The wines of antiquity present disagreeable features; sea water, for
instance, and resin already mentioned. Columella advises the addition of
one pint of salt water for six gallons of wine. The impregnation with
resin has been still preserved, with the result of making some modern
Greek wines unpalatable save to the modern Greeks themselves. Columella
(_De Re Rustica_, xii. 19) says that four ounces of crude pitch mingled
with certain aromatic herbs should be mixed with two _amphoræ_, or about
thirteen gallons of wine.
Ancient wines were also exposed in smoky garrets until reduced to a thick
syrup, when they had to be strained before they were drunk. Habit only
it seems could have endeared these pickled and pitched and smoked wines
to the Greek and Roman palates, as it has endeared to some of our own
caviare and putrescent game.
To drink wine unmixed was, it has been said before, held by the Greeks
to be disreputable. Those who did so were said to be like Scythians.
The Maronean wine of Homer was mixed with twenty measures of water. The
common proportion in the more polished days of Greece was three or four
parts of water to one of wine. But probably Greece, like Rome, had many
a Menenius who loved a cup of hot wine with not a drop of allaying Tiber
in it. If the condition of Alcibiades in the Platonic symposium was the
result of wine so diluted, the wine must have been strong indeed.
The Grecian and Roman banquet began with the _mulsum_, of mingled
wine and honey. The dessert wines among the Greeks were the Thasian
and Lesbian; among the Romans the Alban, Cæcuban, and Falernian, and
afterwards the Chian and Lesbian.
In the triumphal supper of Cæsar in his dictatorship Pliny says Falernian
flowed in hogsheads and Chian in gallons. At the well-known Horatian
supper of Nasidienus, the Cæcuban and indifferent Chian were handed round
before the host advised Mæcenas that Alban and Falernian were procurable
if he preferred them.
Juvenal and Martial tell us of the complaint of clients, that while
the master and his friends drank the best wine out of costly cups,
they themselves had to put up with ropy liquors in coarse, half-broken
vessels. Human nature has changed little in this respect since those
satirists wrote.
The old fashion of dedicating cups to divinities led perhaps to our
modern system of drinking healths. Sometimes as many cups were drunk to a
person as there were letters in the name of the person so honoured.
It was better then for the bibulous to toast the ancient Sempronia or
Messalina than the modern Meg or Kate.
_Hydromeli_, made of honey and five-year-old rain-water; _oxymeli_,
made of honey, sea-salt, and vinegar; _hydromelon_, made of honey and
quinces; _hydrorosatum_, a similar compound with the addition of roses;
_apomeli_, water in which honeycomb had been boiled; _omphacomeli_, a
mixture of honey and verjuice; _myrtites_, a compound of honey and myrtle
seed; _rhoites_, a drink in which the pomegranate took the place of the
myrtle; _œnanthinum_, made from the fruit of the wild vine; _silatum_,
taken, according to Festus, in the forenoon, and made of _Saxifragia
major_ (Forcellini) or _Tordylium officinale_ (Liddell and Scott);
_sycites_, wine of figs; _phœnicites_, wine of palms; _abrotonites_, wine
of wormwood; and _adynamon_, a weak wine for the sick—are most of them
mentioned as drinks in Pliny.[7] This author also mentions drinks made
of sorbs, medlars, mulberries, and other fruits, of asparagus, origanum,
thyme, and other herbs. Hippocrates praises wine as a medical agent. In
his third book the father of medicine gives a description of the general
qualities and virtues of wines, and shows for what diseases they are in
his opinion advantageous. For more information on wines the reader may
consult Sir Edward Barry, Dr. Alexander Henderson, and Cyrus Redding.
Henderson, who was, like Barry, a physician, did not always agree with
him. Barry’s observations, according to Henderson, are chiefly borrowed
from Bacci. Those not so borrowed are for the most part “flimsy and
tedious.”
The vessels and other drinking cups were commonly ranged on an abacus
of marble, something like our sideboard. It was large, if Philo Judeus
is to be believed. Pliny, speaking of Pompey’s spoils in the matter of
the pirates, says the number of jewel-adorned drinking cups was enough
to furnish nine _abaci_. Cicero charges Verres with having plundered the
_abaci_.
When Rome was in the height of her luxury, murrhine cups were introduced
from the East. What this substance was, the ruins of Pompeii have never
revealed; some maintain it was porcelain, others think it was a species
of spar.
Dr. Henderson adopts the opinion of M. de Rozière that these cups were
of fluor-spar; but this article is not found in Karamania, from which
district of Parthia both Pliny and Propertius agree that they came,
though they differ with respect to their nature; its geographic situation
seems confined to Europe. The anecdote told by Lampridius of Heliogabalus
(502) proves, not the similarity of material, but only the equal rareness
and value of vessels of onyx and murrhine.
[Illustration: AMPHORÆ, RHYTONS, ETC. (_Brit. Mus._).]
A writer in the _Westminster Review_ for July, 1825, believes them to
have been porcelain cups from China; the expression of Propertius,
“_cocta focis_,” proves that they were manufactured. In the time of Belon
(1555) the Greeks called them _the myrrh of Smyrna_, from _murex_, a
shell. From this it seems that their name was given to the vases from a
resemblance of colours to those of the _murex_. Stolberg (_Travels_, ix.
280) says he saw in a collection at Catania a little blue vase, believed
to be a _vas murrhinum_.
The modern jars in any of the wine districts of Italy, such as Asti
Montepulciano or Montefiascone, thin earthen two-handled vessels
holding some twenty quarts, are almost identical with the ancient
_amphoræ_. Suetonius speaks of a candidate for the quæstorship who
drank the contents of a whole _amphora_ at a dinner given by Tiberius.
This _amphora_ was probably of a smaller size. Wooden vessels for wine
seem to have been unfamiliar to the Greeks and Romans; they, however,
occasionally employed glass. Bottles, vases, and cups of that material,
which may be seen often enough now in collections of antiquities, show
the great taste which in these and in other matters they possessed. A few
of these are given to illustrate our text. Skins of animals, rendered
impervious by oil or resinous gums, were probably the most ancient
receptacles for wine after it was taken from the vat. To these there are
frequent allusions in Homer and Isaiah. Vessels of clay, with a coating
of pitch, were introduced subsequently.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
NORTHERN DRINKING.
Beowulf—Ale—Beer—Mead—English Wine—The Mead Hall—Drinking
Horns—Tosti and Harold—Pigment, etc.—The Clergy, etc.,
drinking—Northern Wine drinking—King Hunding—Brewing—Strange
Drinking Vessels, and their Use—Punishment of Drunkards.
Sailing from the north, being lured to the south with visions of plunder
and luxury, came the Danish and Norwegian Vikings, and, as England was
the nearest to them, she received an early visit. With them they brought
their habit of deep drinking, which was scarcely needed, as on that score
the then inhabitants of England could pretty well hold their own. Their
liquors seem to have been ale, _ealu_, beer, _beor_, wine, _win_, and
mead, _medo_.
There was a difference between those that drank ale and those that drank
beer, as we find in _Beowulf_[8]:—
“Full oft have promis’d,
with beer drunken,
Over _the_ ale cup,
sons of conflict,
that they in _the_ beer-hall
would await
Grendel’s warfare
with terrors of edges:
then was this mead-hall,
at morning tide,
_this_ princely court, stain’d with gore;
when _the_ day dawn’d,
all _the_ bench-floor
with blood bestream’d,
_the_ hall, with horrid gore;
of faithful _followers_ I own’d the less,
of dear nobles,
who then death destroyed.
Sit now to _the_ feast,
and unbind with mead
_thy_ valiant breast with _my_ warriors
as thy mind may excite.
Then was for _the_ sons of _the_ Goths
altogether
in _the_ beer hall
a bench clear’d;
there the strong of soul
went to sit
tumultuously rejoicing:
the thane observ’d _his_ duty,
who in _his_ hand bare
the ornamented ale-cup,
_he_ pour’d _the_ bright, sweet _liquor_:
the gleeman sang at times
serene in Heorot:
there was joy of warriors,
no few nobles
of Danes and Weders.”
In Dugdale’s _Monasticon_ (ed. 1682, p. 126), in a Charter of Offa to the
Monastery of Westbury, three sorts of ale are mentioned. Two tuns full of
hlutres aloth (_Clear ale_), a cumb full of lithes aloth (mild ale), and
a cumb full of Welisces aloth (Welsh ale), which is again mentioned as
_cervisia Walliæ_.
But though beer and ale were the drinks of the common folk, yet they were
not despised by their leaders.
[9]“At times before _the_ nobles
Hrothgar’s daughter
to _the_ earls in order
_the_ ale cup bore.”
We see the social difference between ale and wine drinkers in one of the
Cotton MSS. (_Tib._ A. 3), where a lad having been asked what he drank
replied: “Ale, if I have it; Water, if I have it not.” Asked why he does
not drink wine, he says: “I am not so rich that I can buy me wine; and
wine is not the drink of children or the weak-minded, but of the elders
and the wise.”
The English at that time grew the Vine for wine-making purposes; indeed,
very good wine can now be, and is, made from English grapes. Every
monastery had its vineyard, and to this day London has six Vine Streets
and one Vineyard Walk. The wine-hall seems to have been a different
apartment to either the mead or ale-halls, and of a superior order.
[10]“_The_ company all arose;
greeted then
_one_ man another
Hrothgar Beowulf,
and bade him hail,
gave _him_ command of _the_ wine-hall.”
...[11]
“_He_ strode under _the_ clouds,
until he _the_ wine-house,
_the_ golden hall of men,
most readily perceiv’d,
richly variegated.”
The mead-hall seems to have answered the purpose of a common hall, as we
see by the following. Speaking of Hrothgar, the poet says:—
[12]“_It_ ran through his mind
that _he a_ hall-house
would command,
_a_ great mead-house,
men to make,
which the sons of men
should ever hear of;
and there within
all distribute
to young and old,
as to him God had given,
except _the_ people’s share,
and the lives of men.
Then I heard _that_ widely
_the_ work _was_ proclaim’d
to many _a_ tribe
through this mid-earth
that _a_ public place was building.”
Mead was considered a glorified liquor fit for MEN and is thus sung of by
the bard Taliesin:—