gin-and-water diluted down to exactly the same
strength as a glass of ordinary Macon (red
Burgundy), has not the same effect on the
human system as that glass of ordinary Macon
has. Brandy (French and British), rum, gin,
scheidam, whisky (Scotch and Irish), have
each their amateurs, admirers, and advocates,
who extol the virtues of their own favourite
spirit. A pot of beer has not the same effect
as a pot of cider of the same strength. Certainly,
the former contains an element, the hop,
which is wanting in the latter; but while Sir
John Barleycorn has the reputation of calming
the nerves, Sir Devonshire Pippin will tingle
them up and keep them in a state of undue excitement.
The truth is, in respect to either of
those worthies, if you give them an inch (too
much) they will take an ell. In cider countries,
cider-drinking is not an unfrequent cause of
delirium tremens. Cider is very treacherous in regard
to its strength; and so is ale, and so is
sometimes porter. However strong either may
be, neither mixes well with pure spring water,
although combined with effervescent draughts
(soda-water, seltzer- water, ginger beer, or
lemonade) they form a more trustworthy mixture,
grateful to thirsty throats and jaded minds.

In Normandy, the great home of cider, a
marked distinction is drawn and maintained;
only the pure unmixed juice of the apple is
dignified with the name of " cidre," which is
therefore, as a matter of course, known by the
consumer to be potent. He is duly forewarned
to be prudent in his potations. The finer
qualities (partly, perhaps, or entirely perry),
are bottled, gaudily ticketed with " Sillerie de
Normandie," and other fine names, and sold on
the spot, as dear as a franc a bottle, retail.
Ordinary cider, in the manufacture of which a
considerable proportion of water is used — the
cider which you see contained in casks large
enough to hold a small dinner-party — is universally
known as " boisson," " drink," and is
the drink of the population at all seasons, in all
places, at all times of the day and night, at the
morning meal and the evening repast. It is often
more difficult to get a glass of water than a
glass of " boisson." Tables d'hôte overflow
with the latter; the former you may sometimes
call for in vain. In great droughts, for want
of water (only to be had by fetching it two or
three miles), " boisson" has been given to servants
to wash up plates and dishes with.

Of course, boisson in Normandy is swallowed
in indefinite and unmeasured quantities; nor do
the Normans look the worse for the regimen.
They are a tall strong hearty race, utterly unlike
the meagre Frenchmen of our old farces
and caricatures. We have, in England, a school
of drinkers whose practice is directly opposed
to the Norman. Instead of imbibing, at discretion
or indiscretion, what is offered when they
are dry, our abstinents, under medical advice
or personal whim, take as little liquid as possible:
drinking at dinner nothing but undiluted
wine, with no water, still less with beer. They
are not numerous, as a sect.

All Europe, south of the latitudes where
grapes ripen in the open field, produces light
wines which would supply a healthy and not
expensive beverage here, if once a taste for them
were spread. When the consumption is sufficiently
rapid, they are excellent drawn fresh
from the cask. The French call them " small
wines;" the " grand wines " and the " fine
wines " being such as are carefully bottled
with the honours of long corks and waxed
necks. Switzerland has several good wines,
both small and strong, which may be tasted
around the lakes of Neuchatel, Geneva, and
others. Light wines are consumed both when
new and sweet, and also just a little older (for
they are not expected to attain great age), dry,
"sec," or " sack," when they are somewhat
stronger, which might be the reason for Falstaff's
preference. In Roman wine-shops you are
mostly asked whether you will have your " bicchiere
de vino," your beaker of wine, " asciutto"
— dry, or " dolce " — sweet. Of Italian light
wines, both red and white, the variety is considerable.
For convenience, many of these are
kept in narrow-necked flasks, stopped with a
no more solid cork than a teaspoonful of olive
oil. When the wine is wanted, the stopper is
removed by a jerk of the wrist, which scatters it
and a few drops of wine on the floor. Several
Italian wines will shortly merit the attention of
English importers. Noteworthy are the vino
d'Astè of Piedmont, white and sparkling; the
Montepulciano of Tuscany, red and clarety; and
the two sorts of lagrime cristi and other wines
resembling them, from Naples. When the
Roman question is settled, the Roman wines
will be settled too, and that for the better.
Hungary furnishes capital wines, both little
and great; Swiss tourists make their acquaintance
with general satisfaction. Unfortunately,
their place of growth renders the expense of their
import to us, a little heavy. The Rhine wines
are old familiar friends; they need no bush —
only, like the Hungarians, a diminished duty.

Both for geographical and commercial reasons,
the majority of our light wines, therefore, come
from France. But in France itself there are
many prejudices, or settled notions (to use a
more parliamentary term), with regard to wine.
One of them is, that the frequent use of white
wines is far from salutary, and is bad for the
nerves; respecting which a word may be said.

The expression " white wines " sounds comprehensive
and general; but there is an important
diiference in their mode of preparation,
separating them into two classes, which differ
from each other much more widely than any one
unadulterated red wine differs from another. In
all pure red wines the colouring matter is the skin
of the grape. When the fruit is thrown into the
vat, the grapes are partially crushed, and there
left together (pulp, stalks, and skins) until fermentation
has reached a certain point. They
are then finally pressed, still all together; the
liquor drawn off, further fermented and duly fined,
becomes red wine.

The higher the class of wine, the fewer are