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    1050 THE L-g^^jP^^

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    . HORACE WALPOLE IN 1S57. The Letters of...

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    Studies Of Wine. The Chemistry Of Wine. ...

    when they are allowed-, as in red wine , to ferment with the juice ; hut even this point i * undecidecL The varieties of wiue depend , not only on the constituents of the original plant , but on the composition of the soil , and a hundred processes which follow the juice until it is decanted upon the dinnertable . The soil whence the Burgundy comes is a clayey lime , that of Champagne a more thorough lime ; Hermitage is yielded by a granitic , Medoc by a sandy , and Vin de la Gaude by a slaty soil . The additional influence of artificial appliances is important . Fetid manures , such as the mud and refuse of great ^ towns , destroy the perfume of the wine ; wool , hair , and bone black , which are inodorous and decompose slowly , improve it . That the putrefying organic substances of the manure pass largely into the plant , is shown , says Professor Mulder , by the fact that in the cauliflower of'the Westland , the smell of the putrid lish , which is used to fertilize the gardens , ¦ can be distinctly recognized . He acknowledges , however , the existence of

    a theory , that plants < lo not bear a single trace of the organic constituents of the soil . In the preparation of some wines , the skins and stones , and in many cases the stalks , are allowed to ferment with . tl \ e juice , the purple - and white skins yielding tannic acid , while only in the former does any colouring matter exist . A considerable quantity of white wax may be obtained from grape skins , by means of boiling alcohol . The stones are remarkable as containing a considerable quantity both of tannic acid and of 41 fatty oil , the amount of which Ray reckons at more than ten millions of pounds weight annually for Prance alone . He considers it as well suited ibr food as for burning . Bender , of Coblentz , convinced himself that it was not worth the expense of pressing . Zeimer found it disagreeable to smell and taste ; but it has been suggested by others to roast grape stones , and use them instead of coffee . The stalks have a sharp astringent flavour , and if treated with water and salt of oxide of iron , yield tannic acid .

    A really well-flavoured wine can only be obtained from grapes at a point of perfect ripeness . In countries where the vintage begins everywhere on the same day much wine is necessarily pressed from , the unripe or over-ripe fruits . Some grapes , however , are subject to a peculiar treatment before pressing . Tokay is extracted froni grapes which have been not only allowed io get over-ripe but partially to dry upon the vines . Vin depaille is obtained from grapes which have been allowed to dry in the sun . In both cases water is evaporated , and the juice is therefore richer and stronger . This was the ancient mode of procuring heavy wines . When the grapes are -allowed to dry on the vine the wine is called Dry wine ; when they are dried -on straw , Straw wine ; whe » the juice is evaporated by heat , Boiled wiae . But . in the vineyard itself the ingenuity of adulteration begins to work .

    After a cool , damp summer , cane-sugar , beetroot , or potato syrup is introduced , nor can tie admixture be afterwards detected . Raisin juice often sweetens and enriches the poorer German ' s bottle . Wine , in fact , professes < £ © be grape juice , changed by fermentation . This it seldom is . The manufacturer adds chalk to extract the free acids ; the fluid flowing from , the press ferments in from three to four days , and to promote this action , as well as to stir up the contents , Professor Mulder tells us the custom formerly prevailed in Prance of allowing a working man to go into the vat , the temperature of his body promoting fermentation . According to Thenard , several individuals were killed in this way , the atmosphere of carbonic acid in which they found themselves proving fatal to them . The fermentation goes on until the vines blossom again , and the brilliant and fragrant fluid is then drawn off into casks . It is next cleared . Isinglass is extensively

    employed for this purpose . In Spain powdered marble , and in other countries ^ gypsum or sand , is used . In warm climates many of the manufacturers prefer gum arabic powdered , or dissolved in spirit . Extract of nutgalls is sometimes added . Before tliis method was known it was impossible to render Burgundy quite clear without exposing it too much to the chance of spoiling ; dried blood , which , is sold in powder , milk , cream , and salt , have been tried , hut are not applicable to tlie best class of wines . The process of sulphurizing —burning sulphur in bottles or casks before pouring in the wine—is intended to prevent fermentation ; if carried to excess it communicates a disagreeable smell . To hinder this , cloves , cinnamon , lavender , thyme , and other aronaatics , are occasionally put in with the strips of linen on which the sulphur burns j , but tliey cannot destroy its odour , although , in its turn , it checks the formation of mould . Pulverized mustard-seed is resorted to

    jn trance to prevent the fermentation of white wine in casks and bottles . The next stage is the cellar . Here the wine may or may not acquire a new virtue . Some Malaga which was buried duriug the conflagration of London and only dug up forty years since , though nearly two hundred years old , was found perfectly good and well flavoured . Rhine wines are not fitted in _ general fbr great age . In others , odoriferous substances are formed , the wine becomes lass acid and better tasted , the colouring sediment is deposited , and the alcohol increases . If kept in vessels of wood , or bottled th of the

    , e watery part juice , of course , evaporates more freely than the . spirit . But , as the . water is absorbed through the wood , it is necessary to . add -wine , otherwise sourness would be produced by the action of the admitted air . Madeira is sent to warn countries to improve . tl I have had Madeira , " saya the Professor , who must be a formidable judge , " which had been , seven times in cask to the East Indies and back , and truly such wine ¦ was unknown to the goda of the ancients . " As for oLd wines kept in bottles he explains thcii richneBs by Baying that , hud they not have been of a powerful quality , they could not have been properly preserved . Red wines

    . grow darker in bottles j they develop , also , a new sweetness and aroma This result is attributable , to warmth . According to eomo opinions bottleB 4 iorkeil , but not quite filled with wine , and luid for two hours in warm water -acquire , if containing much spirit , the iluvour and fragrance of that which has boen cellared ten or twelve years ; but Professor Mulder doubts whether such urtilicca impart precisely those qualities elicited by time . Old casks act often v * iry injuriously upon their content * ; indeed , the principal dealers of Burgundy preserve their stock in walled reservoirs , lined with Roman -cement , which , when tilled , are covered over . The decay of codes is also pernicious ; so much so that the Professor , with a startling contempt of eonfiervatiwo principles , woudors that ' when so many other means cmi bo employed « ork ikould still bo made use of to stop bottles . " Some wiaea are

    improved by warmth , others by cold . If a vessel full of wine be frozen over the ice will consist principally of the watery particles ; the portion uncon gealed will have derived additional strength from the process . Freezing- " according , to the calculations of Lamotte , renders the wesiker wines almost equal to the better sorts in their alcoholic contents . Professor Mulder treats of the diseases of wine under five separa te heads : —Eirstly , the turning , which darkens the colour , and destroys t ] ie flavour . This is caused by a decomposition of tartar . Secondly , ropiness consisting in the formation of a vegetable mucus from the sugar of the wine ' Tartai-ic acid is one cause of this corruption also . Thirdly , bitterness to which Burgundies are peculiarly liable . This is attributed , hypothetical ^' to the formation of citric ether ; it arises from the sediment , and often disapot itselt oil tlie wine

    pears . urawing m other casks is therefore a remedy or young wine may be added . Acidification is a fourth form of disease . In weak wines contact with air at a high temperature will produce it . Carbonated alkali , introduced in time , stops it , but the colour and flavour are impaired . Mouldiness consists in the production of mould plants on the surface of the liquor . The admission of air encourages this disease , and the alcohol disappears in the process ; but how the mould is formed science does not yet pretend to say . Mulder speaks of Greek wines , of all varieties as liable to spoil easily . He otherwise distinguishes five classes :- —the sweet as Tokay , Malaga , and Madeira ; the acid or harsh , which if good have generally the most bouquet , as Rhine and Moselle ; the spirituous , as Portuguese and Burgundy ; those containing tannic acid , to which most h sorts

    Frenc belong ; and the effervescing , as Champagne and others ; the last remains perfect , as a rule , only for a short time . With regard to alcoholic contents Madeira ranks next to Port ; liqueur wines are-stronger than red . Port contains most tannio acid , its natural colour being , not red , but dark violet . After depositing its sediment for a number of years , it ' should become yellow , and difficult to distinguish , at sight from Madeira . This yellow tinge is w « U known in strong , old-cellared Bordeaux . No wine is made , however , the colour of which is not an approach to red or yellow and yet really yellow or red wines are unknown . Some are of a deep brown , crimson , or purple ; others are almost colourless . AH are more or less fragrant ; but art is employed to heighten their ethereal odours— -roseleaves , lime and elder flowers , the peel of quinces , wild vine blossoms sa <* e

    centaury oil , the roots of the violet and Florentine iris . Happy would it be if this were all ; sweet wiue of Languedoc is tampered with , until it resembles Madeira , Malaga , or Alicant . Mulder enumerates eight kinds of adulteration , and an array of mixtures—logwood , Brazil-wood , poppy dwarf elder , cornelian cherries , litmus , bilberries , sandal-wood , and beetroot . But we can follow him no further . This account in . outline of his studies , which we have not undertaken to criticise , may induce some readers to take the book in hand . .

    1050 The L-G^^Jp^^

    1050 THE L-g ^^ jP ^^

    . Horace Walpole In 1s57. The Letters Of...

    . HORACE WALPOLE IN 1 S 57 . The Letters of Horace . Walpole , Earl of Orford . Edited by Tetei Cunningham . Now first Chronologically arranged . Vol . V . . Bentley . One beauty of the Walpolecorrespondence is that the satire fulls as-sharply upon this century as the last . Horace Walpole , however , makes himself appear as mean us his contemporaries . He turned king ' s evidence against the fops and idlers of his race . Hurd called him an ' insufferable" coxcomb' in antithesis to the ' seraphic madman' Rousseau , and , assuredly , coxcombry was nevermore at home than at Strawberry-hill . Yet Walpole ' s letters are delightful . The writer drivels about Clive / ltavnal , Garrick , and

    a hundred men greater than himself , and is the very Maccaroni he satirizes ; but it is impossible to gossip with him , without being impressed a ^ ain and again with the incisive severity of his remarks , which print upon tlie page a pattern of the times he lived in . It is amusing to note how he personified ( as well as laughed at ) the follies , levities , and recklessness of the clay , and how , if we had a Walpole among us , he would certainly utter the same bizarre , yet graceful , medley of truth and falsehood , absurdity and satire . We have no Walpole , however , and are forced to parody the one we have not . A good deal of degradation , for instance , would be necessary to reduce Wesley to a south-side parallel of 1857 ; but this description applies in some particulars : —

    On either hand , a balcony for elect Iadie 8 . Tho rest of the congregation sit on foraM . Behind the pit , in a dark niche , i 3 a plain table within rails ; so you see the throne io for tko apostle . Wealey ia a leau elderly man , fresh-colouml , liis hair smoothly combed , but with a soupqon of curl at the ends . Wondrous clean , but as evidently an actor as Garrick . He spoke his sermon , but so fast , and with so little accent , that I am sure he has often uttered it , for it was like a lesson . There were parts and eloquence in it ; but towards the end he exalted his voice , and acted veryugly enthusiasm ; decried learning , and told stories , like Latiiner , of the fool of his college , who suul , " I tkttnka God for everything . " Excopt a few from curiosity , and some honourable women , the congregation was very menn . And if what ' they s » y' is true , Walpole is right again in this : — There has been a dubbling with the Bcdfords . Towards Asia , Walpole turned an eye of scepticism ; towards Clive one of narrow rancour : —

    Lord Clivo ia arrived , lias brought a million for himself , two diamond drops worth twelve thousand pounds for the Quoon , a soiraitur , dagger , and other mutters , covered with brilliants , for the King , and worth twenty-four thousand more . Thtwo baubles uro presents from tho deposed and impriHoned Mogul , whose poverty can still utl ' ord to givo such bribes . Lord ( Jlive refused some overplus , and gave it to aoniu widows of officers : it amounted to ninety thousand pounds . Ho has reduced thu upp »>» ltuieata of Governor of Bengal to thirty-two thousand pounds a your ; and , what in bettor , has left auch a chuia of forts anil distribution of troops as will entirely Bcuuro i > o » scsaion of the cotuitry—till wo lose it . We have n statement of tho old fashionable creed , ' that four unites and an epigram cun set everything right , ' tlie epigram being usually , in our tuncB , stolen , and distended into an ' observation . ' Here , moreover , is the countenance of tho Twickenham lioi'uco himself , rcllucloil in hi * mirror of vanity : — They toll uxo there axe very bad accounts from aevoml colonies , and tho »»|> ora oio full of their rouionatmncea ; but I uovov road uucb . tuiiiiw . I am happy to have

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 31, 1857, page 1050, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/ldr_31101857/page/18/