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    • ¦ - IQSP-f ,THB _JjJ Aji^B». igo-397, ...

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    HORACE WALPOLE IN 1857. The. Letters of ...

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    Studies Of Wine. The Chemisti-Y Of Wine....

    when they are allowed , as in red wine , to ferruent with the juice ; but even this point is undecided . The varieties of -wine 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 Burgund y 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 oone DiacK , wnicn are moaorous ana decompose sioway , improve in . 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 fish , which is used to fertilize the gardens , ¦ can be distinctly recognized . He acknowledges , however , the existence of a theory , that plants do 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 the juice , the purple . and white skins yielding tannie 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 ii fatty oil , the amount of which Ray reckons at more than ten millions of pounds weight annually for France 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 tannie 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 subiect to a peculiar treatment before

    pressing . Tokay is extracted from grapes which havebeen not only allowed to get over-ripe but partially to dry upon the vines . Vin de paille is obtained from grapes which have been allowed to dry in the sun . In both cases Tvater is evaporated , and the juice is therefore richer and stronger . This ¦ was the ancient mode of procuring heavy wines . When the grapes are allo-wed to dry on the vine the wine is called Dry wine ; when they are dried -on . straw , Straw wine ; when the juice is evaporated by heat , Boiled wine . 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 the admixture be afterwards detected . Raisin juice often -sweetens and enriches the poorer German's bottle . Wine , in fact , professes tft . 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 ierments 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 ^ prev aile d in France 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 iu which they found themselves proving fatal to them . The fermentation . goes on until the -vines blossom again , and the brilliant and fragrant fluid is ¦ tfien drawn off into casks . It is next cleared . Isinglass is extensively employed for this purpose . In Spain powdered marble , and in other countries 4 » ypsum 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 this 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 sale , have been tried , hvk are not applicable to the best class of wines . The process of sulphurizing - *—burning sulphur in bottles or casks b-efore 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 aromatics , are occasionally put in with the strips of linen on which the sulphur burns ; but they cannot destroy its odour , although , in its turn , it checks the formation of mould . Pulverized mustard-seed is resorted to in France to prevent the fermentation of jvhite 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 bui-ied during tlie conflagration of London

    -and only dug up forty years since , though nearly two hundred years old , yras found perfectly good and well flavoured . Rhine wines are not fitted in general for great age . In others , odoriferous substances are formed , the wine becomes less acid and better tasted , the colouring sediment is deposited , and the alcohol increases . If kept in vessels of wood , or bottled , the watery part of the juice , of course , evaporates more freely than the -spirit . But , as the , wat « r 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 warm countries to improve . " I have had JVJadeira , " says the Professor , who must be a formidable jud ^ e , " which had been seven times in cask to the East Indies and backand truly such wine

    , was unknown to the gods of the ancients . " As for old wines kept in bottles he explains their richness by saying that , had they not have been of a powerful quality , they could not have been properly preserved , lied wines crow darker in bottles ; they develop , also , a new sweetness and aroma . This result is attributable to warmth . According to somo opinions bottles corked , but not quite iUled with wine , and laid for two hours in warm water -acquire , if containing much spirit , tlie flavour and fragrance of that which lias been cellared ten or twelve years ; but Professor Mulder doubts whether such artifices impart precisely those qualities elicited by time . Old casks act often -very injuriously upon their contents ; indeed , the principal dealers of Burgitndy preserve their stock in walled reservoirs , lined with Roman

    cement , which , when filled , are covered over . The decay of corks is also pernicious ; so much so that tlie Professor , with a startling contempt of conservative principles , wonders that ' when so many other means can bo employed cork should still be made use of to stop bottles . " Some win . es are

    improved by warmth , _ others by cold . If a vessel full of wine be frozen ovTr the . ee will consist principally of the watery- particles ; the portion uneon gealed will have denved additional strength from the process . FreS " according to the calculations of Laniotte , renders the weaker wines ahnoft equal to the better sorts in their alcoholic contents St Professor Mulder treats of the diseases of wine under five senary heads : —lastly , the turning , which darkens the colour , and destroy the flavour . Ihis is caused by a decomposition of tartar . Secondly , roninGt consisting in the formation of a vegetable mucus from the sugar of the " win ? lartaric acid is one cause of this corruption also . Thirdly , bitterness " to winch Burgundies nvo peculiarly liable . This is attributed , hypothetical ? to the formation of citric ether ; it arises from the sediment , ana often diLin pears of itself . Drawing off the wine in other casks is therefore a remedv 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 . Carbon ated alkali , introduced in time , stops it , but the colour and flavour are im paired . Mouldmess 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 swe ' et as Tokay , Malaga , and Madeira ; the acid or harsh , which if . rood have generally the most bouquet , as Khine and Moselle ; the spirituous , as Portuguese and Burgundy ; those containing tannic acid , to which most French sorts belong ; and the effervescing , as Champagne and others ; the last remains perfect , as a rule , only fora short time . With regard to alcoholic contents Madeira ranks next to Port ; liqueur wines are stronger than red . Port contains most tannic 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 . well 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 . All are mure or less fragrant ; but art is employed to heighten their ethereal odours roseleaves , lime and elder nowers , the peel of quinces , wild vine blossoms , sao-e eentaury oil , the roots of the violet and Florentine iris . Happy would ° it be . if this were all ; sweet wine 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 .

    • ¦ - Iqsp-F ,Thb _Jjj Aji^B». Igo-397, ...

    • ¦ - IQSP-f , THB _ JjJ Aji ^ B » . igo-397 , October 31 , 1857 .

    Horace Walpole In 1857. The. Letters Of ...

    HORACE WALPOLE IN 1857 . The . Letters of Horace Wafyole , Earl of Otjhrd . Edited by Peter Cunningham . Now first Chronologically arranged . VoL V . Beutley . One beauty of the Wai pole correspondence is that the satire falls as sharply upon this century as the last . Horace Walpole , however , makes himself appear as mean as his contemporaries . He turned king ' s evidence against the fops and idlers of his race . Iiurd called him an ' insulleruble coxcomb' in antithesis to the ' seraphic madman' Rousseau , and , assuredly , coxcombry was nevermore at home than at Strawberry-hill . Yet \\ alpole ' s letters are delightful . The writer drivels about Clive , Ravnal , Garrick , and

    a hundred men greater than himself , and is the very Maccuroni he satirizes ; but it is impossible to gossip with him , without being impressed again and again with the incisive severity of his remarks , which print upon tiie page a pattern of the times he lived in . It is amusing to note liow he personified (_ us well . as laughed at ) the follies , levities , and recklessness of the dny , and how , if we had a Walpole among us , he would certainly utter the same bizarre , yet graceful , medley of truth sind falsehood , absurdity ami satire . A \ e 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-aide parallel of 1857 ; but this description applies in some particulars : —¦

    On eitner hand , a balcony for elect ladies . The rest of tlie congregation bit on farms . JJehind the pit , in a dark niche , is a plain table within rails ; so you sec the throne is for the apostle . Wesley is a lean elderly man , freah-colouivil , his ha-ir nmootlily combed , but with a soupqon of curl at the ends . Wondrous clean , but as evidently an actor aa Garrick . He spoke his sermon , but so fast , and wii . li . so littlo accent , that I am sure ho haa often uttered it , for it waa like , a lesson . There weie parts and eloquence in it ; but towards the end he exalted his voice , and acted vex / ugly enthusiasm ; decried learning , and told stories , like Latimcr , of the fuul of his college , -who said , " 1 thanks God for everything . " Except a few from curiosity , and some honourable women , the congregation was very mean . And if what ' they say' is true , Walpole is right again in this : — There has been , a dabbling with the Bedfords . Towards Asia , Wnlpole turned an eye of scepticism ; towards Clivo one of narrow rancour : —

    Lord Clivc in arrived , lias brought a million for himself , two diamond drops woxlh twelve thousand pounda for the Queen , a scimitar , dagger , and otUer nmUei'i , covered ¦ with brilliants , for the King , and wortli twenty-four thousand more . Thi ^ e IniuCiks are presents from the deposed and imprisoned Mogul , whose poverty can * lil' iiMril to give hucU bribes . Lord Clivo refused some overplus , and gave it to noun- widows of officers : it amounted to ninety thousand pounda . lie lias reduced the appointments of Governor of ISengal to thirty-two thousand pounds a year ; and , what , is belter , has left such a chain of forts and distribution of troops aa will entirely Hiciire iii wdesbiou of the country—till wo lo . so it . We have u statement of the old fnshionuble creed , thufc four mulct , ami an cpigruin can set everything right , ' the epigram being usually , in our times , stolen , and diatonded into an ' observation / Here , moreover , i . s the countenance of the Twickenham Horace himself , reflected in his minor ot vanity : — They tell mo there are very bad accounts from soventl colonies , and tli « paper * aro full of their remonstrances ; but I never read tmeb . thing .- * . 1 am happy i » llftY °

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 31, 1857, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_31101857/page/18/