Chapter 21

FOOTNOTES:[1]Diodorus.[2]Idem.[3]Max Sutaine’sEssai 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’sHistory of Ancient and Modern Wines.[6]Gibbon’sDecline and Fall of the Roman Empire.[7]Gibbon’sDecline and Fall of the Roman Empire.[8]According to this document, published in Marlot’sHistoire 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’sHistoire de Reims.[10]Henderson’sHistory of Ancient and Modern Wines.[11]Victor Fievet’sHistoire d’Epernay.[12]Bertin du Rocheret’sMélanges.[13]Varin’sArchives Administratives de Reims.[14]‘Bien met l’argent qui en bon vin l’emploie.’Poems of Colin Musset, 1190 to 1220.[15]Varin’sArchives Administratives de Reims.[16]Ibid.[17]Ibid.[18]J. Gondry du Jardinet’sAgréable 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’sVie Privée des Français.[22]‘Espernai dist et Auviler,Argenteuil, trop veus avilerTrès-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 theMaison Rustiqueas ‘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 about1⁄24d.English.[29]Varin’sArchives 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’sArchives 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 ¼d.English per gallon. In 1337–8 prices ranged from ¾d.to 4 ½d.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 2d.English. In 1352 from a 1d.to 2 ¼d.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 ½d.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 16s.8d., 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 ½d. English per gallon, and Beaune at 4 ½d.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 1s.6d.per queue.[33]Froissart’sChronicles.[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’sArchives Administratives de Reims.[38]Froissart’sChronicles.[39]Baron Taylor’sReims; la Ville de Sacres.[40]Amongst the better known are Chamery, where the archbishop had a house, vineyard, and garden, let for 3s.per annum, about fivejoursof vineyard and twojoursof very good vineland; Mareuil, whence he drew ten hogsheads of wine annually; Rilly, Verzenay, Sillery, Attigny, &c. Thejourcost from 5 to 8 livres per annum for cultivation, and the stakes for the vines 4 sols, or 2d., 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 1s.6d.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 2s.6d.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 3s.2d.At the funeral feast there were consumed three queues of the best wine in the cellars, valued at 2s.7 ½d.per queue, three others at 1s.3d., and five pots of Beaune at 1 ⅔d.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 AngevinQui chascun jor viant boire vin.’[44]‘Champagne est la forme de tout bienDe blé, de vin, de foin, et de litière.’[45]Mss. de Rogier, Max Sutaine’sEssai 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’sArchives Administratives de Reims.[48]Max Sutaine’sEssai sur le Vin de Champagne.[49]Varin’sArchives 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’sArchives Administratives de Reims.[51]The cost of the wine thus presented seems to have averaged from 2 ¼d.to 3d.per gallon. In 1477 a queue of old wine was valued at no less than 30s.[52]The twelve peers of France first appear at the coronation of Philip Augustus. There were six lay peers and six ecclesiastical peers:DukeofBurgundy.„Normandy.„Guienne or Aquitaine.CountofToulouse.„Flanders.„Champagne.Archbishop Duke of Reims.BishopDukeof Laon.„„Langres.BishopCountof 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 thebruhecsoréruches, 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 saidéruchesor 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 11s.8d.to 15s.10d.per queue of ninety-six gallons, and the Burgundy 16s.8d.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 23s.4d.to 28s.4d.; and at that of Henry III., in 1575, from 45s.to 62s.6d.per queue,—a sufficient proof of the rapidly-increasing estimation in which the wine was held.[56]Paulmier’s treatiseDe Vino et Pomaceo(Paris, 1588).[57]Jehan Pussot’sMémorial du Temps.[58]Ibid. Many details respecting the yield of the vines and vineyards of the Mountain and the River are preserved in thisMémorial, 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 5s.6d.the queue; at others it was so scarce that it rose, as at the vintage of 1587, to 126s.8d.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 12s.to 16s.the queue, but it turned out so bad that by Christmas it was sold at 5s.6d.[59]Maison Rustique(1574).[60]Jehan Pussot’sMémorial du Temps.[61]During the first twenty-five years of the century Pussot shows the new wine to have averaged from about 23s.to 46s.the queue, according to quality. In 1600 and 1611 it was as low as 16s., and in 1604 fetched from merely 12s.to 32s.On the other hand, in 1607, it fetched from 57s.to 95s., and in 1609 from 79s.to 95s.[62]Feillet’sLa Misère aux temps de la Fronde.[63]Dom Guillaume Marlot’sHistoire de Reims.[64]Pluche’sSpectacle de la Nature.[65]St. Simon’sMémoires.[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 greatgourmet, 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 goodcoteauxof 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 theMercureof 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’sMémoires.[74]Ibid.[75]Ibid.[76]Max Sutaine’sEssai sur le Vin de Champagne, 1845.[77]Henderson’sHistory of Ancient and Modern Wines.[78]Æneid, i. 738.[79]Henderson’sHistory of Ancient and Modern Wines.[80]Max Sutaine’sEssai sur le Vin de Champagne.[81]————‘Petars de Chaalons,Qui le ventre enfle et les talons.’[82]Louis Perrier’sMémoire 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’sEssai sur le Vin de Champagne.[87]Pluche’sSpectacle de la Nature.[88]Idem andMaison Rustique, 1582. M. Louis Perrier, in hisMémoire sur le Vin de Champagne, says that the Ay wines yield but littlemousse.[89]Max Sutaine’sEssai 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.

FOOTNOTES:

[1]Diodorus.

[2]Idem.

[3]Max Sutaine’sEssai 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.

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’sHistory of Ancient and Modern Wines.

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

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

[8]According to this document, published in Marlot’sHistoire 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’sHistoire de Reims.

[10]Henderson’sHistory of Ancient and Modern Wines.

[11]Victor Fievet’sHistoire d’Epernay.

[12]Bertin du Rocheret’sMélanges.

[13]Varin’sArchives Administratives de Reims.

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

[15]Varin’sArchives Administratives de Reims.

[16]Ibid.

[17]Ibid.

[18]J. Gondry du Jardinet’sAgréable 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.’

[20]

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

‘Le vin en tonel,

Froit et fort et finandel,

Pour boivre à la grant chaleur.’

[21]Legrand d’Aussy’sVie Privée des Français.

[22]‘Espernai dist et Auviler,Argenteuil, trop veus avilerTrès-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.’

[22]

‘Espernai dist et Auviler,Argenteuil, trop veus avilerTrès-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.’

‘Espernai dist et Auviler,Argenteuil, trop veus avilerTrès-tos les vins de ceste table.Par Dieu, trop t’es fait conestable.

‘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.’

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.’

[23]

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

‘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 theMaison Rustiqueas ‘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 about1⁄24d.English.

[29]Varin’sArchives 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’sArchives 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 ¼d.English per gallon. In 1337–8 prices ranged from ¾d.to 4 ½d.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 2d.English. In 1352 from a 1d.to 2 ¼d.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 ½d.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 16s.8d., 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 ½d. English per gallon, and Beaune at 4 ½d.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 1s.6d.per queue.

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 ¼d.English per gallon. In 1337–8 prices ranged from ¾d.to 4 ½d.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 2d.English. In 1352 from a 1d.to 2 ¼d.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 ½d.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 16s.8d., 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 ½d. English per gallon, and Beaune at 4 ½d.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 1s.6d.per queue.

[33]Froissart’sChronicles.

[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’sArchives Administratives de Reims.

[38]Froissart’sChronicles.

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

[40]Amongst the better known are Chamery, where the archbishop had a house, vineyard, and garden, let for 3s.per annum, about fivejoursof vineyard and twojoursof very good vineland; Mareuil, whence he drew ten hogsheads of wine annually; Rilly, Verzenay, Sillery, Attigny, &c. Thejourcost from 5 to 8 livres per annum for cultivation, and the stakes for the vines 4 sols, or 2d., 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 1s.6d.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 2s.6d.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 3s.2d.At the funeral feast there were consumed three queues of the best wine in the cellars, valued at 2s.7 ½d.per queue, three others at 1s.3d., and five pots of Beaune at 1 ⅔d.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 AngevinQui chascun jor viant boire vin.’

[43]

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

‘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 bienDe blé, de vin, de foin, et de litière.’

[44]

‘Champagne est la forme de tout bienDe blé, de vin, de foin, et de litière.’

‘Champagne est la forme de tout bien

De blé, de vin, de foin, et de litière.’

[45]Mss. de Rogier, Max Sutaine’sEssai 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’sArchives Administratives de Reims.

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

[49]Varin’sArchives 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’sArchives Administratives de Reims.

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

[52]The twelve peers of France first appear at the coronation of Philip Augustus. There were six lay peers and six ecclesiastical peers:DukeofBurgundy.„Normandy.„Guienne or Aquitaine.CountofToulouse.„Flanders.„Champagne.Archbishop Duke of Reims.BishopDukeof Laon.„„Langres.BishopCountof 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.

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

Archbishop Duke of Reims.

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 thebruhecsoréruches, 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 saidéruchesor 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.’

‘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 thebruhecsoréruches, 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 saidéruchesor 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 11s.8d.to 15s.10d.per queue of ninety-six gallons, and the Burgundy 16s.8d.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 23s.4d.to 28s.4d.; and at that of Henry III., in 1575, from 45s.to 62s.6d.per queue,—a sufficient proof of the rapidly-increasing estimation in which the wine was held.

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

[57]Jehan Pussot’sMémorial du Temps.

[58]Ibid. Many details respecting the yield of the vines and vineyards of the Mountain and the River are preserved in thisMémorial, 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 5s.6d.the queue; at others it was so scarce that it rose, as at the vintage of 1587, to 126s.8d.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 12s.to 16s.the queue, but it turned out so bad that by Christmas it was sold at 5s.6d.

[59]Maison Rustique(1574).

[60]Jehan Pussot’sMémorial du Temps.

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

[62]Feillet’sLa Misère aux temps de la Fronde.

[63]Dom Guillaume Marlot’sHistoire de Reims.

[64]Pluche’sSpectacle de la Nature.

[65]St. Simon’sMémoires.

[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 greatgourmet, 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 goodcoteauxof 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 theMercureof 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.

[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.

‘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.

[72]

‘Sur quelle vigne à Reims nous avons hypothèque;Vingt muids, rangés chez moi, font ma bibliothèque.’Le Lutrin, chant iv. 1674.

‘Sur quelle vigne à Reims nous avons hypothèque;

Vingt muids, rangés chez moi, font ma bibliothèque.’

Le Lutrin, chant iv. 1674.

[73]St. Simon’sMémoires.

[74]Ibid.

[75]Ibid.

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

[77]Henderson’sHistory of Ancient and Modern Wines.

[78]Æneid, i. 738.

[79]Henderson’sHistory of Ancient and Modern Wines.

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

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

[81]

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

————‘Petars de Chaalons,

Qui le ventre enfle et les talons.’

[82]Louis Perrier’sMémoire 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’sEssai sur le Vin de Champagne.

[87]Pluche’sSpectacle de la Nature.

[88]Idem andMaison Rustique, 1582. M. Louis Perrier, in hisMémoire sur le Vin de Champagne, says that the Ay wines yield but littlemousse.

[89]Max Sutaine’sEssai 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.

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