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Bacchus say

σαν.

rage of gods, and others condemned as totally un- [ally held up to detestation, and if, as has been sug drinkable. A few of the most esteemed varieties gested, it finds its nearest modern analogue in the are mentioned and described by Hermippus, in a mixtures which we imbibe as Port, we can feel no fragment quoted by Athenæus, in which he makes astonishment at the anathemas of Aristophanes. Eparchides observes, regarding it, oùre yλukus odre παχὺς ̓ ἀλλ ̓ αὐστηρὸς, καὶ σκληρός, καί δύναμιν έχων διαφέρου "Neither sweet, nor rich, but rough and harsh and excessively strong." It bore age remarkably well,—indeed, its name was supposed to be derived from παραμένειον, lasting." Among other agreeable properties, it was said to possess those of withering the features and deranging digestion. But even this was outdone by the fierce Corinthian, which the writers of old agree in describing as a wine of remarkable strength, and most disagreeable. Alexis remarks concerning it, —ό γαρ Κορίνθιος

The sweet Mendean springs from Jove himself,
With the light wires that fair Magnesia yields,
And Thasian, that smells like a rich apple;
This is by far the noblest wine that flows,
If we except the faultless grape of Chios.
But there's another, that they call the Saprian,
Which, when the cask is opened, a perfume gives
Of purple violets, and rich hyacinths,
And spreads the odor of celestial roses
Throughout the house. It has the breath of nectar,
Strengthened with rich ambrosia. I consider
That it is nectar in its purest form.

Produce this wine when drinking with a friend-
If with a foe, give him vile Peparethan!

Βασανισμὸς ἐστὶ.

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For the Corinthian
Is in itself an absolute torture.

But these were by no means the only kinds of wine in request among the topers of antiquity. From the black Maronean of the Homeric times, so thick and sweet, that it required some twenty But, as if these vintages were not powerful waters to render it drinkable, down to the light enough, the Athenian epicures ransacked all nature, vintage of the Thebaïs, so harmless that it was for substances to mingle with their wine and renprescribed in fevers, every possible variety produ- der it more potent. Rosin was administered with cible by nature or art, was exhausted to gratify the a liberal hand to all wines,* and plaster was a large palate of the Athenian epicure. We will merely ingredient in those of Lemnos. Turpentine, too, mention the names of some of those most sought was occasionally employed to improve the flavor, after, such as the Chian, of which three grades and sea-water was a very common adjunct. The were distinguished; the Lesbian;* the Thasian, of benefit of adding this last was said to have been which there were two kinds, one causing and the discovered by accident. A slave, who was in the other banishing sleep; the Rhodian; the Lemnian; habit of tapping his master's casks, sub rosă, for the Sciathian; Biblinian; Glytrinian; the delicious his own private recreation, undertook to make up Mareotic, and still more highly prized Tæniotic, both the deficiency with sea-water. He was soon defrom Egypt; the maddening Herean; the Coan; the tected, but was considered to have improved the Cyprian, and a host of others, whose names it would wines so adulterated, and the mixture became unibe scarcely worth while to enumerate, and which are versal. Careful men took up the investigation, and mentioned with various degrees of commendation laid down rules for its proper admixture with the by the gastronomic and epicurean writers of old. Bromian. Columella advises us to evaporate a Of course, when so many kinds of grape were cultivated, and when every imaginable art was put it with every six gallons of wine. pint of sea-water to one-third its bulk and mingle This he afin practice in the manufacture, there were many firms to be the most delicate proportion, but he does growths that did not meet the approbation of the not object to the common practice of doubling, or most refined epicures. The Pramnian was especieven trebling the dose, if the wine be sufficiently This wine stood very high in the favor of the Athe-strong to bear it without betraying a salt taste. Of nians, and gave rise to a not inelegant anecdote of Aristo- course, however, different proportions would be tle, related by Aulus Gellius, (Lib. XIII., Chap. III,) and considered as requisite for the different varieties of which may bear repetition. When the philosopher was growing old and infirm, his followers were most anxious for him to appoint a successor to his place, as head of the school. Among the candidates for his favor were Theophrastus, of Lesbos, and Menedemus, of Rhodes, who were looked on as worthy of the office; and concerning whom, his followers often requested his decision, but without effect. Shortly before his death, in presence of the whole school, he called for some Rhodian and Lesbian wine, saying that he wished to determine which was preferable. When they were brought, he first tasted the Rhodian, saying, “It is strong, and yet most pleasant. Still," added he, drinking some of the Lesbian, "I confess the Lesbian is the more agreeable to me." His followers understood him, and Theophrastus succeeded him without opposition.

wine, and the taste and judgment to appreciate and carry out properly these minute and delicate points, was held in high honor among the enthusiastic topers of old. Thus, the pure Coan was deemed capable of bearing a heavy dose of sea-water without injury, or rather with much benefit; and even more was added to the product of the Rhodian vines, by those deeply conversant with the subject.

But even these compounds, detestable as they must seem to a modern palate, were among the

We believe that this is still the case with the modem Greek wines, rendering them unfit for exportation.

mans.

least artificial of those which delighted Athenian | be but little doubt. Athenæus speaks of a drink throats. One class, which was a great favorite, called Brytum, which was prepared from barley, was the thuara or ipfol olvot, wines boiled with spi and laid on their backs those who drank it. This ces and aromatics, the sapa or defrutum of the Ro- is certainly not unlike the feats of the modern John We can easily understand, that a few deli- Barleycorn. It may please those who are fond of cate spices, intermingled with a light and careful beer and ale, to know that their taste is an ancient hand, would make an agreeable beverage, such as one, and that the wise Egyptians prized such bevthe piment or ypocras of the middle ages; but this erages exceedingly. did not suit the fiery palate of the impetuous Greeks. Aristotle, (De Temulentiâ,) has left us a receipt according to the Rhodian practice. One mixture was made by cooking the wine with myrrh and calamus, and was drunk under the idea that it possessed less power of intoxication. A more potent beverage of the same kind, was compounded by boiling myrrh, squills, saffron, a kind of balsam, cinnamon and amomum together, till they formed a thick mass. On this the wine was poured, and Such an event as the first mingling of wine and the whole nauseous dose, when properly prepared, water, was too important to the lovers of the rosy was the utmost delight of an epicure. It was said to god, to be passed over in silence, when some old remove drunkenness,-most effectually, we should tradition was linked to every custom and habit, and think, by destroying all subsequent relish for the accordingly, we find various tales related concerngrape. But even this was not enough. Rosin ing the auspicious discovery. One fable informs and pitch were added most liberally, with pyrolig- us, that at the time when unmixed wine was used neous acid, and all kinds of aromatic and heating and quarrels and headaches were frequent, a party substances, and the whole mixture boiled down to happened to be feasting on the sea shore, when a a thick mass, which must have borne more resem-sudden storm arose and dispersed them precipiblance to perfumed tar, than any other substance tately. On returning afterwards to the scene of known at the present day. their enjoyment, they found their cups filled with a

It is not surprising, when we look at the preparation of the Grecian wines as sketched above, that they were frequently diluted with large quantities of water. The pot oirot, boiled down to a syrup, must have been used very sparingly and only for admixture with water; but the pure, or lightly prepared wines, were also subject to considerable dilution, and sometimes to an extent that we can scarcely believe.

inator.

There were, besides these, several milder compo- | mixture, which proved to be wine and water, and sitions much in vogue, such as the Trimma, which, which was so delicious, that it was instantly and from description, must have considerably resembled universally adopted in place of the more potent the ypocras, being a mixture of pure wine with drinks before in vogue. Its origin was at once provarious spices. A favorite beverage was also com-nounced to be celestial, and Jove was made its espounded of wine mingled in various proportions, pecial patron, in consideration of his being its origwith flour and water; and a drink delicious enough to receive the name of nectar," was prepared by the inhabitants of Herea, in Thrace, of beans and water mingled with wine. There was also the mulsum, or wine mixed with honey, which was served round with the first light course of eggs at a Grecian banquet. That they had a beverage equivalent to our malt liquors, there would seem to

*We would, en passant, correct a popular error which universally holds nectar to have been the drink, and ambrosia the food of the immortals. They were usually considered so, but were frequently interchanged. Thus Anaxandrides, ap. Athenaeum, Lib II.,

OI eat sweetest nectar, and my drink
Is pure ambrosia, as l wait on Jove.
"Tis my delight to often chat with Juno,
And sit near Venus.

Aleman bears the same testimony; and Sappho, whose intimacy with the gods was unquestioned, and who had Venus for a cup-bearer, was of the same opinion.

In a fragment of one of her lost poems, she says,

The cup was then with sweet ambrosia crowned,
And Mercury arose, that he might serve
The laughing bowl to all the gods around.

Another account is that of Philochorus, who informs us that Bacchus was himself the author of the mixture. The god regretted the abuse which mankind were making of his gifts, by their immoderate use, and instructed Amphyction, king of Athens, in all the art and mystery of diluting wine; whereupon the king enlightened his subjects, and built an altar to Bacchus and one to the Nymphs, close together, signifying that they should never be separated. This story probably arose from the fact, that Amphyction was the first to issue laws restraining and regulating the use of wine. Theophrastus, (De Temulentiâ,) gives a more poetical reason for the use of water in diluting wine. says, that the nurses of Bacchus were nymphs, and that the god ever retains his early predilections and gratitude towards them. This idea is expanded and beautified by Pierius Valerianus, in an epigram, quoted by Moore, in his translation of Anacreon.

“ Ardentem ex utero Semeles lavere Lyeum
Naiades extincto fulmine igne sacri ;
Cum Nymphis igitur tractabilis, at sine nymphis
Candente rursus fulmine corripitur."

He

Be the origin of the custom as it may, it was one which prevailed to a singular extent among the Greeks, so much so, indeed, that Bacchus obtained the name of Lymnæus from his supposed partiality for water. We have already mentioned the Maronean, which required to be diluted some twenty times. This was more than was usually thought necessary for wines of milder growth, but three or four parts of water was a very common proportion. We find many allusions to this custom among the comic writers, stating various compounds as the most desirable beverage. Thus Ephippus, in

his "Circe"

Two cups of water, mixed with three of wine, Will make the safest beverage,

Too weak!

"Tis strong enough, by Ceres!

No, I wish

Three cups of water cooling four of wine.

Anaxilas, in the "Nereid," says,

It shall be sweeter far than e'er before; For I have never, ere this, taken thus Three parts of water to but one of wine.

Alexis goes still further, in "Tethys"

See, here is wine. How shall I serve it you? I like it when 'tis mingled well with water, One cup to four.

It will be seen from these passages, that the diluting of wine with water was a matter for careful and cautious consideration, and one not to be passed over lightly. All the various proportions were examined and noted, and one fourth of wine was usually considered to form the most agreeable beverage. Hesiod recommends it strongly, and there is an old proverb which says, δύο πρὸς πέντε πίνειν, ἡ 'èva mpòs тpeïs—“ drink two with five, or one with three." Ion, the Poet, a notable drinker in his day, gives us, in his work rò nepí Xiov, an old prophecy on the subject.

'Twas Palamedes who foretold that they, Who drank wine threefold intermixed with water, Should navigate the stormy seas in safety.

Anacreon, however, prefers his beverage somewhat more potent; when he is desirous of a deep

debauch, he issues his orders,

̓Αγε, δή φέρ' ἡμῖν' ὦ παῖ' κελέβην, ὑπως ̓ άμυστιν

προπίω, τὰ μὲν δέκ' έγκει

ύδατος, τά πέντε δ' οίνου

κυάθοις.

Bring us, O boy, thy mightiest bowl, That I may drink without control, And let ten cups of water flow

For every five the grape can show.

When even these devoted admirers of Bacchus were content to have their potations thus weakened, we cannot be surprised that it became disreputable to drink unmixed wines. In fact, one of Solon's laws was directed especially against it, and the regulations of Amphyction provided that after one cup of pure wine had passed round in honor of Jupiter Salvator, nothing but diluted wine should be used. The pure juice of the grape was stigmatized as barbarian; to use it was termed (owy, to Scythianize. Thus Achæus, when introducing Satyrs complaining that their draughts are about to be curtailed of their proper strength:

It is not right for us to let the river

Dilute our noble wine. No! let us ever,
Like Scythians, quaff the mighty draught unmingled!

It required, however, the strength of an immortal to sustain the powerful products of a Grecian vintage. Herodotus tells us that Cleomenes, the sixth king of Sparta, from much converse with the Scythians, adopted their custom of using unmixed wine, from the employment of which, he shortly lost his senses.

Another practice which the Greeks had with their wine, and which seems to us more sensible than most of their customs, was that of perfuming it highly. The Athenians were remarkably fond of perfumes, using them wherever they could be employed, and sometimes ran the risk of injuring the flavor of their wines, by the substances mingled with them for the sake of the fragrance. We have seen above, that the poet admires the wine that smells of apples and violets, hyacinths and roses. Wines that had the odor of fruits and flowers, were in peculiar request. At Athens, a singular preparation was made, termed Anthosmia, or flower smelling, by mixing, with some particular art, one fiftieth of sea-water with new must, from young vines.

In taking a general glance at the peculiar customs of the Greeks, as regards the preparation of their wines, we must acknowledge, that we seek in vain for the elegant and refined taste, which makes us regard them as models in almost every thing that they undertook, and we would invite attention rather to the accompaniments of their symposia, than to the feasts themselves, as evincing that mental elegance for which they were distinguished.

Philadelphia, July, 1815.

L.

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ANTIQUITIES OF VIRGINIA.

BY DR. JOHN C. MCCABE.

"Bury me by the sea

That the vesper at eve-fall may ring o'er my grave,
Like the hymn of the bee,

Or the hum of the shell in the silent wave;
Or an Anthem roar,

Shall be beat on the shore,

By the storm and the surge, like a march of the brave." [Thatcher.

It would be well worth the time and trouble of some of our antiquarian friends, to visit the counties in lower Virginia, for the purpose of revelling among musty records, and roving amid ruined burial-grounds and crumbling Churches.

Some few years since, the writer of this hastilyprepared sketch visited a ruined Church and burialground, in Middlesex county, Virginia, where, among other relics of other days, he found the tomb of the Professor of Divinity of old "William and Mary," who died the 26th day of July, 1734.

Interested in the discovery of the old Church, and the tombs standing in ruin, in the midst of a forest, where, perhaps, the rude hum of village industry once rose upon the ear, the writer furnished an account of his visit, together with the various inscriptions from the old tombs, for the "Southern Literary Messenger." The article was copied into the "Southern Churchman," and the fruits of that visit have been the rebuilding of that Church, the repairing of the tombs, consecration of the hallowed spot, and the regular worship of God in that sacred fane, where, for fifty years, ruin and desolation had reigned in undisturbed gloom.*

How the writer, the unintentional, though gratified cause of this change, would have liked to mingle with that crowd of worshippers on that occasion! How to have lifted his voice in that consecration psalm, and sat beneath the burning eloquence of the assistant Bishop of Virginia.

Lower Virginia is rife with thrilling traditions, Antique Colonial records, Knightly tombs, and heirlooms of more than two hundred years. Why does not our Legislature assign the honor of writing Virginia's History to some one of her gifted sons? Why are we dependent, at this late day, for authentic (1) accounts of Virginia, upon Northern tourists, whose object, perhaps, is not so much to present a true history, as to make a saleable work?

From papers, which might be obtained in England, together with County and Church records, and old monuments here, a true history of Virginia might be written, that would form the ground work of many a thrilling romance, where noble

*Howe, in his new history of Virginia, has also quoted from the writer's description of "Middle Church." See Art. Middlesex.

Knight and high born lady, gallant yeoman and the white-capped billows of the Chesapeake, and cottage beauty, Red Cross Banner and Savage shaking the tall heads of the waving fields of golden Warrior, might figure, each in appropriate para-grain, that were already beginning to bow to the phernalia, and awaken that thrill of glory in the an-march of the reaper. The scythe, like a new suncient domain, that was once "the pride of former burst, ever and anon glanced upon the eye, as the days." emulous reapers laid low the lithe stalks of the

I love old Virginia-not for any honor re-grain. The happy Gull was skimming the waters, ceived at her hands, save that of being horn her son-but for the glory with which her name has been covered, by the chivalry of other years. If I forget thee, "let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth!"

uttering his shrill, but not unmusical cry. A venerable looking Heron was stalking very circumspectly, and with an affectation of dignity, along the shallow water on the sands. Scores of fisher-boats were riding at anchor, or with white-spreading sails, were skimming, bird-like, the waters; all life, all beauty, all motion there, around,-while here, where we

Are there not some choice spirits, to whom the task of collecting and arranging materiel for Vir-stood, were THE DEAD! the dead of other years, ginia's history might be committed, now within her and other ages! domain? Who so fitted by education, love of the soil of old Virginia, and perhaps inclination to rescue the records of a mother land from oblivion, as our own Dew, or Beverly Tucker?

But we are wandering from another antique spot had in our mind's eye, upon which our stark vision gazed a few weeks since, and of which we are determined to furnish a brief account for the readers of the Messenger.

Alas! How often, how often has this sad reflection forced itself upon us, when sickness and the fancied approach of death have stripped the world of its illusions, and robed eternity with its solemn mysteries! Forgetting, and forgot in the grave, not a wave less will break in music on the shore; not a bird will suspend its song, or droop its folded wing in sadness; not a change take place in Nature, or the course of the busy world around-and yet, an Immortal Spirit will be with its God!

Arlington," in Northampton county, Eastern Shore of Virginia, is the old family estate of the The first tomb from which I copied the inscripancient Custis family, whose nearest living de- tion, is an oblong, flat slab, ornamented with a scendant, we think, is G. W. P. Custis, Esq., of shield, bearing the vertical triangle, with the base Arlington, near Washington city. The old man-upward; known in heraldry as a pile; the shield sion has long since mouldered into dust, and the chased with ingeniously carved flowers, the triangle lands passed into other hands; being now owned studded with three Hawks, or Falcons.

by Mr. Edward Goffigan, a hospitable Virginian, who has recently added to the beauty of the site,

The following is the inscription, copied literally

being right upon the Eastern side of the Chesapeake and in the order in which the lines run:
Bay, by erecting an elegant mansion, whose white
walls arrest the gaze of the traveller, as he is
borne rapidly along by the steamer, or sail-boat,
hundreds of which may at times be seen dotting
the bosom of the Bay. There are, however, other
objects of interest there, which cause the stranger
and sojourner to pause and ponder.

Here Lies the Body of
JOHN CUSTIS, ESQR One of the
Council and Major Generall of
Virginia Who departed this life Ye
29TH of January 1696 Aged 66 Years
And by His Side a son and daughter
of His Grandson John Custis whom
He had by the daughter of
Daniel Parke Esqr Capn Generall
and Chief Governor of the Leward
ISLANDS.

Virtus Post Funera.

Far out in the field, within a few yards of the sands, where break the spent billows of the magnificent Chesapeake, and from whence the eye can look out upon one continual vision of rolling waves, stand Two GRAVES. The stones that tell who sleep beneath,-time-worn and tempest-stained, moss The other monument, is one of great elegance clinging to their carvings, and the seeming spirit of of sculpture-a sketch of which, taken on the spot antiquity brooding around their base. A broken by a young Englishman for us, we send along with wall tells that this spot was the family burial ground, this article. It is an almost square of beautiful and a mulberry, waving its branches above the cost- white marble, with the drapery most elegantly and lier tomb, tells that some living kind sought to mark delicately carved; about four feet long, and about the burial spot with a type and token, that as spring the same height, terminating in a cone. This tomb should wake to freshness and greenness the quiv- has also the shield, with the flowers, triangle and ering leaves of the tree after the blight of winter, Hawks, or Falcons, on one end; on the other, cuso the resurrection and the life to come were prom-riously wrought, are the insignia of death, consistised to those who slumbered beneath. ing of the skull, the bones and grave paraphernalia. On one side, draped with carved curtains, is the following singular inscription:

It was a bright morning in June, the day of our visit. A glorious breeze was abroad, toying with

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