limits within which they should be manufactured, with the privilege of selecting those proper for exportation, from those fitter for home consumption. This board, now better known by the name of the Wine and Brandy Company, or the General Company for the Cultivation of the Vineyards of the Alto Douro, hold their meetings at Oporto, and are approached in all cases either by petition or memorial, the principles on which it was founded being now greatly modified and almost abandoned. No wine could be sold or brandy distilled but by their permission. All duties were laid on and levied by them, as well for what was manufactured in the country as for the spirits imported; but it has now in a great measure ceased to enforce its right to this monopoly. Experience has proved that chartered companies have, for the most part, been productive of injury to trade and commerce, and have tended much to the obstruction of improvement in manufactures, enterprise, and general industry: of this the company just spoken of is a striking exemplification, as it failed in accomplishing any one of its purposed objects. The chief wine districts of Portugal commence 50 miles from Oporto, clothing in picturesque beauty the banks of the Douro. The Rev. W. M. Kinsey, speaking of the cultivation of the vine in the The vine plants upper Douro, says the process is perfectly simple are pruned about December, when nothing is left but very small twigs, similar to those planted in other parts of the country. As soon as vegetation has commenced, the earth is loosened about the stems; and this process is frequently repeated till the blossoms appear. In some places this practice is found requisite with the view to an increase of produce acting on the richness of the soil, by intermingling plants more abundant in alkali; but this is contrary to the regulations of the Wine Company; and indeed, although a larger stock of grapes is produced by this system, they acquire a taste peculiar to the herb, which has been sown for the purpose of serving as manure to the vineyard. Skill and attention are required on the part of the cultivator after the plant has blossomed, and even when the grapes are approaching to a state of ripeness. Either too much rain or too much heat may spoil the under the most flattering appearances. A good vintage principally depends on due proportions of heat and moisture, particularly in the spring at the cleansing of the flower, as at an after period, when the grapes are more advanced, cold fogs in the spring often destroy a great part of the growth, and again too much sun frequently dries up the coat of the grape, which does not prove sufficiently succulent for want of rain. Previously to the gathering, the farmers have recourse to water, which they throw into grape the lagar, or wine-press, for the mass would not ferment without it. The quality of the wine very much depends upon the care taken to perfect the process of fermentation. The vintage in the upper Douro commences when the grapes begin to shrivel. In these parts it is very difficult and expensive to convey the grapes to the press, the whole district consisting of steep hills and narrow valleys. This process is performed by treading, and a great number of men, assisted by Gallegas, are thus employed at a vintage time. After the wine has been pressed from the grapes, it is suffered to stand in very large butts until the wine fair, which takes place annually, according to the determination of the Company, either in February or March. Immediately after the fair, the wine is brought down to Villa Nova, and is there defecated or racked off into clean casks, which the Oporto wine-merchants call giving it clean shirts; and an almude of brandy, being in the proportion of about one to twenty-one parts of must, is added to each cask. An additional quantity is mixed with it from time to time, until about two almudes of brandy have been thrown into the pipe, which is, with few exceptions, all the brandy it takes to England. But it has been remarked, that it is too much the custom at Oporto to cleanse the wine of its thicker particles, the effect of which is, not simply to refine it, but to weaken, if not destroy, those natural inherent properties, upon which both the body and the flavour of the wine would otherwise depend. It frequently happens that a well-flavoured wine is deficient in colour; and to bring this up, the brighter wine of inferior vintage is mixed with it. It is fair to presume, therefore, that the distinction of wine into vintages is not so purely true, and so entirely a matter of fact, as an Englishman supposes it to be. Mr. Kinsey quotes a writer who expresses his regret, that the British merchants residing in Oporto do not seem to be aware, that in one single pipe, and much more in a single vat, different qualities of wine are to be found at the top, in the middle, and at the bottom. To heighten the colour of Port, the Portuguese infuse the juice of the berries of the phytolacca, an ingredient much more pernicious than elder berries, formerly used for the same purpose: these berries yield a spirit of a harsh and unwholesome quality. The Portugal vintages are usually conveyed under the distinctions of primary or factory wines (vinhos da Feitoria); and secondary wines, (vinhos de Ramo.) The factory wines are again ranked under the head of vinhos de embarque, or export wines; and vinhos separados, Portugal Illustrated, p. 329, 330. or assorted wines. The lighter wines are improved by an admixture with the stronger ramo, a purpose for which the latter is commonly purchased. Oeiras, Carcavellos, and Lavradio produce wines of a high reputation, while the growth of Alenquer, Torres Vedras, Lamego, and Monçaon, possess a high character. The wine of Barraa-Barra, near Lavadrio, is one of the best of Portugal. The vineyards of Coimbra are said to produce inferior grapes of a tart flavour. The Colares Port, a red wine of Colares near Cintra, the white wine of Termo on the Douro, with the wines of Bucellas in the vicinity of Lisbon, and of Setuval in Estremadura, are all in great estimation : the sweet wines of Carcavellos, and the muscadine of Setuval are too familiar to require description or panegyric. The great exports of wine are from Oporto, or Porto, on the Douro, from the name of which city is derived our term port. The vicinity of Oporto is said to yield annually 80,000 pipes of wine, 20,000 of which are exported, and the whole quantity sent out of the kingdom during the same period is computed at 780,000. The exports to Great Britain alone, are detailed in a Table of the Addenda. The bad quality of the native brandy has, hitherto, made it of little commercial importance, but the late introduction of the sirup of the fig will, no doubt, if judiciously managed, improve its flavour and retrieve its character. No spirits are made from corn in Portugal, but some are occasionally made from damaged figs and raisins unfit for other purposes. In Algarve, the project was once instituted for making spirits from the carob, or locust pod, but it was not successful. Many of the stills used in Portugal, particularly those in the neighbourhood of Lisbon, are made in London. The size is arbitrary, varying generally from 140 to 4 or 500 gallons. The body and head are of copper, but the worms are mostly of pewter. The farmers use small stills of a bad construction; a tube of copper, or a musket barrel thrust through a cask, frequently performs the office of the worm and cooler, and the spirits, of course, are bad. In charging the still, the Portuguese fill it to within 8 or 9 inches of the top with wine, which is slowly worked off, and, unless intended for exportation, it is rarely distilled. In the second distillation, it is made of such a strength, that oil will sink in it. White wine yields more spirit than red wine, and on the purity of both depends the goodness of the brandy. In no country with which we are acquainted, has brandy been manufactured to such extent or perfection as in France. The distillation of it commenced there, according to Le Grand, in 1313, but as in the instance of Spain, little more was manufactured at first than what served the purpose of the vineyard. Its superior quality, however, soon recommended it to general notice, and at an early period, large quantities of it are mentioned among other articles of European commerce. It is strange, that although the Phocæans are said to have cultivated the vine in Gaul, 600 years before Christ, we should have no authentic notice of distillation earlier than 1313. The first attempt at the distillation of wine is attributed to Arnaud de Villeneuve, professor of medicine at Montpellier in the thirteenth century. According to Macrobius, the Gauls had no knowledge of the culti vation of the vine till Rome had arrived at a high state of prosperity. Some Roman wine given by a Helvetian to the Gauls so delighted them, that they were induced to attack the Roman capital with a view to obtain this beverage; but they were repelled by Camillus, and obliged to retire. About 270 years afterwards, Fabius Maximus introduced the use of the vine into Gaul, though some think it was introduced by the Greeks when they were in possession of Marseilles, nearly 500 years before Christ; but, however this may have been, there were no advances in its culture till after the arrival and conquests of the Romans. Beer was the common drink at Paris till the time of the Governor Julian, who, in a Greek epigram, ridiculed the people, because Bacchus did not smell of nectar, but like a goat; and was only a god of oats and barley. He disliked beer, which no doubt led to the introduction of wine in its stead, and, of course, to the more extensive cultivation His epigram has been thus translated : of the grape "Whence art thou, thou false Bacchus, fierce and hot? He smells of nectar ;-thy brain-burning smell The lack-vine Celts, impoverish'd, breech'd, and rude, Express'd by flames from hungry barley grains, Child-born of Vulcan's fire to burn up human brains." The liquors used at the ancient feasts of the Gauls were wine and beer, the latter being the more common of the two. The beer was termed zythus, highly valued, and given at their feasts to the warriors with the best portion of their meats. In the time of the Romans, there were merchants resident in Gaul for the purpose of carrying wine from the southern provinces up the Rhine, and bartering it for slaves. Diodorus Siculus says, that they became so fond of wine, particularly that manufactured in Italy, before it began to abound in their own country, that they have been known to give a slave for a gallon.* Their love of this liquor hurried them into great excesses, and whole armies are said to have fallen victims to their enemies through its direful effects. It appears that Charles the Great was forced to make some severe laws against it, one of which obliged the judges on the bench and the pleaders at the bar to continue fasting. Others forbade that any one should be forced to drink more than he wished, or that the soldiers in the field should invite any man whatsoever to drink upon pain of excommunication, or being condemned to drink enormous draughts of water by way of punishment. When Winceslaus, king of Bohemia, came to treat with Charles VI., at Rheims, in 1397, he got intoxicated every day with the wine of the country, and chose rather to forego every thing than not indulge in this excess. In ancient times, according to Strabo, a whole vintage has been exhausted at one feast among the Lusitanians. The coryphoeus, or chief guest at an entertainment, who conducted the eating as well as the drinking, always began first, and then presented to his neighbour the cup, rather pitcher, which thus went round the circle, for it seems that all drank out of the same vessel, and no man could drink before it came to his turn, or refuse it when it did come: hence, in all probability, is derived the custom of drinking to one another, which was, it appears, common to the Scythians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans, as well as to the Gauls and most of the northern nations. At their feasts, the Gauls, like the Persians, talked upon affairs of state as the cup went round; and, as they generally sat till morning, the liquor was sometimes productive of much disorder, frequently terminating in desperate conflicts. These assemblies were usually accompanied with music, songs, and dancing, and the dancers, who were commonly armed cap-a-piè, beat time with their swords upon their shields. On some occasions, the company dressed themselves in the skins of beasts, and in masquerading habits, many of which were very indecent; but soon after the introduction of Christianity, these practices were abolished. The liquors used on those occasions were beer and wine, the beer being the more common of the two, |