thirst, a further proof that the vinous fermentation was familiar long anterior to the deluge. Carrying this idea still farther towards the creation, Milton seems to have entertained the opinion, that the fruit of which our first parents had eaten, "Whose mortal taste Brought death into the world, and all our woe," was of an intoxicating nature, when he says, "Soon as the force of that fallacious fruit That with exhilarating vapour bland About their spirits had played, and inmost powers Made err, was now exhaled." The Rabbins, or Jewish doctors, were of the same belief; the vine being considered by them as the tree so strictly prohibited by the Almighty. Doctor Lightfoot and many eminent theologians were impressed with the like opinion;* but all conjectures on this subject, however respectably supported, are unsatisfactory, obscured as it is by the lapse of ages and the silence of the grave. It is worthy of remark, that these opinions of the learned are in coincidence with the oral tradition of different nations. In the island of Madagascar, the prevailing notion of the natives is a striking illustration. They believe that the four rivers of paradise consisted of milk, wine, honey, and oil; and that Adam, who required no sustenance, having drunk of the wine and tasted of the fruits, contrary to the command of God, was driven from the garden, and subjected to the punishments which were thus entailed upon him and his posterity. Noah, it must be admitted, is certainly the first on record who planted a vineyard, and experienced the inebriating quality of the grape. The honour of this discovery the pagans afterwards attributed to Bacchus, whom they worshipped as the sensual encourager of feast and jollity; hence Noah or Bacchus was denominated zeuth, which by the Greeks was rendered zeus, signifying ferment.-That Noah seems to be aimed at by most nations, as the primitive inventor of wine and the real original Bacchus, has been advocated by many learned men. Bochart maintains that Cadmus first brought the wor, ship of Bacchus among the Grecians, and that the vine was introduced to them by the Tyrians. He also thinks that Noah was the same as the Saturn of the pagans, and Plutarch attributes the discovery of the vine to that heathen deity; hence all the reasonings of the ancients, * Vide "Hebrew and Talmudical Exercitations upon St. Luke," on this subject, seemed to indicate the Promised Land as the native country of the vine; and even the Greeks themselves, in their mythology, place the inventors of wine as inhabitants of Syria and the adjacent countries-At the present day, a spot near mount Ararat is still shewn as the place where Noah is said to have planted the first vine; and the wine, yet manufactured there, is of superior excellence.* It is therefore more than probable that Assyria was the native region of the vine, and there is no stretch of fancy in conceiving how it made its way into other countries. If, as some conjecture, in relation to what is stated in Matthew xxiv. 38, that an indulgence in inebriety formed a large portion of those vices, for which God destroyed the world by a deluge, it is a singular coincidence that the same crime was the first instance of human weakness, after the infliction of that punishment; and that God, through the spirit of prophecy given to Noah, should pronounce a curse on those who treated the indiscretion with levity. "Cursed be Canaan," said Noah; " a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren ;" an anathema which to this day rests on his posterity. The devoted nations which God destroyed, before Israel, were the descendants of Canaan, as were also the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, finally subjected and annihilated by the Greeks and Romans. Ham, the meaning of which is burnt, or black, was the father of Canaan, and the Africans, who are said to be his offspring, bear evident marks of God's displeasure, since they are scarcely treated as human beings, but bought and sold like beasts of burden. The Mahometan negroes have a tradition, that as Japhet was the most active in covering the nakedness of his father, which Ham discovered, their subjection to Europeans, the descendants of Japhet, is the consequence of the indiscretion of Ham. In following the course of Scripture narrative, it appears that, as the descendants of Noah increased, the vine, as supplying the means of a more comfortable subsistence, was cultivated to considerable extent, and that persons were purposely set apart for the manufacture of wine, as presses were erected and the juice squeezed from the grape, as soon as the fruit was ripe. Palestine, it is said, early abounded in excellent vineyards. So great was their number, that of the single inheritance belonging to the tribe of Judah alone, in order to denote the superabundant produce, it was metaphorically said, that he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of the grape; and in 2 Kings xviii. 32, the land of Canaan is said to be a land of wine and vineyards, and of the oil of the olive. So many and so various • Kotzebue's Narrative of a Journey through Persia, p. 94–7. 1 are the notices of the prophets respecting wine, that it would be tedious and unnecessary to quote them. Two kinds of wine are particularly mentioned as of an excellent and superior description; namely, the wine of Eldon and that of Lebanon. The wine of Eldon became an article of traffic, and was transported to Tyre and to more distant places, where, with a variety of other valuable merchandize described by Ezekiel, and evincing the advanced state of the arts at the time, it was eagerly purchased. This wine was said to be well known to the ancients, and, under the name of Chalibonian wine, was noted for its peculiar excellence. It was made at Damascus, where the Persians planted vineyards in order to obtain it in greater perfection and in larger quantities. Its quality is said to have been that of a luxurious and generous wine. The wine of Lebanon is described as sweet scented, and said to have been much admired; its excellence was ascribed to the great richness of the vines which grew on the sides of Mount Lebanon, where they had a good aspect or favourable exposure to the sun. The wines of Ascalon, Gaza, and Sarepta were held in high estimation in distant countries. - From the testimony of ancient writers, we find that it early became the practice to mix certain perfumes or sweet-scented herbs in the wine to improve its flavour. With these odoriferous wines the Hebrews are said to have been well acquainted. Of the composition of these, and the preparation of the different ingredients, we are not informed; there can, however, be but little doubt that by means of these mixtures there would be a much greater variety of wines formerly than at present. Having but one kind of liquor, they would no doubt modify and improve it as much as possible; accordingly, we find particular mention made of vinegar wine, medicated wine, spiced wine, and wine mixed with perfumes; but what particular kinds or variety of spicery or perfumes were infused, can only be conjectured. The Scriptures also inform us, that strong drink was administered to criminals before execution, with a view to render them less sensible of pain; and the Talmud says, that it consisted of a cup of wine mingled with frankincense, the latter rendering the draught more sacred on account of being used at the sacrifices. This bitter and intoxicating cup was usually prepared by women in Jerusalem, through compassionate motives, in order to inspire unfortunate culprits in their last moments with false courage, and to enable them to meet their fate with fortitude. Pennant, in his History of London, relates, that a similar practice formerly prevailed in England, it being customary to present a great bowl of ale to malefactors, on their way to the place of execution, as the last refreshment they were * to receive in this life. The same ceremony is still kept up at Hamburgh by a religious society of females, called the Blue Sisters. In the case of a capital condemnation, the culprit, who is obliged to pass their convent, while going to the fatal spot, is presented by those pious ladies with a glass of white wine, which, when he has drank, is dashed on the ground by the executioner, that no one may use it ever after; and also to signify regret on the occasion which brought the unhappy mortal to drink of the accursed beverage. The foundation of this custom may have been laid in the injunction of Solomon, as delivered in Proverbs xxxi. 6, "Give strong drink to him that is ready to perish, and wine to those that be of heavy heart." In Jeremiah xxv. 16, allusion seems to be made to this practice where the prophet foretels the destruction of Babylon in these words: "And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them,"-perhaps of a similar nature, was the bowl of wine, called nepenthe, which, Homer tells us, Helen presented to the guests of Menelaus, when oppressed with grief, to raise their spirits and banish care. The composition of this, it is said, she had learned from the Egyptians, and is thus beautifully described by the poet : "Meanwhile, with genial joy to warm the soul, Charm'd with that virtuous draught the exalted mind All sense of woe delivers to the wind." The practice, so prevalent among the Hebrews of mixing their wine with a portion of drugs or bitter herbs, was always with a view to make it stronger and more inebriating, by the addition of more powerful ingredients. The prophets have, in numerous instances, reprobated this practice; but, the Jews, like the tipplers of modern days, appreciated the pleasures of the bottle by the strength of its contents. In Habakkuk ii. 15, it is written, "woe to him who maketh his neighbour drunk, who putteth his flaggon to him and maketh him drunken." In this the prophet is supposed to allude to the conduct of Pharaoh towards king Zedekiah, who made him drunk that he might insult over his weakness. The Rabbins relate that one day Nebuchadnezzar, at an entertainment, sent for Zedekiah, and gave him an intoxicating liquor to drink, purposely to expose him to ridicule. Wilson's Trav. in Russia, &c. vol. i. p. 23.-Neal's Trav. in Germany, &c. p. 25. Some have asserted that the strong drink, so often mentioned in Scripture, means palm or date wine. Theodoret and Chrysostom were of this opinion, and being both Syrians, their authority is unquestionable. Judea, it is well known, was noted for the abundance and excellence of its palm-trees, of which Fleury, in his Manners and Customs of the Ancient Israelites, says those about Jericho yielded a considerable profit ;* and Pliny calls this region "palmitibus inclyta," renowned for palms. Jericho was styled the city of palms, by way of eminence; and Palmyra, said to have been built by Solomon, received its name from the same cause. That the Jews were acquainted with the making of palm wine, there is little reason to doubt; but whether it was of a stronger body than that made from the grape we are not informed, as we have seen that the latter underwent many changes by infusions and mixtures. The wine mentioned in Exodus xxix. 40, and Numbers xxviii. 7, as "a drink offering," is considered to have been made from the date or fruit of the palm tree, the juice of which, from containing a great quantity of saccharine matter, being as Doctor Shaw expresses it, of a more luscious sweetness than honey, could not fail of producing drink of a very inebriating quality. In Hebrew it is called Siker: the word shecer from shakar, to inebriate, signifies in that language any kind of fermented liquors, or strong drink. "Any intoxicating liquor," says St. Jerome, "is called sikera, from the Greek word ayış, whether made of corn, apples, honey, dates or any other fruits. One of the four prohibited liquors among the Mahometans in India, is called sakar, which signifies inebriating drink in general, but especially date wine. From the original word, Doctor Adam Clarke observes, we have probably borrowed our term cider, which among us exclusively implies the fermented juice of apples. Thus, from a review of the sacred writers, it does not appear that the people in their day had any knowledge of the art of extracting spirit by evaporation. Had that discovery been known, it is likely they would have noticed it, as well as the other arts of which they have given us an account. Indeed, the free use of wine, which was then generally practised, may be said to have prevented a search after any other kind of liquor; for it is only in those places where the vine is not cultivated that the first notice of any other beverage is found. Among the Egyptians, whose country was famous for its corn, Herodotus tells us, that beer, or a wine drawn from barley, was the Clarke's Edition, London, 1821, p. 39. † Epist. ad Nepotianum de Vita Clericorum; et in Isai. xxvii. 1. |