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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 3, 1919)
THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAX, PORTLAND, AUGUST 3, 1919. FRANCE LEADING COUNTRY IN WORLD IN WINE PRODUCTION Joy and Merrymaking of Vintage Season Often Marred by Drunkenness and Deeds of Violence. FRANCE has Ions' been, in every way. the leading1 wine-producing country of the -world. The people make more wine and consume more than the people of any other country. There have been bad years when the total French production has been sur passed by that of Italy, but these have been rare. In quality of wine pro duced, France is also far in the van Certain districts in Germany, Hungary, Portugal, Spain, and other countries make wines that are highly prized and eagerly bought at high prices, but the general superiority of French wines Is almost everywhere acknowledged. The scenes in the wine-producing districts at the vintage season are at tractive. The gray groups of laughing girls who pass along the rows of vines gathering the great bunches of grapes make an animated picture. Quaint customs that originated centuries ago have been jealously preserved proces sions, dances, observances that can sometimes be traced back to the an cient rites of the vintage season, in Greece and Rome. There is, however, a dark season to all this gaiety and happiness. Some of the French wine-growing districts are very much affected by drunkenness. The peasants' of certain sections have been degenerated by wine drinking through generations. They are sullen, resentful, ctwif t to quarrel. The Joy and innocent merrymaking of the vin tage season is often marred by deeds of violence. It is impossible to general ize upon drinking in France. One can go into certain sections and almost never see a drunken man or woman. And yet everyone seems to drink. A few miles away one may find a village where brawls and reeling vintagers are the rule rather than the exception. So many more people in France are dependent upon win making than peo ples of other lands and the French have such a different attitude toward intox icating liquors than Americans that prohibition does not seem probable there in the near future. France might agree to close her distilleries and to forbid the importation of hard liquor, but it is doubtful if the people will be willing: in the near future to put a ban upon wine. More than 1,000,000,000 gallons are made annually. This has not, of course, held true through the war, but it was considerably over this figure when the war opened, so that it is probable that the billion-gallon mark will soon be reached again. In the United States, with its tremendously greater extent of territory and its much greater popu lation, the production of wine in nor mal times is hardly more than a 20th of the French figures. Even little Por tugal produces twice as much wine an nually as does this country. In consumption the figures are even more startling. In this country very little wine is used. The average con sumption per head is less than half a gallon in a year. In France the aver age consumption is more than 30 gal lons per year to each individual. Jealous producers in other districts circulated stories that champagne pro duced all sorts of terrible diseases and that it could not be made without the assistance of the devil. These tales were widely believed and, for a con siderable period, champagne went into eclipse. Most people were afraid to drink it and bottles could be bought at ridiculously low prices. But when other growers found out how to make bubbling wine, the prejudice disap peared and champagne came back into favor. There are almost countless districts and separate vineyards in France that have as much reputation with epicures as the champagne country. The re gion about Bordeaux is said to have the finest soil and the best climatic conditions in France. About 500,000 acres of this Gironde country, a fifth of the total acreage, is given over to vineyards. For average excellence, the Gironde wines rank first among ail the wines or l? ranee. From one comparatively small vineyard in the Gironde comes the St. Kim lion wine ko highly regarded by connoisseurs that only those with the incdmes of millionaires can have many bottles in their cellars. Among wine lovers the Burgundy vintages are almost as renowned as those- of the Champagne and Gironde districts. Then there are he sparkling wines of the Saumur country on the Loire and the wines from the Midi in the south of France, where a quarter of all the French wines is made. And there are almost countless other dis tricts that might be mentioned where mo.'-t of the wine made goes down the throats of the French themselves, but where come prized vintages fox expor uuoii axe alo bouK-tl, , ' ' . ' i ' - " ' - : - i- - - - - . - - 1 i I . ' . .. u - Shakespeare's England a Drunken One. Wars In Holland Blamed for Habit of Inebriety. LOOKING' backward from rural France of today to Elizabethan England, the change is not one toward sobriety. It is not exaggerated to say that Shakespeare's England was a drunken England. The contemporary drawing reproduced above shows how the inns were crowded about the South wark entrance to London bridge. Al most everywhere along the London water front were clustered these Inns and taverns, and a great many of them were places ot evil resort. In town and country, on city streets and on slightly frequented lanes in rural dis tricts, one had not far to travel to find a place where alcoholic drinks could be bought. Camden, a trustworthy chronicler of the period, says that there had been an age when Englishmen were more sober than all other peoples of the north. By the time of Elizabeth, how ever, drunkenness was common. Cam den thought the habit was fastened on England by the wars in Holland where the soldiers "first learned to drown themselves with immoderate drinking, and by drinking others' health to im pair their own." Philip Stubbes, an other writer about thing that he him self saw, declared that all the inns in London were crowded from morn to night with determined drinkers. If the Englishman was slow in learning how to drink as deeply as other peoples of northern Europe, he seems to have caught up quickly to his competitors. Massinger, one of tjhe dramatists of the age. says that an Englishman of his tim was able to "drink more in two hours than the Dutchman or the Dane in four and twenty." And when Rabelais wanted to find a fit expression for a man hope lessly intoxicated, he said that he "was drunk as an Englishman." In the reign of Henry VIII drunken ness and dissipation were so popular at court that even the Germans, who hail an uaple a .sn n t. reputation, for hard drinking, confessed that they could not compete with the English. An official of the German court who be longed to a temperance society was sent as envoy to London and Henry VIII did not rest content until he had made the envoy break his vows of sobriety. Throughout Elizabeth's reign hard drinking was just as popular. James I, who succeeded Elizabeth, was not so passionate a person as the robust Henry VIII and the quick-tempered Elizabeth, but conditions did not improve. We have a very detailed account of an entertainment given at this time by the earl of Salisbury in honor of King Christian of Denmark, and there is nothing in the worst periods of Rome to match it. The women at this reception drank as heavily as the men, and soon the whole assemblage was reeling about in a dis gusting condition. One noble lady, playing the part of the queen of Sheba in a representation of her visit to King Solomon, Btepped forward with presents for the Danish and English kings. Unfortunately she had imbibed too freely, tripped over some steps and pitched her presents into the lap of the surprised Danish monarch. In an effort to show that he forgave her, the king gallantly arose and offered to dance with the lady, but he, too, had poured so much wine down his throat that he could not stand and had to be carried away to bed. After this intermission an attempt was made to carry on with the fes tivities, but they broke down disas trously when three ladies impersonat ing Faith, Hope and Charity proved unable to speak or to keep their feet moving in straight lines. Herrick' Poems Depict Riotous Scenes. Descriptions of Festivities Mention Heavy Drinking. TTT ITHIX recent years open air festi. V V vals and entertainments have been gaining favor in America. In Shakes peare's time they were even more com mon. Merry-makings on holidays were observed in all tbe town and villages. Dincing was much indulsed, in and on these occasions it must be recorded that the men drank as freely as they did in doors. But these festivities were not new to Shakespeare's time. From time immemorial the English had held all sorts of merry-makings in the open. "England had adored mummings, pag eants and interludes for generations when Elizabeth came to her throne," says one historian. There had been time out of mind, disguisings and mas querading on high days and holidays. puppets in booths at fairs, and bride- ales,' as the commoner wedding festiv ities were called, theatricals in barns, inn yards and on London streets." One reason for the popularity of these out-of-doors fetes was because suitable indoor accommodations were not so available. Another was perhaps because the population was much smaller and strangers were not so apt to join or to look on. Robert Herrick, exiled from his be loved London to a small parish In Devonshire, is the laureate of these curious open-air observances of the ru ral population. And It is significant that in nearly all of his poems describ ing wakes and other festivities, there is always mention of the heavy drink ing indulged In. Here are the closing lines to "The Wake," which apparently depicts the riotous scenes in scores ot English villages in Shakespeare's time: Near the dying- of the day. There will be a cudgel-play. Where a coxcomb will be broke. Ere a good word can be spoke; But the anrer ends all here, Drenched In ale or drowned in beer. Happy rustics, best content With the cheapest merriment: And possess no other fear. Than to want the wake next year. At these fetes there was probably wine for the aristocrats present, but the majority of the people drank ale and beer. They put many things into these, however, to make various drinks that do not seem especially palatable to us, but which found great favor. One- drink, popularly known as lamb's wool, was ale to which had been add ed toasts, nutmeg, roasted crab apples and sugar. This was comparatively simple as contrasted with the fear some liquor called egg ale. The maker of this drew 13 callons of ale to which he added the juice from eight pounds of beef, a pound of raisins, oranges and spice. Then a dozen eggs and the beef were put into a bag and left in the barrel until the ale had stopped fermenting. Then two quarts of Malaga sack, a sweet wine. were added, the ale was bottled and was soon ready for use. The country people also made intox icating drinks from many growing things in the gardens and woods. Some of these included blackberry ale, cowslip ale, horseradish ale, apricot ale and elderberry beer. The curiosities of Elizabethan drink ing were not confined to the drinks themselves. Mention must be made of the 'ale-yard." a drinking vessel. This was 'made of glass and was just a yard In length. It was slender, hold ing little more than a pint, and the closed end terminated in a ball. Good drinkers were supposed to empty these without taking the glass from their mouths. I? was not a difficult task while the tube was filled with the ale, but when air reached the expanded bulb at the end, the liquor came out with a splash, and usually gave the drinker a shower bath, very much to the delight of the onlookers. Drinking Scenes Abound In Shakespeare Plays. Sir John Falfttaff Representative Character of the Time. THERE are many drinking scenes in Shakespeare's plays that prove how much In favor alcoholic drinks were In the Elizabethan period. Drunken mirth rings through the pages of "An tony and Cleopatra," some of It taken from Plutarch, but a good deal of it probably observed by the dramatist in London taverns. There is a tragic drinking bout in "Othello" and "Twelfth Night" is Jubilant in its praise of alcohol. The joke that is played on Sly in "The Taming of the Shrew" had its origin In drink. And there are other scenes that might be mentioned, but it is time to notice Sir John Falstaff in the two parts of "King Henry IV," Shakespeare's great est comic character. Sir John is so complete In all ways that it Is probable that Shakespeare must have known people like him. And the dramatist gives us so much Infor mation in these plays about tavern life that he must have pictured scenes that he knew. We know, from countless 'books' of the period that the young aristocrats were much less exclusive ithan youtli of the same relative station are today. They did not patronize hotels or clubs where they met only men and women of their own worlo. They wandered gayly through the most disreputable haunts ' of London and they made friends there among the lowly born, not mere friends of a night, but bril liant dramatists and merry rogues with whom they were glad to frolic when they were sober. At the more famous taverns, at places like the Mitre, the Falcon, the Boar's Head, and especially at me the nightly gathering was a brilliant and democratic one. Aristocrats of the bluest blood sat shoulder to shoul der with play-writers and actors, poets and hangers-on. whose skill at repartee made them welcome. There was much less family life than today. Women attended the play, but they then went home f they belonged to good families. Th.v afl not exoect to be taken with their husbands 'or' fathers to the taverns. At these assemblages money or birth counted for less than a nimble wit. When Shakespeare and Ben Jonson crossed swords In debate, the young noblemen kept silent. One of the needy and out-of-elbows dramatists of the period who was a great frequenter of taverns was Henry Chettle. a hack writer who was always ready to write a play at order or to collaborate with better-known author wno wanted some one else to do the hard work. In a pamphlet of the period Chettle Is thus described: "In comes Chettle sweating and blowing, by reason of his fatness; to welcome whom, because he was of old acquaintance, all rose up, and fell presently on their knees, to drink a health to all the lovers of Hellcan." It is credible that Shakes peare, seeing this puffing fat man waddle into a tavern, might well have had the picture in his mind when he brought Falstaff to the Boar's Head and had him welcomed there by merry cronies. Falstaff has been called "the wine god of merry England." He certainly resembles the Greek SUenus. the fat old man who always accompanied Bacchus. And Falstaff, like Silenus, cared much more for quantity in his drinks than he did for quality. The sack that he loved so much was a Wine Regarded Just as Americans Do Coffee. Recent Novel Portrays Rllchted Com munities Due to Drinking. THIS painting of a rural drinking scene in France by a well-known artist is a depiction of wine in its most pleasant aspect. Such a picture might be duplicated in all parts of the coun try. The people drink a great deal. but seldom to excess. They look upoD wine almost as Americans do upon cof fee. The native products that are not highly prized and that are sold at hun dreds of little inns or taverns are pure but rough, Intoxicating but not high ly so. The other side of thfl picture, how ever, should not be overlooked. It is possible to find almost countless rural places where wine is constantly abused. "Xono," a French novel recently trans lated into English, is an unflinching portrayal of one of these blighted com munities where wine has wrought evil to a whole countryside. Americans who seldom drink wine always think of champagne when they feel opulent enough to buy French wine. It is the most famous of all the French vineyard products, but rhe in dustry of wine making in France would not be very Important If champagne were the only variety made. Every one knows now. if they did not beore 1914. that the champagne district ex tends for miles about Kheims and Eper ney. The vineyards along both banks of the Marne and in what Is known afi the mountain district are attractive places when the grapes are hanging In great bunches to the green vines, but the natural scenery is not so pic turesque as In many other French wine-growing districts. Champagne is a very moflirrn wine, the secret of making srmxkling drirsks having been discovered in the crMm pagne country a year or two before 1700. A monk named Dom Perlgord is regarded as the first maker of this wine that Is so famous today, but not much Is known of the discovery. It is generally thought that he probably came upon the secret by accident, hav ing corked some bottles filled with sweet wine,' but he put more sugar in j partly fermented wine which bubbled It. Sometimes he liked a toast added. But he did not want anything in it that made it weaker. ; He would not have it mulled with eggs nor would he have lime added. readily when opened. The new wine became popular at once and for a long time only the growers in the cham pagne country were able to furnish this product- -.'-'-