135 / 248
"THE BOY"
135
pains and disturbances below the belt.
The
head cellarman, portly and urbane like his
brother of Rheims, will watch your face closely
as you taste his novelties, and will invariably ask
your opinion of it. But the wise visitor will,
not be too opinionative on the subject. I have
noticed that the man who says the least is
accounted the most knowing, whether he be
inspecting the contents ofa cellar, or ofa stabje.
And believe me, there is as much rubbish talked
about wine as about horses. Still, in sampling
new champagne you may praise indiscriminately,
without being accounted an absolute dunce;
whilst with claret it is altogether different. The
wine varies exceedingly with the vintage ; and
none but an expert and accomplished palate may
dare to say what is good, what is bad, and what
is mediocre.
Is it necessary to state that claret was not
drunk, on^ ordinary occasions, by the Ancient
Britons ? I trow not. And I fency the wines
of the noble old Romans partook more of the
nature of burgundies than clarets. In England
the wines of Medoc have never been fully
appreciated until during the latter half of the
present century, when the taste for port began
to die out, with the good port itself. And as I
writhe, occasionally, in the throes of gout, I
bethink me of the merciless law delivered unto
Moses, which provides that the sins of the
fathers shall be visited upon their descendants,
even unto the third and fourth generation. For
the good old three-and-four-bottle men of eighty
years ago, and farther back than that, certainly laid