MM. de St. Marceaux & Co. have the honour of supplying the King of the Belgians, the President of the French Republic, and several German potentates with an exceedingly delicate Champagne known as the Royal St. Marceaux. The same wine is popular in Russia and other parts of Europe, just as the Dry Royal of the firm is much esteemed in the United States. The brand of the house most appreciated in this country is its Carte d'Or, a very dry wine, the extra superior quality of the firm, which secured the first place at a recent Champagne competition in England. Some little distance beyond the remnants of the ancient fortifications of Reims, skirting the Butte de St. Nicaise, is the establishment of Veuve Morelle & Co., successors to Veuve Max Sutaine & Co. This house was founded in 1823 by the late M. Maxime Sutaine, who, like several other notabilities in the Reims wine trade, was as familiar with art and science as with the special industry to which he had devoted himself. An amateur painter of no mean skill, he showed himself thoroughly at home in the biographical and critical notices on artists and art in his native province which he produced. His name, however, is chiefly identified in literature with his _Essai sur le Vin de Champagne_.[425] This work may be regarded as the first attempt to collect the scattered materials relating to the history of Champagne wine, and to deal with them in a critical spirit. Though necessarily imperfect, its value is undoubtedly great, and it has been frequently quoted from in the present volume. The family of Sutaine long held an honourable position at Reims, the name of one of M. Max Sutaine's immediate ancestors, who filled the position of lieutenant of the city in 1765, appearing on the bronze slab at the base of the statue of Louis XV. in the Place Royale, erected during that year. [Illustration: THE CELLARS OF MAX SUTAINE AND CO. IN THE CHEMIN DE LA PROCESSION, REIMS.] The cellars of the firm of Veuve Morelle & Co., successors to Max Sutaine & Co., are very extensive; and while more than usually picturesque in appearance, are in every respect admirably adapted for the rearing and development of the delicate wines of the Champagne. These cellars, hewn out of the chalk, are of great depth. The firm has been careful to adhere to the good traditions of its predecessors in the composition of its cuvées, and at the same time to avoid those errors which experience and the resources of modern science have made manifest. Its rule is only to send out wines of a good cru, and never before they are thoroughly matured, thereby avoiding the shipment of young wines. The chief kinds bearing the brand of Max Sutaine & Co. are Vin Brut (of great years), Extra Dry, Creaming Sillery, and Bouzy for England, Sillery Sec for Russia, and Verzenay and Cabinet for Germany and Belgium.