A History of Champagne, with Notes on the Other Sparkling Wines of FranceVizetelly, Henry
History
A History of Champagne, with Notes on the Other Sparkling Wines of France
Vizetelly, Henry
Champagne (Wine) -- History; Wine and wine making -- France
(From a caricature of the epoch).]
We have seen that the origin of many of the most famous _crûs_ of
France was due to monkish labours, and that at Reims, as elsewhere,
a large proportion of the ecclesiastical revenue was derived, either
directly or indirectly, from the vineyards of the district. This
was happily hit off in _Le Nouveau Pressoir du Clergé_, or _New
Wine-Press for the Clergy_, published in 1789. A man of the people
and a representative of the Third Estate, the latter in the famous
slouched hat and short cloak, are working the levers of a press, under
the influence of which a full-faced abbé is rapidly disgorging a shower
of gold. A yet more portly ecclesiastic, worthy to be the Archbishop
of Reims himself, is being led forward, in fear and trembling, to
undergo a like operation; whilst in the background a couple of his
compeers, reduced to the leanness of church-rats, are making off with
gesticulations of despair.
[Illustration: HENRI QUATRE AND LOUIS SEIZE.
'Ventre St. Gris! Is this my grandson Louis?'
(Facsimile of a woodcut of the time.)]
The chief personal traits of Louis Seize, as depicted in numerous
contemporary memoirs, seem to have been a passion for making locks and
a gross and inordinate appetite. High feeding usually implies deep
drinking, and one may suppose that a wine so highly esteemed at Court
as Champagne was not neglected by the royal gourmand. Still there seems
to have been nothing in the unfortunate monarch's career to justify
the cruel caricature wherein he is shown with the ears and hoofs of a
swine wallowing in a wine-vat, with bottles, flasks, pitchers, cups,
goblets, glasses, and _flûtes_ of every variety scattered around him;
whilst Henri Quatre, who has just crossed the Styx on a visit to earth,
exclaims in amazement, 'Ventre St. Gris! is this my grandson Louis?' In
another caricature, entitled 'Le Gourmand,' and said to represent an
incident in the flight of the royal family from Paris, Louis XVI. is
shown seated at table--surrounded by stringed flasks of Champagne, with
the customary tall glasses--engaged in devouring a plump capon. His
Majesty is evidently annoyed at being interrupted in the middle of his
repast, but it is difficult to divine who the intruder is intended for.
He can scarcely be one of the commissioners despatched by the National
Assembly to secure the king's return to Paris, as the German hussars
drawn up in the doorway are inconsistent with this supposition. The
female figure before the looking-glass is of course intended for Marie
Antoinette, whilst the ungainly young cub in the background is meant
for the Dauphin in an evident tantrum with his nurse.[239]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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