(_d_) ITALIAN WINES.--Notwithstanding the ancient celebrity of many of the wines of Italy, by far the greater part of what are now manufactured in that country are thin and bad. Certain vineyards on mount Vesuvius, however, still have great celebrity for a luscious red wine called _Lachryma Christi_. (_e_) GERMAN WINES.--Germany produces many excellent wines, of which Tokay, Hock, Rhenish, and Moselle, are the most celebrated. _Tokay_ has its name from a town in Hungary, near which it is chiefly made. The quantity of this wine is so small that, even on the spot where it is manufactured, it is sold at a very high price. It is made by mixing with the common grapes a portion of luscious, half-dried, and shrivelled grapes; the latter being absolutely necessary to constitute the peculiar quality of the wine. The two kinds of grapes are pressed separately, and the juice is afterwards mixed, fermented, and strained through a cloth or sieve into the barrels in which it is to continue. The best Tokay does not long remain in the place where it is made, a great portion of it being sent into the cellars of the nobility in other parts of Hungary. Tokay is certainly a fine wine, but is no way adequate to the price for which it is sold. Several years ago it could not be purchased, even in Hungary, for much less than half a guinea of English money per bottle; and yet there are few Englishmen, who, except on account of its scarceness, would prefer it to good Claret or Burgundy. Of all the German wines, that which is in greatest demand in England is _Hock_. This has its name from the town of Hochstadt in Suabia, celebrated for a great battle which was fought in its neighbourhood by the French and the allies in 1704. _Rhenish_ and _Moselle_ are produced chiefly on the banks of the rivers Rhine and Moselle, and have a cool, sharp taste, and considerable strength. Anterior to the late wars in Germany, there were wines in the cellars of many of the noble and wealthy inhabitants of that country which were more than a hundred years old, and of such body as to be uninjured even by so great an age. (_f_) MADEIRA and TENERIFFE WINES.--To the Madeira and Canary islands we are indebted for some excellent white wines. Of these _Madeira wine_ is considered by far the most valuable, particularly after it has been ripened by conveyance into a hot climate. The number of pipes of Madeira annually made is about 30,000. The grapes, when gathered, are put into wooden vessels, and the juice is extracted by persons treading upon them.