and enrichinâ—â— the Judgement as that it neeâ—â— not rely only upon single Experience and Observation of iâ—â— own time but may have recourse also to the Oracles of alâ—â— former Ages and furnish it selâ—â— with Examples out of the treasury of Antiquity Yet if any Man as many such there are naturally addicted to Publick business and fit to serve his Prince and Countrey in quality of a Counsellor be not equally in favour with the Muses nor prosperous in Scholastick speculations I hope Sir You will not stick to allow him to be a Person of a more erect Mind and nobler Parts than a meer Contemplative Book-man who â—â—hough perhaps skilfull in Languages and Logician enough to â—â—nriddle and impose Sophisms â—â—nd to dispute long and formally about Non-entities is yet too narrow of understanding to measure the vastness of Civil Prudence which is founded upon mature observation and built up of soâ—â—id Experiences squar'd by exact Judgement and adjusted to preâ—ent Emergencies in State So â—hat I am apt to believe that Favorinus was in very good earâ—est though he seemed to jest when he measured the Knowledge of Adrian the Emperour by the greatness of his Power The Story is in short this Adrian not a little ambitious of the fame of extraordinary Learning accidentally meeting Favorinus an eminent Philosopher fell instantly upon him with a whole Volley of Syllogisms and presseâ—â— him with Sophistical Arguments to which the warâ— Philosopher made but sparing and modest answers such as intimated his being overcome anâ—â— left the Emperour to please himself with his imaginary victory Soon after to his Friends reprehending him for making so weaâ— defence he returned this vindication I were to blame said he if I should not grant him to be tâ—â— most learned who hath daily twenty Legions at his command Which I understand to be more than a Complement the Regiment of so many Millions being a piece of greater skill and sublimer Science than to manage a disputation with Dialectical subtlety and argue in Mode and Figure Having thus in a short digression endeavoured to refute the Error of such who hold that no Wit however Ample and Happy in its native capacity can yet attain to solid Prudence without the improvement of Scholastick Erudition it follows that we observe briefly both the Vice to which even the Best tempered Wits sometimes are prone and the principal Remedy thereof ART 7. As Pusillanimity or Self-diffidence makes of Narrow Wits Cunning men so self-confidence if immoderate often checks the growth and hinders the fertility of even the Best Wits For some of greatest hopes too soon trusting to the native pregnancy of their Mind and desisting from Lecture Meditation and all other labour of the Brain as not only unnecessary but also burdensome and expensive oâ— time thereby clipp their own wings render themselves unfiâ— for any generous flight and eveâ— after flagg so far from aspiring above others that they comâ— short even of themselves anâ— suffering those igniculi aetherei or Coelestial sparks of Wit by which they were in their Youth actuated to languish and go out for want of industry to fan them degenerate into a barren dulness so much the more difficult to be overcome by how much the longer ere acknowledged Whereas Others conscious of their native imbecillity endeavour with labour and sweat to acquire what the austerity of Nature denyed them and by continual culture of Study and â—â—ds of good Discipline so enâ—â—ch the field of their Understanding that at length they exceed in fertility of Science not only their former selves but others also to whom Nature hath been much more bountiful By which it is manifest that ART 8. The proper Remedy for this Obstruction that not seldom brings an Atrophy or defect of nourishment upon the best tempered Wit can be no other but constant Study and Meditation by which the Faculties of the Mind are exercised and kept in vigour Not that it is requisite Men of this order should over-curiously search into each punctilio or nicety of the thing they contemplate for though that be the way to attain exactness in some Particulars yet it would at the same time greatly retard their progresâ— in the Main and make it long before they advance so far as to make a liberal and genuine inspection into the whole of that very Science which they so ambitiously affect Besides the samâ— would habituate them to confine their Cogitations within too narrow a compass by impaling their Curiosity upon Notions though perhaps of great subtlety in speculation yet of little use in the occurrents of life nor could they easily let loose their thoughts to other things which though sometimes of an inferiour nature yet may be more necessary to be lookt into To these therefore I am bold to prescribe Study as a daily Exercise not as their sole imployment ART 9. Nor do I condemn those Fine Wits that spend most upon the Stock of Nature because they have this for excuse That all Heads are not equally disposed to patience in Study and diuturnity of labour For the finer and acuter the Wit is by so much the more easily indeed doth it penetrate into things difficult and divide things involved but then again it grows the sooner blunt with length of labour and intention The Reason perhaps is this that Nature doth rarely commit such Fine Wits to the custody of gross and robust Bodies but for the most part chooseth to lodge them in delicate and tender Constitutions such as produce the purest and sublimest spirits which as by their greater Mobility they conduce to quickness of Apprehension so are they for the same cause more prone to Expence or Exhaustion upon continued intention of the Mind nor capable of reparation unless after due repose and pleasant divertisement Again not only the Labour of these Ethereal Wits â—ut even their Relaxation and Leasure is therefore precious because no sooner are their Brains at liberty but they acquire new Vigour and their Acuteness spontaneously ranging abroad brings in fresh Hints and repleâ—ishes them with serious reflections and useful cogitations as â—ich ground when left a while fallow of its own accord puts forth abundance of Excellent Plants in nothing inferiour to the best cultivated Gardens This seems pathetically exprest in that Apothegm of Cosmus de Medicis the Politick Founder of the flourishing Dukedome of Florence When in a morning he had lain long in bed as wholly resigned up to an incurious repose one of his Favourites coming into his Bed-chamber salutes him with this Complement Sir said he where is Cosmus thâ— Great to whose Vigilance as to a Pâ—â—lot we have all entrusted the conducâ— of our State are not his eyes open 〈◊〉 high noon I have been abroad soâ— hours since and dispatched much bâ—siness The Duke smartly returns boast not Your diligence thus Sir 〈◊〉 very Repose is more profitable than all Your pains and industry ART 10. Nor is this Delicacy of
into a fresh Cask newly fumed with a Sulphurate Match call'd in Latine tela Sulphurata in High-Dutch Einschlag ¶ As for the various Accidents that frequently ensue and vitiate Wines after those forementioned Reboylings notwithstanding their suppression before they were incurable You may please to remember I referr'd them all to such as alter and deprave Wines either in Colour or Consistence or Taste or Smell Now for each of these Maladies our Vintners are provided of a Cure â—n particular To restore Spanish and Austrian wines grown Yellow or Brownish they add to them sometimes Milk alone sometimes Milk and Isinglass well dissolved therein sometimes Milk and White Starch by which they force the exalted Sulphur to separate from the liquor and sink to the bottom so reducing the wine to its former clearness and whiteness The same Effect they produce with a composition of Flower-â—eluce roots and Salt-petre ana 4â— or 5 ounces the whites of 8 or 10 Eggs and a competent quantity of common Salt mixt and beaten in the wine To amend Claret decayed iâ— Colour first they rack it upon 〈◊〉 fresh Lee either of Alicant or Râ— Bordeaux wine then theâ— take 3 pound of Turnsol steep it in all night in two or three gallons of the same wine and having strained the infusion through a bagg pour the tincture into the Hoggshead sometimes they suffer it first to fine of it self in a Rundler and then cover the bung-hole with a tile and so let it stand for 2 or 3 dayes in which time the wine usually becomes well-coloured and bright Some use only the tincture of Turnsol Others take half a bushel of full-ripe Elder-berries pick them from their stalks bruise them and put the strain'd juice into a hoggs-head of discoloured Claret and so make it drink brisk and appear bright Others if the Claret be otherwise sound and the Lee good overdraw 3 or 4 gallons then replenish the vessel with as much good Red Wine and rowl him upon his bed leaving him reversed all night next morning turn him again so as the bung-hole may be uppermost which stopt they leave the wine to fine But in all these cases they observe to set such newly recovered wines abroach the very next day after they are fined and to draw them for sale speedily To correct wines faulty in Consistence i. e. such as are lumpish foul or Ropy they generally make use of the powders of burnt Alum Line Chalk Plaistre Spanish White Calcined Marble bay Salt and other the like bodies which cause a precipitation of the gross and viscid parts of the wine then afloat For Example For the Attenuation of Spanish Wines that are foul and lumpish having first rack'd them into a newly scented Cask they make a Parell of burn'd Alum bay Salt and conduit Water then they add thereto a quart of Bean-Flower or powder of Rice and if the wine be also brown and dusky Milk otherwise not and beating all these well together with the wine blow off the froth and cover the bung with a clean â—ile-stone Lastly they again rack the wine after a few dayes and put it into a Cask well Scented Here perhaps some not well understanding what is meant by this Scenting of Casks will pardon me if I make a short stand to explain it They take of Brimstone 4 ounces of burn'd Alum 1 ounce of Aqua vitae 2 ounces these they put together in an earthen pan or pipkin and hold them over a a Chausing dish of glowing coals till the Brimstone is melted and runs then they dipp therein a little piece of new Canvas and instantly sprinkle thereon the powders of Nutmeggs Cloves Coriandre and Anise seeds This Canvas they fire and let it burn out in the bung-hole so as the fume may be received into the vessel And this as I have been credibly informed is the best scent for all Wines Nor is it a Modern invention both Canterarius cap. 8. membr sect 23. and Levinus Lemnius Occult. lib. 2. cap. 48. taking notice of the like use among the Ancients of fuming their Casks with Sulphur Ut vasa à putredine defenderentur vinum ipsum majorem calorem aut Spiritus acriores acquireret To prevent the foulness and ropiness of Wines the old Roman Vindemiatores used to mix Sea-water with the Must Ut suo calore ne Vina lentescerent pendulaque fierent conservaret dum pondere suo in vase subsideret faeces secum ad fundum deferret Cato de R. R. cap. 104. Langius 2. Epist. 32. To cure the Ropiness of Claret the Vintners as well French as English have many Remedies among which I have selected two or three as most memorable because most usual One is this First they give the Wine a Parell then draw it from the Lee after the clarification by that Parell this done they infuse 2 pound of Turnsol in good Sack all night and the next day putting the strain'd infusion into a hoggshead of the Wine with a spring funnel leave it to fine and after draw it for excellent Wine Another this They make a Lee of the ashes of Vine-branches or of Oaken leaves and pour it into the wine hot and after stirring leave it to settle The quantity a quart of Lee to a Pipe of Wine A third is only Spirit of Wine which put into muddy Claret serves to the refining it effectually and speedily the proportion being a pint of Spirit to a hoggs-head But this is not to be used in sharp and eagre Wines When White wines grow foul and tawny they only rack them on a fresh Lee and give them time to fine For the Emendation of Wines offending in Taste Vintners have few other Correctives but what conduce to Clarification Nor do they indeed much need variety in the case seeing all Unsavouriness of Wines whatever seems to proceed from their impurities set afloat and the dominion of either their Sulphureous or Saline parts over the finer and sweeter which causes are removed chiefly by Precipitation For all Clarification of liquors may be referred to one of these three causes 1. Separation of the grosser parts of the liquor from the finer 2. The equal distribution of the Spirits of the liquor which alwayes rendreth bodies clear and untroubled 3. The refining of the Spirit it self And the two latter are consequents of the first which is effected chiefly by Precipitation the instruments whereof are weight and viscosity of the body admixt the one causing it to cleave to the gross parts of the liquor flying up and down in it the other sinking them to the bottom But this being more than Vintners commonly understand they rest not in Clarification alone having found out certain Specifics as it were to palliate the several Vices of Wines of all sorts which make them disgustfull Of these likewise I shall recite two or three of greatest use and esteem among them To correct Rankness Eagerness and Pricking of Sacks and other sweet Wines they
divide into Four Parts to which as to Generals or Heads all considerables thereunto belonging seem naturally to referr themselves Of these The First is the Natural Purification or Clarification of Wines whereby of themselves they pass from the state of Crudity and turbulency to that of Maturity by degrees growing clear fine and portable The Second the unseasonable Workings Frettings and other Sicknesses to which from either internal or external Accidents they are afterward subject The Third their state of Declination or decay wherein they degenerate from their goodness and pleasantness becoming pall'd or turning into Vinegar The last the several Artifices used to them in each of these States or conditions In the FIRST of these Heads viz. the Natural Clarification of new Wines two things occurr not unworthy consideration the Manner how and the Cause by which the same is effected As for the Manner give 〈◊〉 leave to observe that Winâ—â— while yet in the Must is usually put into open vessels the abundance and force of the Spirits i. e. the more subtle and actiâ—â— parts therein contained beinâ— then so great as not to endâ—â— imprisonment in close ones 〈◊〉 which time it appears troubleâ— thick and feculent all parts oâ— Elements of it being violentlâ— commoved and agitated so thâ—â— the whole mass of liquor seenâ— to boyl like water in a Cauldroâ— over the fire This tumult beâ—ing in â—ome degree composed and the Gas Sylvestre as Helinâ—â— barbarously calls it or wilder Spirit sufficiently evaporated they then pour the Must into close vessels there to be farther defecated by continuance of the same motion of Fermentation reserving the Froth or Flower of it and putting the same into small â—asks hooped with iron lest otherwise the force of it might break them This Flower thus â—â—parated is what they name STUM either by transposition of the letters into the word â—ust or from the word Stum which in High-Dutch signifies Mute because this liquor forsooth is hindred from that Maâ—urity by which it should speak â—s goodness and wholesomness This done they leave the rest of â—he Wine to finish its Fermentation during which it is probable that the spiritual parts impell and diffuse the grosser and feculent up and down in a confused and tumultuous manner untill all being disposed into their proper regions the liquor beomes more pure in substance more transparent to the eye more piquant and gustful to the Palate more agreeable to the Stomach more nutritive to the Body The Impurities thus separated from the Liquor are upon Chymical examinations found to consist of Salt Sulphur each oâ— which is impregnate with somâ— Spirits and much Earth Which being now dissociated from thâ— purer Spirits either mutually cohaere coagulate and affix themselves to the sides of the Vessel in form of a stony Crust which is called Tartar and Argol or sink to the bottom in a muddy substance like the Grounds of Ale or Beer which is called the Lees of Wine And this in short I conceive to be the process of Nature in the Clarification of all Wines by an orderly Fermentation As for the Principal Agent or Efficient Cause of this operation I perswade my self You will easily admit it to be no other but the Spirit of the Wine it self Which according to the Mobility of its nature seeking after liberty restlesly moving every way in the mass of liquor thereby dissolves that common tye of mixture whereby all the Heterogeneous parts thereof were combined and blended together and having gotten it self free at length abandons them to the tendency of their gravity and other proprieties Which they soon obeying each kind consorts with their like and betaking themselves to their several places or regions leave the liquor to the possession and government of its noblest principle the spirit For this spirit as it is the life of the Wine so doubtless it is also the cause of iâ— Purity and Vigour in which the perfection of that life seems to consist ¶ From the natural Fermentation of Wines we pass to the Accidental from their state of Soundness to that of their Sickness which is our SECOND General Head We have the testimony of daily Experience that many times even good and generous Wines are invaded by unnatural and sickly commotions or to speak in the dialect of Wine-coopers Workings during which they are turbulent in motion thick of consistence unsavory in taste unwholsome in use and after which they undergoe sundry Alterations to the worse The Causes hereof may be either Internal or External Among the Internal I should assign the chief place to the excessive quantity of Tartar or of Lees which containeth much of Salt and Sulphur as hath already been hinted continually send forth into the liquor abundance of quick and active particles that like Stum or other adventitious Ferment put it into a fresh tumult or confusion Which if not in time allayed the wine either grows Rank oâ— Pricking or else turns Sour by reason that the Sulphur being overmuch exalted over the rest of the Elements or ingredients predominates over the pure Spirits and infects the whole mass of liquor with Sharpness oâ— Acidity or else it comes to pass that the Spirits being spent and flown away in the commotion and the Salt dissolv'd and set afloat obtains the mastery over the other similar parts and introduceth Rankness or Ropiness Yea though these Commotions chance to be suppressed before the Wine is thereby much depraved yet do they alwayes â—eave such evil impressions as more or less alienate the Wine â—rom the goodness of its former â—tate in colour consistence and â—aste For hereby all Wines acâ—uire a deeper tincture i. e. à â—hicker body or consistence Sacks and White-Wines changing â—rom a clear White to a cloudy Yellow and Claret losing its â—right red for a duskish Orange-â—olour and sometimes for a Tawny In like manner they degenerate also in Taste and affect the palate with foulness roughness and raucidity very unpleasant Among the External are commonly reckoned the too frequent or violent motion of Wines after their settlement in their vessels immoderate Heat Thunder or the report of Canons and the admixture of any exotick body which will not symbolize or agree and incorporate with them especially the flesh of Vipers Which I have frequently observed to induce a very great Acidity upon even the sweetest and fullest-bodied Malago and Canary Wines Yet under favour I should think all these forein Accidents to be rather Occasions than Causes of the evil Events that follow upon them because these Events seem to arise immediately and principally from the commotion and diffusion of the Sulphureous or Saline impurities formerly separated from the liquor and kept in due subjection by the genuine and benign Spirits But this is no place nor is it my inclination to insist upon nicety of Terms which might indeed start matter of subtle speculations but can afford little or nothing of profit to our present Enquiry Which
Zimar in Antr. Magic Medic. T. 1. lib. 7. pag. 510. that some Merchants put into every Pipe of their Greek Wine a Gill or thereabouts of the Chymical Oyl of Sulphur in order to the longer preservation of it clear and sound Which though I easily believâ— because the Acid spirit of Sulphâ—â— is known to resist putrefaction iâ— liquors yet I should decline the use of Wines so preserved unless in time of Pestilential infection remembring that old distich Qui bibit ingrato foedatum Sulphure Bacchum Praeparet ad diri se Phlegetontis aquam But of all wayes of hastening â—he Clarification and Ripening of new Wine none seems to me â—o be either more easie or more â—nnoxious than that borrowed from one of the Ancients by the Lord Chancellor Bacon and mentioned in his Sylva Sylvarum cenâ—ur 7. Experim 679. which is by putting the wine into vessels well â—topped and letting it down into â—he Sea Hence I am apt to derive the use of that antique Epither given to wine thus ripened Vinum Thalassites But how shall we reconcile this Experiment to that common practice of both the Ancients and Moderns of keeping Wine in the Must a whole Year about only by sinking the Cask for 30. or 40. dayes in a well or deep river That the use hereof is very Ancient is manifest from that discourse of Plutarch quaestion natur 27. about the efficacy of Cold upon Must whereof he gives thiâ— reason that Cold not suffering the Must to ferment by suppressing the activity of the Spirit therein contain'd conserveth thâ— sweetness thereof a long timâ— Which is not improbable because Experience teacheth that such who make their Vintage in a rainy season cannot get their Must to ferment well in a Vault unless they cause great fires to be made neer the Casks the rain mixed with the Must together with the ambient cold impeding the motion of Fermentation which ariseth chiefly from Heat That the same is frequent at this day also may be collected from what Noble Mr. Boyl hath been pleased to observe in his incomparable History of Cold on the relation of a French man viz. that the way to keep wine long in the Must in which state the sweetness makes many to desire it is to tunn it up immediately from the Press and before it begins to work to let down the Vessels closely and firmly stopped into a Well or deep River there to remain for 6. or 8. weeks During which time the liquor will be so confirmed in its state of Crudity as to retain the same together with its sweetness for many months after without any sensible Fermentation But as I said how can these two so different Effects the Clarification of new Wine and the conservation of Wine in the Must be derived from one and the same Cause the Cold of the Water without much difficulty as I conjecture For it seems not unreasonable that the same Cold which hinders Must from fermenting should yet accelerate and promote the Clarification of Wine after fermentation in the first by giving checque to the spirit before it begins to move and act upon the crude mass of liquor so that it cannot in a long time after recover strength enough to work in the Latter by keeping in the pure and genuine spirit otherwise apt to exhale and rendring the flying lee more prone to subside and so making the wine much sooner clear fine and potable And thus much concerning the Helps of New wine ¶ For the Praeternatural or sickly commotions incident to wines after their first Clarification and tending to their impoverishment or decay the general and principal Remedy is Racking i. e. drawing them from their Lees into fresh vessels Which yet being sometimes insufficient to preserve them Vintners find it necessary to pour into them a large quantity of new Milk as well to blunt the sharpness of the Sulphureous parts now set afloat and exalted as to precipitate them and other impurities to the bottom by adhesion But taught by experience that by this means the Genuine Spirits of the Wine also are much flatted and impaired for the Lee though it makes the liquor turbid doth yet keep the wine in heart and conduce to itâ— duration therefore lest such wines should pall and dye upon their hands as of necessity they must they draw them forth foâ— sale as fast as they can vent them For the same disease they have divers other Remedies particularly accommodated to the nature of the Wine that needs them to instance in a few For Spanish Wines disturbed by a Flying Lee they have this receipt Make a Parell give me leave to use their Phrase of the Whites of Eggs bay Salt Milk and conduit Water beat them well together in a convenient Vessel then pour them into the Pipe of wine having first drawn out a gallon or two to make room and blow off the froth very clean Hereby the tumult will in 2. or 3. dayes be recomposed the liquor refined and the Wine drink pleasantly but will not continue to do so long and therefore they counsel to rack it from the Milky bottom after a weeks settlement lest otherwise it should drink foul and change colour And this If Your Sacks or Canary Wines chance to boyl over draw off 4. or 5. Gallons then putting into the Wine 2. Gallons of Milk from which the Cream hath been skimm'd beat them till they be throughly commix'd adding a pennyworth of Roch Allum dryed in a fire-shovel and beaten to powder and as much of white starch after this take the whitâ—â— of 8. or 10. Eggs a handfull of bay-salt and having beaten them together in a Tray put them also into the Wine filling up the Pipe again and letting the wine stand 2 or 3 dayes in which time the wine will recover to be fine and bright to the Eye and quick to the taste but be sure You draw it off that bottom soon and spend it as fast as you can For Claret in like manner distempered with a Flying Lee they have this artifice They take two pound of the powder of Pebble-stones bak'd â—n an Oven the whites of ten or â—welve Eggs a handfull of bayâ—â—lt and having beaten them well together in two gallons of â—he Wine they mix them with that in the Cask and after two or three dayes draw off the wine from that bottom The same Parell serves also for White Wines upon the Frett by the turbulency and rising of their Lee. To cure Rhenish of its Fretting to which it is most prone a little after Midsummer as was before observed they seldom use any other art but giving it vent anâ— covering the open Bung with 〈◊〉 Tile or Slate from which theâ— are carefull to wipe off the fi lt purged from the wine by exhalation and after the Commotioâ— is by this means composed aâ— much of the fretting matter caâ— forth they observe to let it remain quiet for a fortnight or thereabout and then rack it