ter this manner one shall never have done. It is a perpetual
circle to drink after the German fashion; it is to drink for ever.
You must likewise know, that the glasses too are respected in those
countries as much as the wine is loved; they range them all about in
ranks and files; most of their rooms are wainscotted up two thirds of
the wall, and the glasses are ranged all about, like organ pipes, upon
the cornish. They begin with the small, and end with the large ones,
which are like melon glasses, and must be taken off at one draught, when
they drink any health of importance."
Let us observe here[6], "That it was the custom of the ancient Greeks to
drink largely after meals, and that this custom is now practised in
Germany." This was what AEneas, and the people of his train, used to do,
as we learn from these verses of Virgil[7]:--
"Postquam prima quies epulis, mensaeque remotae,
Crateras magnas statuunt et vina coronant.
After the teeth had gain'd their first repose,
The dishes ta'en away, the cloth remov'd,
The rich repast gigantic tankards close,
Replete with wines, by nicest tastes approv'd.
It is the same thing with the Armenians, they never drink till at the
end of their meals. "After they have said grace, the dishes are removed,
in order to bring in the desert, and then they prepare themselves to
drink to excess."
We come now to the Swiss. Here follows what Daniel Eremita, a very
learned man, who published a description of their country, has said of
them. "[8]They have the same simplicity in drinking, but they do not
keep the same moderation. Wine is what they place their delight in, and
they prefer it to all things in the world. At their assemblies, both for
pleasure and business, or any other affairs, wine always makes a party;
with which, when they have overloaded their stomach, they discharge it,
and sit down to it again, and drink as they did at first. They leave the
care of their family to their wives and children, who live with the
utmost economy, in favour of their husbands, who are continually at the
tavern. They talk with glass in hand, and please themselves in that
posture to recount their acts and jests, and those of their ancestors,
as examples to posterity. They speak freely all they know, and know not
what a secret is. In short, this way of life does not only continue
whole days successively, but all the time they live."
Nor have things now taken another aspec
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