in the giver of sight. As long, therefore, as it shall please Him to prolong, however imperfectlie, this precious gift, soe long will I lay up store agaynst the days of darknesse, which may be many; and whensoever it shall please Him to From the Gentleman's Magazine. withdrawe it from me altogether, I will cheerfully bid mine eyes keep holiday, and place my hand trustfullie in His, to be led whithersoever He will. through the remainder of life." On the causes of the increase of insanity both in A Man's Power over Himself to prevent or control | France and in this and other countries, the relation Insanity. 2nd edition. given by the author and his correspondents is worthy of the deepest and most serious attention. WE consider this essay to be correct in physiology, sound in philosophy, and practically of the highest importance. We must, however, leave the line of reasoning which conducts the author to his just conclusions to be perused by the reader, and be satisfied with mentioning that he divides the morbid affections of the brain into two classes: and, as regards the first class, the result of inquiry is,— That there is no one of the morbid affections of the brain or nerves which necessarily renders the individual an irresponsible agent. There are too many authenticated cases, in which a rational selfgovernment has been exercised, even under those afflicting circumstances, to leave any doubt of its possibility. How much previous mental cultivation may be required to make this possible is another question; it is sufficient here for me to establish this one great principle, " that diseases of the brain and nervous system, however distressing, may and do, when the mind has been duly cultivated, leave the individual capable of knowing right from wrong, and of seeking exterior aid to counteract the effects of mental derangement consequent on disease," a derangement of which he is either conscious at the time, or has an anticipatory knowledge of, which enables him naturally to provide against its virulence. The second class of mental derangement will afford a more melancholy contemplation. In the first we have seen man's nobler part triumphing over all the ills of the body, and vindicating his claim to an immortal nature. In the second we shall have to look on his degradation, and to note the consequences of neglected education, of ungratified passions, of vice, of misery, and-alas! that it should be soof mismanagement also. The author gives, at p. 75, the result of the whole inquiry. That man being a compound of two natures, mental derangement is of two kinds. In the one kind structural disease disorders or distracts the perceptions, and, if this extends itself to the organs of all the faculties, the intellectual powers having no longer the means of external action, the individual remains to all appearance a helpless machine. But, as such extensive structural disease is hardly compatible with life, so is it of very rare occurrence; and, if any part of the organ remain perfect, then there is good reason to hope that a mind thoroughly well trained in early years will still continue to make the little that is left available to conduct, if not to the higher intellectual faculties; as we see the loss of the right hand replaced in some degree by the increased activity of the left; but, in the other case, no structural disease exists in the first instance, and the inefficiency of this direction of the intellectual force is the sole cause of derangement; sometimes by the violence of the excitement producing disease; sometimes, as I have already noticed, contrary to the last, without affecting the bodily organs. BEREAVEMENT. A LONELY, lowly grave, Far from his native wave, Brother, 't is not for me, To judge the errors of thy guilty path, I leave thy sins with Him, Who, though He frowns so grim Forgetting all thy crime, I think of that sweet time, When life had all its life, And our dear mother made the evening hearth When Scotland's heathy hills, When winter was more bright, And howling tempests scarring Nature's brow, When we grew learned in duty, From earth's transcendent beauty, Peace to thee, brother; tears THE MOUNTAIN PASS. SINCE the ark rested on the mountain brow, To serve for freedom's keep impregnable; From the Westminster Review, A Word or two on Port Wine. By J. J. FORRES- WHEN a man, with a stomach of average strength While in this state of mind on the subject, we observed that a friend with whom we occasionally dined had some port wine which was free from The author of the pamphlet in question, Mr. Joseph James Forrester, a partner in the extensive firm of Offleys, Webber, Forrester, and Cramp, Oporto merchants, thus explains his object in the publication of his pamphlet :— been different at different periods. Sometimes The qualities of port wine most prized have dryness and astringency, sometimes fruitiness and smoothness; at one time, great delicacy, and at another, fulness, have been sought for. Each of these qualities is consistent with purity; but naturally, according to the kind of grape, the soil, height, and aspect of the vineyard where it is grown, will the wine have one or more of these qualities, in a greater or less degree, as the season is good or bad. One would imagine, that from among these varieties, the most fastidious might select a pure wine to suit his palate, and so no doubt he would if he were fairly treated; but unfortunately, for a considerable time past, the practice of the wine stances just mentioned, and to try to produce in all merchants has been to disregard all the circumseasons, wet or dry, cold or hot, from grapes in "A Word or Two on Port Wine; addressed to the tlemen; showing how and why it is adulterated, and British Public generally, but particularly to Private Genaffording some means of detecting its adulterations. By Joseph James Forrester, author of Map of the Wine Douro, from the Spanish Frontier to the Atlantic,' &c. &c. Districts of the Alto-Douro;' Survey of the River Together with Strictures' on a Word of Truth on Port By T. Whittaker the Younger. Sixth Thousand. LonWine' (intended to be a reply to the pamphlet so called). don, 1848." every variety of situation, and of all qualities, | gallons more of brandy per pipe; and it is then wines of one and the same kind only; viz., what considered fit to be shipped to England, it being is called by some, "full, high-colored, and fruity,' ," about nine months old; and at the time of shipbut by others, more properly, " black, strong, and ment, one gallon more of brandy is usually added sweet." to each pipe. The wine thus having received at least twenty-six gallons of brandy per pipe, is considered by the merchant sufficiently strong-an opinion which the writer, at least, is not prepared to dispute. This is one way. Another way is this:-The finer sorts of grapes are selected of several kinds, those which are decayed or unripe being removed. They are then trodden, as in the preceding case, but the fermentation is allowed to proceed three fourths of the full time proper for it. The wine is then transferred to the tonels, where it receives from six to ten gallons of brandy, of the same strength as that before mentioned, per pipe. The taste which has gradually led to this state of things probably was good, and occasioned by an extraordinarily fine vintage, such as that of 1820, when all the wines were naturally unusually full, sweet, and high flavored. The merchants, finding these wines much sought for, insisted upon having the like at all times; and as such wine could seldom be obtained, seasons so fine being extremely rare, recourse was had to adulteration (that, after all, is the right phrase) to produce something like it (for what the purchaser demands, good or bad, somebody will always try to furnish ;) and the struggle among many (the larger number, it is to be feared, if not the most considerable persons) of About two months afterwards it is drawn off into the exporters, was to send wine, each fuller, other tonels, and each pipe receives about six addisweeter, and higher colored than that of his neigh-tional gallons of brandy, and from six to eighteen bor! gallons of jeropiga.* In this practice they were encouraged by petty innkeepers, retail dealers and others, who found it answered their purposes admirably. A portion of such wine mixed with Benecarlo, or other harsh inferior red wine, enabled the whole to be passed off as port! In negus, it is plain the use of it would cause a saving of all the ingredients except water; and to palates hardened by the use of strong or coarse liquors, it would probably be more acceptable than wine of the highest flavor. Persons of these kinds, therefore, continued to call for black, strong, and sweet, until, at length, the attempt (perhaps excusable at first) to imitate a really fine wine has degenerated into such a system, that, of the "port" sent to England, a very large portion hardly deserves to be called wine at all, and still less port wine.-p. 10. Mr. Forrester then gives the following description of the process of manufacturing the black draught, which has for some years past received in England the name of port wine. To produce black, strong, and sweet wine, the following are the expedients resorted to :— The grapes being flung into the open stone vat indiscriminately, on the stalks, sound and unsound, are trodden by men till they are completely mashed, and there left to ferment. When the wine is about half fermented, it is transferred from the vat to tonels, and brandy (several degrees above proof) is thrown in, in the proportion of twelve to twentyfour gallons to the pipe of must, by which the fermentation is greatly checked. About two months afterwards, this mixture is colored thus; a quantity of dried elderberries is put into coarse bags; these are placed in vats, and a part of the wine to be colored being thrown over them, they are trodden by men, till the whole of the coloring matter is expressed, when the husks are thrown away. The dye thus formed is applied according to the fancy of the owner; from twentyeight to fifty-six pounds of the dried elderberry being used to the pipe of wine! Another addition of brandy, of from four to six gallons per pipe, is now made to the mixture, which is then allowed to rest for about two months. The wine is then sent to Oporto, where the future treatment proceeds as in the first case, except that it receives there, on the whole, five instead of two, gallons more of brandy. 66 Of the port shipped for the English market as vintage wine," that is from nine months to two years old, at least two thirds is made in one or other of the ways just mentioned. It may be well here to observe, that the practice of sending these new wines is anything but advantageous to the consumer. Port wines of this age are too astringent to be offered to him pure; but by the use of sweetening and other ingredients, they are rendered softer to the palate, and acquire a false appearance of maturity; and thus the inexperienced are deceived. Of the remaining third of the wine which goes to England, only a very small portion is without a considerable admixture of jeropiga. Some is made from an indiscriminate mixture of grapes, and some from grapes carefully selected and culled; but each kind has the advantage of being fully fermented, and also that of remaining without jeropiga till that fermentation has ceased. This is the best kind of the adulterated wines; but still it has not received less than twenty-five gallons of strong brandy.—p. 14. By the statute 56 Geo. III., c. 58, the use of brown malt is prohibited under heavy penalties; any coloring for porter other than unground and we believe the results, as regards the condition in which the beer comes out of the hands of the great brewers, has been most satisfactory; though the porter is afterwards adulterated by the public-house-keepers in a manner and to an extent for which we trust the legislature will soon provide a punishment and remedy. For we quite concur in the opinion of an old writer, quoted in the pamphlet before us, who says:--" I cordially commend that the sophisticator of wine may suffer punishment above an ordinary thief." "The coloring matter of the grapes," says Mr. Forrester, " produced by a complete fermenta The most approved receipt of making jeropiga is At the end of this time, it is, if sold, (which it this:-To fifty-six pounds of dried elderberry, and sixty pounds of coarse brown sugar, or treacle, add seventyis tolerably sure to be, after such judicious treat-eight gallons of unfermented grape juice, and thirty-nine ment,) transferred to Oporto, where it is racked gallons of the strongest brandy. Mix all thoroughly two or three times, and receives, probably, two together. those who take a pint of such port as we have reprobated, may be assured that they take nearly as much alcohol as is contained in the same quan tion on the husk, varies in intensity according to the character of the grape, but imparts no smell to the wine. This color varies from a pale rose to a bright purple, (never deeper, except where tity of cherry brandy. Let us examine the matter a little. A pipe of wine contains 21 almudes. souzao is used,) is perfectly transparent, and mel-We have shown before that the average quantity lows with age; the rose becomes tawny, and the of brandy in a pipe of the port wine brought to purple ruby-both of which colors are durable." this country is 4 almudes: the pipe, therefore, contains 17 almudes of what is called wine, and 4 The deepest of the artificial coloring matters, or almudes of adventitious brandy. We have also dyes, at present used, is elderberry. It is em-seen that 8 pipes of the commonest and weakest wine ployed indiscriminately with any and every quality will yield 1 pipe of brandy: therefore, 17 almudes of grape, and imparts a disagreeable medicine-like of fully fermented wine will yield 2 almudes of smell wherever it is used. It gives, at first, a dull, brandy. But supposing that the fermentation of very dark purple hue, like dirty ink, to the wine; the 17 almudes having been checked, they are equal and, in course of time, changes to a brick color, or in strength to 13 almudes of wine properly so falls altogether, until the wine assumes its original called, then they will yield, if distilled, 1 almudes imperfect tint. of brandy. But this brandy is of the strength of It is long since the making and exporting of 10 degrees of Tessa, or 26 per cent. above proof; pure and properly fermented port has been attended whereas the spirit used in making cherry brandy to, except in very small quantities; but some con- is about 17 per cent. below proof, or more than 43 siderable efforts to break through the inveterate per cent. below the strength of the brandy in the and pernicious system of the makers and shippers pipe: therefore, the 5g almudes of brandy which of port have been made lately, as the papers which the pipe contains of 10 degrees of Tessa, are equal are given in the appendix [G.] show. It is to be to 71 almudes of the spirit used in making cherry hoped that they will be successful, and that the Eng-brandy, consequently the pipe contains more than lish consumer will afford them the necessary encour-one third of spirit, 17 per cent. below proof! Any agement, by giving the new Wine Company-or gentleman may ascertain from his housekeeper rather the Portuguese government-a practical the proportion of brandy used in making cherry proof, that although it may be convenient for that brandy. country to sell its brandy in any way, it is not in But although there may be so much alcohol in port wine that the spirit ought to be sent, at the rate the wine, we would by no means be understood to of twenty to twenty-five gallons in every pipe; and mean that the spirit native to the wine is as intoxthat elderberries and treacle can be had in England, icating or injurious as the same quantity in cherry without paying five shillings and ninepence per brandy. All experience shows that it is not so. gallon for the liquor with which they are com- What we reprobate is the mixture of imperfectlypounded, otherwise the best designs of the makers fermented wine and adventitious spirit. And this and shippers of the wines may be frustrated; and brings us to notice the astonishing effrontery and the consumer of red wine, with whom the acid or contempt for the sense of the consumer, which the acidulous wines disagree, which pass for claret," Gentleman and British Merchant" again shows (but bear about the same relation to the genuine produce of the Bordelais [Appendix H.] which the adulterated stuff above described does to that of the Douro,) and who resorts to port either for its enlivening or its tonic and digestive qualities, which when genuine, it possesses in an eminent degree, may continue to have put off on him an unwholesome compound. The paper [Appendix I.] states, fairly enough, the principles upon which the decision of the tasters is supposed to proceed; it shows, also, how small is the quantity of first-rate wine which it is estimated is grown in the Douro; and further, that such first-rate wine is seldom used pure, but is mixed with the inferior wines. The English consumer can, if he thinks proper, speedily put an end to this bad system; and if he will use the information, and the means of knowing good and unadulterated wine from its opposite, which are herein afforded him, he may be assured that he will not long have to complain of the "strong and heady wines of Portugal." [Appendix K.] Another extract from the "Strictures" will help to convey a little further insight into a subject very suitable for after-dinner discussion, and of some moment to all lovers of "the festive board;" especially in these times of epidemic, when questions of diet or beverage cannot be neglected with impunity. We do not wish to "horrify" any one; but at page 28, where he says, that whether the richness of wine depend on the peculiar nature of the grape from which it is made, or upon the mixture of brandy with the wine," matters not!"-why, upon this depends whether the liquor is a rich wine or a brandied syrup a stomachic or a dram. Medical men well know that, though brandy is an educt of wine, yet in wine the native spirit exists in such combination that, whilst the pure wine may be taken with advantage to the health, the spirit which it contains, if extracted from it, would, whether drank raw or mixed with water, prove highly injurious; and they well know also, that those who drink much of the heavy-brandied stuff, which too often passes for port, suffer from precisely the same diseases as the habitual dramdrinker-that is, dyspepsia and affections of the liver. Such partially-fermented grape-juice and brandy ought not to be called wine; it might more properly be called ratafia of grapes; and who would choose to drink a pint of ratafia of any kind? It should be observed, too, that a ratafia of grapes must be less wholesome than other ratafias, inasmuch as the grape contains in itself a quantity of yeast or ferment, which other fruits do not; and this ferment, in the mixture of which we are speaking, remains unconverted. But it is manifest that the less the grape is pressed, and the less the the lighter will the color of the wine be; and then must is fermented, and the more brandy is added, recourse must be had to that pleasant mixture, jeropiga, before described.—p. 68. Again, as to the word "jeropiga." First, Vieira says, "Jeropiga-see Gera." We turn to "Gera," as directed, and find The last term signifies a medicinal draught; the two other terms have one and the same meaning, and require no translation. Nice things to drink all these, are they not? How thankful we ought to be to the Portuguese government for allowing the liquor named after them to be exported at a nominal duty, when upon wine the export duty is little short of £4 sterling the pipe.-p. 72. We need no longer be in any doubt as to the cause of a pint of "Port" producing dyspepsia and headache, when we know that the black draught so called is a compound of elder-berries, treacle, and bad brandy. Well may we say, with Mr. Forrester," that elder-berries and treacle can be had in England, without paying five shillings and sixpence per gallon for the liquor with which they are compounded." Poems. By JOHN G. SAXE. And, for aught I could ever discern, In truth 't is but seldom one meets I'm a perfect Colossus of roads. He is an irresistible wit, and a most inveterate punster. He has the keenest possible sense of the ludicrous, of whatever is out of place, inconsistent or awry, and describes with most thorough effect. It is a mark alike of his conversation and his poems, however he may be caustic or droll, that the reverence of things sacred never forsakes him. His danger lies in the very exuberance of his genius. He performs with too much facility How would the early history of Vermont, the almost fabulous period of demigods, glow under his and yet we fear that the application of years, pen, whether in noble epic or in plainer prose; which such a subject would require, would find him the case that the sons of genius abandon the impatient under the yoke. It is, alas, too often severer tasks of literature to inferior minds, and with them the opportunities of permanent fame. whole chapter on the literature of the Green We might very readily hang upon this book a for them. We must part with Mr. Saxe, with one quotation from a poem recited by him before the Mercantile Library Association of Boston a few weeks ago. Mountain State. We believe that Vermonters themselves are scarcely aware of the honorable Boston Ticknor, contributions to the literature of our country, Reed & Fields. Pp. 130. which their native state has made. We happen A SATIRICAL poem, entitled "Progress," de- to know of some inquiries on this point which livered a few years ago before some literary have recently been instituted, and the results of society, and published in the ordinary manner of which, to us at least, are surprising. It is possisuch publications, gave to Mr. Saxe an immediate ble they may at some time be given to the world, rank among the first of our satirical poets. The certainly they would be if there were a call poem met the unusual fate of a demand for a new edition, and was everywhere quoted and applauded. It stands very properly at the head of this collection. Not very long after, "The Proud Miss He had hit the Puritans with some severity, MacBride" made its appearance in Mrs. Kirkland's Magazine, as keen a satire as one often and at the very seat of their empire :sees, and singularly enough, though drawn at a Here grant the muse one moment to explain, venture, hitting a case. "The Rhyme of the Lest you accuse her of a mocking strain. Rail," and "The Cold Water Man," the first a I love the Puritan; and from my youth humorous description, and the last a witty ballad, Was taught to admire his valor and his truth. went the round of all our newspapers from Maine The veriest caviller must acknowledge still to Texas. The poems above named, which are His honest purpose, and his manly will. universally known, furnish an adequate idea of Who valued steeples less than Christian grace, I own I reverence that peculiar race Mr. Saxe's genius, and of his productions. We Preferred a hut where frost and freedom reigned, thank him for the collection, as will his readers To sumptuous halls at freedom's cost obtained, generally and readers he will most certainly | And proudly scorning all that royal knaves It is superfluous to say that the volume is beautifully printed. In our last summer's wanderings about Lake Champlain it was our good fortune on several occasions to fall in with Mr. Saxe. Vermonters both, we found enough in the literature and history of our native state to make the staple of many hours' cheerful converse. His powers of conversation are equal to his outward frame, and this he has sufficiently described in one of his poems : have. Now I am a man, you must learn, Less famous for beauty than strength, For bartered conscience sold to cringing slaves, Mitres and thrones are man-created things, T is little marvel that their honored name |