Wine 

 

"The fermented juice of the grape used as a beverage. It is essentially a dilute solution of alcohol, on the proportion of which in its composition depend its stimulating and intoxicating properties. Wines are classed as red or white, dry or sweet, still or sparkling." (OED)

 

In the above definition of wine as provided by the Oxford English Dictionary, one is given a clear description as to what wine actually is and how it is classified. However, the quote below from John Gay's The Beggar's Opera points insightfully to the regard in which the drink was held in the eighteenth century. 

 

"Fill ev'ry glass, for wine inspires us,

     And fires us

With courage, love and joy.

Women and wine should life employ.

Is there ought else on earth desirous?"

John Gay, The Beggar's Opera (1728) (II.i.14)

 

 

Figure 1: Drawing by Paul Sandby entitled 'A Wine-Seller' (c.1760)

 

In the image above, Sandby clearly depicts wine and women as synonymous with desire, thus aligning with Gay's description of wine. In his drawing, desire is twofold; the woman, with her casual stance, cheeky expression and suggestive hand gestures, is herself desirable. Yet, as a wine-seller, desire is also projected onto the object itself. The atmosphere of desire surrounding wine in this image, complemented with the quote from The Beggar's Opera is telling of how sought after and esteemed it was in the eighteenth century.

 

 

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Why wine? 

 

Wine has played a key role on the global alcoholic beverage scene for centuries. Archaeological evidence of wine production has been found as long as 7400-7000 years ago from a pottery jar, and the oldest-known winery was discovered in an Armenian cave, dated to 4100 BC. With its longstanding history of production and consumption it would be far-fetched to suggest that the eighteenth century was the most significant era for the beverage. However, as the nineteenth century has been termed ‘The Golden Age’ of wine, especially in France with its immense popularity and increasing profits, it is well worth investigating some of the aspects of wine from the preceding century that led to the next era of wine prosperity.

 

Although Gin was undoubtedly the more popular drink of choice in England in the eighteenth century, with its low cost and local production, this did not impede the consumption of wine. In fact, paradoxically it is justifiable to suggest that the growing popularity of gin caused a parallel exponential rise in the popularity of wine, as to drink the more expensive and imported foreign good was to not drink the cheaper, and distinctly less glamorous, alcoholic drink. Wine thus became a symbol of wealth, mostly drunk by upper classes seeking to distinguish their alcoholic taste from lower classes, whose preferences were for gin and Beer. This is confirmed by the fact that wine appears in eighteenth century novels, poems and satirical prints as the background of many aspiring and upper class settings. 

 

An interesting facet of wine in the eighteenth century is the role it had to play in the emerging culture of politeness, as it began to be used as a prop in polite performance and was the source of polite conversation. This polite conversation is a significant historical moment in wine culture; as people began to discuss wines beyond whether they were simply good or bad, the wine connoisseur emerged. Despite its association mainly with upper classes, wine was certainly not a rarity or a novel object in everyday eighteenth century life, in fact, to the contrary it was considered by many as a necessity in any household, due to its importance as a cooking ingredient and for homemade medicinal remedies.

 

Figure 2: Google NGram of the appearance of wine from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century. 

 

Figure 3: Google NGram of the appearance of wine in the eighteenth century alone.

 

Although the focus of this project is on the eighteenth century, is it interesting to observe the pattern of the popularity of wine before and after this period, as depicted in Figure 1, in order to ascertain the importance of the eighteenth century by comparison. From the first chart it is clear that although wine had enjoyed a peak point of popularity in the first quarter of the seventeenth century, this was not maintained. In fact, the height was not reached again until the second half of the eighteenth century, after a steady rise that began in the early 1700s. As such, the eighteenth century was clearly an important one for wine as a significant and steady decline in its appearance did not occur until after the 1700s. 

  

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The changing shape of wine 

 

After its discovery 8,000 years ago, the popularity of wine spread quickly, which made developments in transportation necessary. Experimentations in transportable containers began with the ancient world's clay amphorae, followed later by wooden barrels, but neither were as successful as the glass bottle that was to follow. Advancements in the glass-making industry occurred in the seventeenth century, when coal, instead of wood, was first used to heat the furnaces which meant that temperatures higher than ever before could be reached. This led to the production of stronger glass with which to make bottles. The discovery of the cork used to stop the bottles also occurred in the 1600s, and, when coupled with these newer and stronger glass bottles, the corked wine bottle was born. 

 

As for the shape of the wine bottle, it was not until the eighteenth century that this was perfected. Until the 1720s, the bottom of the wine bottle was circular and wide which was an inefficient use of space when the bottles were laid on their side for transportation, and led to breakages. Glassmakers therefore created longer and more slender bottles so that they could be lined up and laid down side by side, thus creating the shape we are familiar with now. 

 

Figure 4: The Evolution of the English wine bottle, c. 1640s-1780s

 

Interestingly, although the shape had become standard by the end of the century, size had not. Unlike wooden barrels, where the quantity could be easily regulated, it was incredibly difficult for glassblowers to ensure that all the wine bottles they made would hold the same quantity. Of course, this left much room for fraudulent selling, as two bottles could be sold for the same price but one hold significantly less wine. Therefore in the eighteenth century it was illegal to sell wine by the bottle (indeed, it was not until 1860 that this law changed under the Grocers' Licensing Act') . The wine section of the second edition of The Excise Laws Abridged by J. Symons, makes this clear:

'No person shall sell any kind of wine or liquor called or reputed wine by retail, by the pint, quart, bottle, or gallon, or by any other greater or less quantity than shall be equal to the measure, or in bottles, in any less quantity than shall be equal to the measure of the cask or vessel in which the same shall or may lawfully be imported, without being authorized as herein after directed; on pain of 100l. half to the king, and half to the informer.' 

100l. would be worth over £3000 in today's money; this, perhaps surprisingly high, sum for breaking laws regarding a drink demonstrates how seriously it was treated in this century. Clarke discusses the process of purchasing wine when it did not come in a bottle

'Wine would be shipped in barrels, and served from barrels in taverns, inns and private houses. The barrel would have no precise name - you either trusted the merchant or you didn't.'

Although Clarke's closing sentence is somewhat dramatic, for eighteenth-century wine-drinkers, trust was absolutely key; given its status as a luxury and expensive item, to drink wine was to make an investment, to drink from a mystery tavern barrel would certainly require trust in the merchant. 

 

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The Politics 

 

It would be impossible to discuss wine in the eighteenth century without briefly addressing the politics associated with it. Due to the fact that England in the eighteenth-century was not a wine-producing country, the importation of wine was necessary. As such, the trade of wine was an inherently political process, depending entirely on contemporary relations between England and other, primarily European, countries. In Postlethwayt's second volume of The Universal Dictionary of Trade and Commerce (1756) he remarks disappointedly on the lack of local wine production, and argues for the developments of English vineyards as a way to sidestep importation, namely the cost and politics caused by it; he wrote that importation of wine meant "the nation pays such sums for those liquours, as tend to impoverish us, and augment the strength of our rivals". Published the same year that the Seven Years' War between Britain and France began, Postlethwayt's desire to do anything that would distance England from France is not surprising by reducing wine importations and taking any possible measures to limit trade would have been well received by his peers.

 

 

Figure 5: Selected paragraphs from Malachy Postlethwayt's remarks in his section on 'Wine' in The Universal Dictionary of Trade and Commerce (Vol. II). (1756)

 

 

Embargoes 

 

In the late seventeenth century, Walpole's Whig government were keen denouncers of trade with France. As such, two embargoes on French goods were imposed; the first from 1678-1685, closely followed by a second from 1689-1697 during the course of an actual war with France. As French claret, produced in Bordeaux, was the most popular wine in England, this was the cause of much controversy and sparked much discontent among wine-drinkers. Their dissatisfaction inspired much literature characterised by the hunt for French wine; for example, Richard Ames's poem The Search after Claret (1691) depicts two men traipsing all over London looking to find "a Bottle of good Old Dry Orthodox Claret" but to no avail. His poem highlights both the lack of availability of the much sought-after French wine and the depth of dissatisfaction at the loss of it. Ultimately, this poem shows that the English taste for claret would not be easily abated in spite of political opposition. Indeed, French wine, including claret, still entered the country in Spanish bottles during the embargoes which shows that the political move did little to decrease claret's popularity, but inadvertently increased wine fraud. 

 

 

A Question of Class

 

Wine-drinking in the 1700s cannot be separated from class, as the high tariffs and importation costs made wine an expensive luxury item, reserved largely for the rich and fashionable. Politicians came under this category of elite wine drinkers, and, indeed, the favourite wine among them was French claret. It is ironic, then, that it was the Whigs who imposed the embargoes against French goods, which included their favourite wine. This political move therefore seems nonsensical, but has been explained by Ludington who looks at the distinction that was beginning to be made about different types of wine, thus entering the discussion about wine and class. 

 

Whigs sought to make a distinction between a 'generic claret' which was not particularly well made, and 'New French Claret'; the traditional claret was popular and inexpensive to produce and thus had to be "discouraged through embargoes and exorbitant customs duties, lest English tavern-goers drink away the nation's economic health by sending too much precious coin to France" (Ludington, 44). On the other hand, luxury claret was perfectly acceptable to Whigs because, due to its high price, only few could afford it, therefore it posed no risk of becoming standard among the lower echelons of society. As such, although to drink wine was in itself an indication of one's social standing, the type of wine was an even larger indicator and created wide class divides.

 

Among other literature of the eighteenth century, the anonymous author of Lowlife (1764) alludes to the superiority of French wine (presumably claret) and the division it created across class in Hour XV with the line: “The Fortunate and Great sitting down to Meals of Pomp and Ceremony, attended by sumptuous Sideboards, Sycophants, French Wines, and little sincerity” (67). The emphasis on the fact that the wine drunk by "the Fortunate and Great" is French is deliberate and unmissable, pointing clearly to it being the most desirable wine available. However, one cannot ignore the slightly satirical "little sincerity" with which the french wine is accompanied; it may be of the best taste and quality, but the cutting remark adds a bittersweet element to the scene. 

 

 

A Polite Drink

   

The discussion of wine and class is well contextualised within the eighteenth century culture of politeness. Politeness, from the French 'politesse', was an important societal feature that began at the start of the 1700s, emerging from the Enlightenment, and lasted until around the 1750s. It was more than simply being courteous as we may now understand the terms; it was a mode of being, an awareness of self, that encompassed a very particular style of discourse and set of behaviours. The culture of politeness dictated much of the behaviour exhibited by the elite and aspiring classes and many essays and pamphlets were written on the subject, explaining how it could be achieved and outlining its importance. Politeness is described by John Harris in the first chapter of his An Essay on Politeness as "universally required" and "the truest mark of a gentleman".

 

 

Figure 6: The first two pages of the essay proper - An essay on politeness; wherein the benefits arising from and the necessity of being polite are clearly proved. (1775) 

 

Ludington writes that "'things' were very important for polite behaviour" (book, 95), wine included. The beverage had a large role to play in the culture of politeness, as it acted as one of these 'things', used mainly by men of the upper classes to prove themselves as "true gentlemen". Furthermore it allowed people to make a show of their expensive and rare crystalware, again adding to their performances of politeness. 

 

Another characteristic of politeness was conversation, hence the eighteenth century genre of painting called 'conversation pieces'. Wine therefore features largely in these paintings, as the object of and inspiration for polite conversation. To be polite was to have good, therefore expensive, taste in wine. Interestingly, the art of the wine connoisseur has been said to have emerged from these early polite conversations about wine. Looking at "the beginning of recorded polite wine talk" (47), Ludington analyses the cellar notes of James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos (1673-1744) - "Brydges' wines were not just 'good', 'bad' or 'tolerable'. Instead, wines had multiple dimensions: colour, smell and texture." (48)

 

Figure 7: William Hogarth, Mr Woodbridge and Captain Holland (c. 1730)

Hogarth depicts polite wine contemplation and conversation in his conversation piece above. As the men drinking wine are in Woodbridge's office and surrounded by intellectual objects including books and scrolls, Hogarth portrays the reflection on wine as an almost academic pursuit.

 

 

Figure 8: William Hogarth, A Modern Midnight Conversation (c. 1732)

Another of Hogarth's paintings has a very different tone to the conversation piece above. Here he satirises the conversation painting genre and suggests that although wine can be the inspiration of politeness, its intoxicating qualities aid the collapse of the politeness they are seeking to demonstrate. 

 

 

The Excise Bill of 1733 

 

In the historical chart of the politics of wine across the eighteenth century, a key moment worth exploring that shows the lengths the English population went to to protect wine is the Excise Crisis of 1733. Walpole proposed to shift the focus of taxation from landed wealth to consumption by levying taxes on various goods such as wine and tobacco - "the rest [of The Penny payable to the Civil Lists], which is abated to 4 Pence, and which goes to the Publick, is to be levied by Excise". The scheme is peppered with bold claims, stating that "there are no Draw-backs for the Future" and that "the Scheme is modell'd free of all Objection". This feels more like the desperate hope of the author rather than actual belief, as plans are also included to appease anticipated "Objection"; "to show that the Crown is to be nowise benefited by the Scheme, His Majesty gives to the Publick all Seizures, Fines and Forfeitures". The proposal was widely opposed and met with public disdain. Many letters were sent to Parliament in opposition of the tax, causing a pamphlet defending the scheme entitled A letter from a member of Parliament to his friends in the country, concerning the duties on wine and tobacco, presumably written by Walpole, to be widely distributed.

 

Figure 9: First page of pamphlet entitled A letter from a member of Parliament to his friends in the country, concerning the duties on wine and tobacco.

 

If the English population to which the pamphlet is addressed were Walpole's "friends in the country" before it was published, many of them certainly were not afterwards; the tax was considered by many to be an infringement of British liberty and one's right to occasional excess, and Walpole's open defence of it was deemed outrageous. Replies to the pamphlet were published, an anonymous one of which described the commands of the plan as "hasty and ill-grounded". The author addresses Walpole, stating “I am confident, when I shall have laid before you, and that you come to be apprized of the true state of this case, you will thank me much more, for having controverted your orders, than you would have done for obeying them.” 

 

Figure 10: Anonymously printed satirical illustration on the Excise Bill of 1733 entitled "Excise in Triumph", showing Robert Walpole sitting astride a barrel of wine.

The description beneath the image likens Walpole to Bacchus, the God of wine in ancient Roman mythology ("By these encourag'd, on the Barrel strides / Excise in Triumph, and like Bacchus rides: / Still to enslave and make us more distrest"). This description, accompanied by Walpole's triumphant stance astride the wine barrel, satirises the fact that Walpole was 'acting God' through his Excise Scheme; controlling the availability of wine as though he were Lord over it.

 

The immense public pressure against this Bill is telling of the position held by wine in the eighteenth century, as the fierceness with which the public sought to keep it within reach demonstrates their unwillingness for it to be taken away. Indeed, such was the extent of opposition that Walpole was eventually forced to drop the scheme. But Walpole did not emerge from the crisis unscathed; the elections of the following year observe a marked decrease in supporters of Walpole. The anonymous reply to Walpole's pamphlet eerily but accurately predicted this demise in his political popularity as a result of the proposed Excise Tax - “the time I say shall come, when these English, like those Roman instruments of faction, shall find they deceived themselves with false hopes, as they addressed the People with false Arts, and whilst they plot the ruin of others, shall work their own destruction” (emphasis added).

 

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In The Kitchen

 

A closer look at a few eighteenth century cookbooks shows that wine not only held an important position in politics and class, but also much closer to home, in the kitchen. The popularity of wine in eighteenth-century recipes can be attributed to its versatility. Indeed, the fact that it features as an ingredient for main meals, desserts and drinks shows that the use of wine in cooking knew no bounds. In her cookbook, The Experienced English House-keeper, Elizabeth Raffald goes so far as to state "Wine is a very necessary thing in most families"; if Raffald's comment is representative of the view that people had of wine in general, it perhaps makes the frequency with which it appears in recipes unsurprising. 

 

 

Something to eat

 

Due to the high volume of recipes that include wine as an ingredient, to gain a picture of the use of wine in eighteenth century cooking it would be more profitable to take on overview of one cookery book in particular. Hannah Glasse's The Art of Cookery, Made Plain and Easy is a good place to start as it would not be a far-cry to suggest that her cookbook represented eighteenth century cooking as a whole (the book's popularity was unrivalled, going through over 40 editions and becoming published globally). To look to the amount of references Glasse makes to wine, one can tell how key it was; indeed, the word is used more than 180 times in the twentieth edition of the cookbook.

 

Rarely does Glasse ever suggest a recipe for meat or fish without adding either red or white wine to the mixture. Red wine in particular seems to have been a standard ingredient for making gravy and other meat sauces. For example, "To make a Savoury Lamb or Veal Pye", after the reader has prepared the meat, they are instructed to "then have ready the Liquor, made thus: Take a Pint of Gravy, the Oyster Liquor, a Gill of Red Wine, and a little grated Nutmeg: Mix all together with the Yolks of two or three Eggs beat". 

 

Wine is also often added to food recipes that are done "In the French way", showing that the practice of adding wine to dishes may have been inspired by French cooking. Glasse alludes to this in her note "To The Reader" at the start of the cookbook when, justifying how economically she has designed her recipes by giving an example of a wine-based ham sauce, she writes: "You may leave out the wine, according to what use you want it for; [...] but, if gentleman will have French cooks, they must pay for French tricks" (emphasis added).

 

 

Something to drink

  

Wine was of course a well-loved drink in and of itself, but a popular trend in eighteenth century cooking was the creation of different flavoured wines. Although this trend has fallen mostly out of fashion by now, it was certainly a common and popular in the 1700s. Indeed, whole chapters of cookbooks are dedicated to recipes for various flavoured wines, including lemon, orange, raisin, ginger, gooseberry, blackberry, raspberry, redcurrant, currant, walnut and elderflower. 

 

Orange Wine

 

Oranges were a well established fruit in England by the eighteenth century, and a popular use for them was in the creation of wine. Recipes for orange wine are featured in most eighteenth century cookbooks, thus pointing to its popularity as a drink. In fact, in Elizabeth Raffald's cookbook there are three different ways to make it. Interestingly, only "The Second Way" to make orange wine involves adding actual "mountain wine" (a type of wine formerly produced in Malaga) to the mixture. Both other recipes from Raffald's book, and in other cookbooks, simply suggest adding either four or six spoonfuls of "new" or "good" yeast, thus allowing the fermentation process to occur naturally. This might suggest that the authors of these cookbooks were allowing for cheaper methods of producing alcoholic drinks, without the need to include the more expensive ingredient of the wine itself. 

     

 

Chocolate Wine

 

Chocolate was brought to England in the mid-eighteenth century by Sir Hans Sloane, after discovering and experimenting with the cocoa plant on a journey to Jamaica. Unlike the solid chocolate we buy and eat today, most consumption of the confectionery good in the early years of its discovery took the form of a liquid, so the concept of a chocolate flavoured wine would not have been as strange as it may seem now. Although most variations of homemade wines come from different fruits, John Nott's recipe book, The Cooks and Confectioners Dictionary (1733), includes a recipe on how 'To make Wine Chocolate', calling his readers to "Take a pint of Sherry, or a Pint and a half of red Port, four Ounces and a half of chocolate, six Ounces of fine Sugar, and half an Ounce of white Starch, or fine flour; mix, dissolve, and boil all these as before."

 

It is interesting that Nott distinguishes between wines, telling the reader to take half a pint more of red port than sherry, if that is the wine chosen. It may be that Nott advises using more red port than sherry in order to ensure the equality of alcoholic content regardless of which wine is used. However, as both of these dessert wines have similar alcoholic contents (usually 17-21%), the distinction is more likely to be for another reason. Perhaps it is because sherry is sweeter than port, so less of it compared to red port would be required to gain the sweetness of the chocolate wine. Or perhaps Nott anticipates that sherry is either less readily available or less likely to be spared for making chocolate wine than port, so he recommends using less. Whatever the reason is, the distinction importantly shows that he held a particular knowledge of wine and adapted his recipes accordingly. Chocolate wine itself, though, cannot have been wildly popular as can be ascertained from the lack of recipes for it, unlike the multitude for something like orange wine. Perhaps the combination of two luxuries such as wine and chocolate was something that few could afford or had a taste for.  

 

     

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Could a glass of wine a day keep the doctor away? 

   

Much like today, in the eighteenth century there were conflicting views about the health implications of drinking wine; some believed that it was unhealthy and caused people to behave appallingly, while others argue its health benefits and encouraged its consumption. 

 

Phillippe Sylvestre Dufour, writing on "what excellent Vertues the Creator has distributed" to coffee, tea and chocolate in his treatise The manner of making of coffee, tea, and chocolate as it is used in most parts of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, with their vertues, warned against the effects of consuming too much chocolate, by using the effects of drinking too much wine as a way to compare the two. Although both are "good and excellent [...] in their own Nature", he argued that "Wine, which if excessively drunk instead of heating, breeds oftentimes cold Distempers, Nature not being able to surmount nor turn in its substance so great a quantity thereof; so likewise those that drink too much Chocolate". 

 

However, the case for wine being beneficial to health actually seems to have been the stronger one in the eighteenth century. Indeed, medic Peter Shaw published a treatise (depicted in Figure 11) arguing that wine was a better treatment for the sick than water. He described wine as "the Grand Preserver of Health, and Restorer in most Diseases" - a bold claim, but as it is made by a physician, this says much of the genuine eighteenth century belief in the medicinal properties of wine. 

 

Figure 11: Title page of Peter Shaw's treatise The juice of the grape: or, wine preferable to water. (1724)

 

 

Wine and Water

 

It was clearly not only medical professionals who saw the benefits of wine; even the ever health anxious Mr Woodhouse encourages it;

"Mrs. Goddard, what say you to half a glass of wine? A small half glass - put into a tumbler of water? I do not think it could disagree with you." (20)

Mr Woodhouse is making reference to the practice of adding water to wine. The reasons behind this practice was twofold; firstly, adding water to wine would lower the alcoholic content of the beverage and therefore reduce its inebriating effects, secondly, adding wine to water would kill harmful bacteria in the water and therefore make it safe to drink. Although this page has not explored this practice in detail, it was certainly commonplace to mix the two together for either reason in the eighteenth century. Jonathan Swift alludes to both reasons behind the watering down of wine in letters to his friend Rebecca Dingley. In the first quote below, water is added to wine to reduce alcoholic content at a time when Swift was unwell, while the second quote shows wine added to water to make water safe. 

'Letter LXI. Dr. Swift to Mrs. Dingley. London, March 22, 1711-1712. 

29th, I am plagued with a pain in my shoulder [...] I drank three or four glasses of champaign by perfect teazing, though it is bad for my pain; but if it continues, I will not drink any wine without water till I am well.'

'Letter LXV. Dr. Swift to Mrs. Dingley. Kensington, June 17, 1712.

I am against Dr. Smith. I drink little water with my wine, yet I believe he is right. Dr. Cockburn told me a little wine would not hurt me; but it is hot and dry and water is dangerous.'

In either case, it is clear that wine was key in conversations and practices regarding the improvement of health.

 

 

Home remedies 

 

The exploration of the medicinal properties of wine led to the creation of home remedy recipes for curing diseases, using wine as a key ingredient. The fact that these recipes were present in many household cookbooks and not only medical journals, is indicative of the fact that many were encouraged to use the wine, that was presumably already present in their households, as medicinal as well as recreational. In his publication Domestic medicine: or, treatise on the prevention and cure of diseases, by regimen and simple medicines, William Buchan dedicates a section to instructions for making wine-based treatments. He seems to agree with Shaw on the greatness of the drink, writing that "From the obvious qualities of wine, it must appear to be an excellent cordial medicine. Indeed, to say the truth, it is worth all the rest put together" and "Perhaps no medicine is more rarely obtained genuine than wine". 

 

Figure 12: The first page of the wine appendix in William Buchan's Domestic medicine: or, a treatise on the prevention and cure of diseases by regimen and simple medicines (1796)

 

 

Caudle 

 

Caudle was a popular homemade remedy of the eighteenth century, consisting of gruel mixed with either wine or ale. It was not usually for general consumption, but chiefly given to sick people. In Hannah Glasse's chapter entitled 'Directions for the Sick' she includes two recipes for making caudle; the first is for 'White Caudle' and the second 'Brown Caudle'. The first recipe is not necessarily designed for a sick person (she writes "and if it is not for a sick Person, squeeze in the Juice of a Lemon") and she does not specify the quantity of wine to be added, only "what Wine is proper". In contrast, the second recipe makes no distinction when making it for someone who is not sick, thus suggesting that brown caudle is more commonly made for the ill. It is interesting that brown caudle, the variation intended for the sick, has specified alcohol quantities: "Half a Pint of white Wine." Therefore, it appears that the ingredient which is distinguished as being specifically remedying is wine. (Although, the fact that Glasse allows for a cheaper alternative - "When you don't put white Wine let it be half Ale" - suggests that perhaps alcohol of any variety is what makes brown caudle a remedy for the sick, not specifically wine.)

 

On the 7th April 1660, Samuel Pepys records drinking caudle as a remedy for seasickness. Although he does not specify whether the caudle was white or brown, it certainly seems to have been effective:

"After dinner, and all the afternoon I walked upon the deck to keep myself from being sick, and at last about five o’clock, went to bed and got a caudle made me, and sleep upon it very well."

     

The drink is also mentioned in an anonymous poem entitled A New Ballad. A Bottle of Wine and Butler. The reference to caudle again points to the importance of adding wine to the mixture to make it remedying; the husband sought "in great haste ... for wine" in order to make it for his sick wife.

 

 

Figure 13: Anonymous, A Bottle of Wine and Butler (1800?)  

 

Wormwood and wine

 

Wormwood is a plant, famous for its bitter taste (from which follows the metaphorical use of term - for something to be turned to wormwood is for something to be characterised by bitterness, sourness and grief). The shrub has also long been used for its medicinal qualities, but it was not until the late sixteenth century that the term 'wormwood wine', also 'wormwood water', came into use to refer to a medicinal cordial made from wormwood. Many of these waters contain wormwood mixed with wine, usually white. 

 

In Dr Richard Lower's Receipts containing the best and safest method for curing most diseases in humane bodies he includes "An Excellent method to Cure the Dropsy" (A morbid condition characterized by the accumulation of watery fluid in the serous cavities or the connective tissue of the body). His recipe calls for a mixture of wormwood and "a Quart of White wine", amongst other things. The fact that the title page specifies that the "Receipts" are "very useful for all sorts of people, especially those who live remote from physicians" suggests that the recipes within it would call for ingredients that would be readily available in most standard eighteenth century houses. The inclusion of wine and wormwood, then, indicates that they were both easily accessible and commonly used in remedies made from home.      

 

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"Take a glass of wine"

 

To look in more depth at where wine appears in eighteenth century literature follows well from a look at wine in medicine, as wine's ability to revive and remedy is its most remarkable quality in many works of literature from this period. Indeed, somewhat paradoxically, when female characters have just been shocked or distressed by something the solution is to "take a glass of wine". Literature is peppered with adjectives such as "restorative", "refreshing" and "relieving" to describe wine, alluding to the remedying qualities for which it was drunk by distressed women. Whether this is because it was genuinely believed to be medicinal, or just because the alcohol content had a calming effect is unclear. But perhaps why this custom existed is not important, the simple fact that it did reveals how wine was often used in the eighteenth century. Furthermore, wine mostly appears in the background of middle and upper class settings, such as in the homes of Mr B., Dorriforth and Emma. Fanny Hill, though not an aristocratic member of society, also drinks a lot of the beverage, perhaps in an attempt to imitate luxury associated with the upper classes, but also perhaps because that is the class of the people with whom she mixes as a harlot. Although it is a rarity, when wine is mentioned in close proximity to lower classes it has often been stolen, as the anonymous author of Lowlife tells us. All the references below also clearly portray that wine was often immediately at hand, ready to restore and revive, showing that it was often present, even if it was not at the forefront of a scene.

 

 

Pamela (1740)

 

One of the interesting references to drinking wine in Richardson's novel is in the "6th Day of [her] Happiness" when Lady Davers, Pamela and Mr B. are at the dining table and Lady Davers has just found out that Pamela is Mr B.'s wife. She is furious at this new knowledge and Mr B. tries to calm her down by handing her a glass of wine:

 

"'Come,' added he, and held the glass to her, 'let the brother whom you once loved, prevail on you.' She then drank it. He took her hand. 'How passion,' said he, 'deforms the noblest minds!'" (448)

 

Soon after drinking the first glass of wine to calm her 'passion' after the shock of the marriage, she calls for another, showing how wine was used as a means of regaining composure:

 

"... she could not forbear a sigh and a sob now-and-then. She called for a glass of the same wine she had drank before ..." (449)

 

 

Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure (1748) 

 

In Cleland's erotic novel, wine is often consumed before sexual activity, demonstrating how it was used as a relaxant to loosen inhibitions. The fact that it is wine used for this purpose, as opposed to gin or beer, is indicative of the attempt at luxury and taste, rather than drinking cheaper and less esteemed drinks:

 

"As soon as he was off, I ran to her, and sitting down on the couch by her, rais'd her head, which she declin'd gently, and hung in my bosom, to hide her blushes and confusion at what had past, till by degrees she recompos'd herself, and accepted of a restorative glass of wine from my spark" (72)

"... but when the now necessary refreshment to me, of a glass of wine, and a little eating, (all the time observing a profound silence) had somewhat chear'd, and restor'd me to spirits ..." (158)

"I had now got down at least half a partridge, and three or four glasses of wine, which he compell'd me to drink by way of restoring nature ..." (161)

"Here was a side-table too, loaded with sweat-meats, jellies, and other eatables, and bottles of wine and cordials, by way of occasional relief from any rawness, or chill of the water, or from any faintness from whatever cause." (201)

 

 

Lowlife (1764)

 

Lowlife is significant in offering a picture of wine among the lower classes of the eighteenth century. Both instances below are from the early hours - Hour II "From One till Two o'Clock on Sunday Morning" - when the masters of the house are asleep or out of sight and the staff secretly indulge themselves with their wine:

  

"Nurses, who are sitting up with Lying-in-Women, making much of themselves with Caudle, Wine, Cake, and other nourishing Things, while their Mistresses are fast asleep" (Hour II, p.11) 

“The Servants of Nobility, Gentry and over-grown Citizens, very merry in separate Kitchens, drinking of their stolen Wines and Ales, cracking smutty Jokes” (Hour II, p.12)

 

Other instances in the "Critical Account" depict the unavailability of wine for the working class. In the quote below from Hour I it is the absence of wine in the list of things that the Post-Boys are regaling in that shows how it was not an option for them. Hour XXII sees servants fetching drinks for families not rich enough to enjoy wine and who satisfy themselves with porter, a dark ale, instead:

 

“The Post-Boy Publick-House, in Sherborn-Lane, near the Post Office, full of Post-Boys, who are regaling themselves with Brandy, Rum, Beer, Geneva, and Bread and Cheese” (Hour I, p.7)

“Great Quantities of Porter, fetched by Common Servants from Publick-Houses, for the Suppers of such People who are too Poor to drink Wine, and too Rich to drink Table-Beer” (Hour XXII, p.93)

 

 

A Simple Story (1791)

 

Inchbald's novel points most blatantly to the use of wine as a remedying beverage after a shock, but interestingly it is not just women but Lord Elmwood, too, is told to drink wine when he becomes overwhelmingly emotional at the sound of Miss Milner's carriage approaching when she returns from having disobeyed his orders and gone to the masquerade ball:

 

"He trembled extremely, and looked pale. - Sandford was ashamed to seem to notice it, yet he could not help asking him, "To take a glass of wine." - He took it - and for once evinced he was reduced so low, as to be glad of such a resource." (173)

 

Similarly overwhelmed, when the reality of potentially never seeing Lord Elmwood again dawns on Miss Milner, the following:

 

"She felt the symptoms of fainting, and eagerly snatched a glass of wine, which the servant was holding to Sandford, (who had called for wine) and drank a part of it." (226-227)

 

 

Mock Epic

 

Wine transcends genre across eighteenth century literature and is often the main subject explored through either verse or prose. For example, in 1708 John Gay published a poem simply entitled Wine. A Poem.  which is described as "A burlesque Miltonic ode to the virtues of the grape". Clearly wine was seen as something heavenly, divine and epic. Indeed, the opening of the poem, with its invocation of a "Heavenly Muse" to sing "Of sparkling juices, of th' enliv'ning Grape" is reminiscent of Milton's opening to Paradise Lost. 

 

Pastoral 

 

In Thomson's pastoral poem Autumn (1730), he writes of "the pure pleasures of the rural life" (l.1139). The fact that within these pleasures he includes a picture of wine-making indicates, again, that wine was considered a source of joy. Thomson's offering compared to other references in the eighteenth century is interesting because he depicts a world in which it is not just consuming wine that is pleasurable, but the vinicultural process in its entirety; to grow grapes and make wine is to be close to the "all-sufficient!" and "over all!" Nature to whom the poem is dedicated.

A Wine-Lover: Richard Ames

 

As well as observing wine in literature and across genres, it is also interesting to look at the effect that drinking wine had on the literature that some writers produced. To turn briefly to the preceding century, there is an interesting case of this to be found in Richard Ames (1660?-1693) - poet and Grub-Street hack of the late 1600s. Although little is known about him for definite, much can be gathered of his life from his literary works and what was posthumously written about him by his close friend John Dunton in the early eighteenth century. For example, in Dunton's autobiography, Life and Errors of John Dunton, Citizen of London (1705), he writes that "Wine and Women were the great bane of [Ames's] life and happiness". His addiction to and love of wine is most evident in his 'wine poems', including Search after claret, or, A visitation of the vintners (1691), Fatal friendship: or the Drunkard's Misery (1693) and The Bacchanalian Sessions, with A Farewell to Wine (1693). The poems portray a man's conflicting conscience; his resolve to be "tempt[ed] ... no more" (A Farewell to Wine) pitted against his utter preoccupation with the drink. The bitter irony lies in the fact that the money he earned from these poems against wine was likely the means by which he funded his addiction to the drink. Furthermore, Ames's early it-narrative A dialogue between Claret and Derby-ale (1692), featuring a conversation between the two drinks arguing with each other directly about the respective merits of each, speaks to the politics bound up with wine drinking in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century.