That Italy produces good wines is, says Cyrus Redding, undeniable. She also produces wines that are very bad. The best Italian wines are said to be produced in Tuscany. As Hafiz is the authority for aroma, Albano, resembling Lacryma Christi, and Orvieto. The principal wine of Naples, from the base of Vesuvius, is Lacryma Christi, a rich, red, exquisite drink, affirmed by some adventurous fancies to be the Falernian of Horace. "O Christ!" said a Dutchman who drank, " why didst Thou not weep in my country ? " Gallipoli, Tarento, Baia, Pausillipo, yield good wines. The islands in the Bay of Naples all produce wine; that of Caprea is of good ordinary quality, both white and red. Calabria furnishes many good wines. Muscadenes and dry wines are made at Reggio. Asprino, a white foamy wine, with a pleasant sharpness, is a favourite of the Campagna. Carigliano is a Muscadine, with a flavour of fennel. Dr. Charnock speaks highly of the wine of Capri, and of Orvieto, a delicate white wine of Rome. The disagreement of travellers about the merits of wines arises principally, of course, from a diversity of tastes, but also in the matter of Italian wines, from the fact that different wines bear the same names in different countries. There is, for instance, a vino santo and a vino greco in Naples. A Veronese wine, vino debolis-simo e di niuna stima, is also called vino santo, and an excellently good wine at Brescia. It is the same with half a dozen of the most noted wines of Italy. Modico, a fine white wine from the place of that name near Salerno, was apparently a favourite of the noted School of Salernum. The best known wines out of Italy are the Barola, Barbera, and the rest which may be found on the wine-list of every padrone of an Italian restaurant; the Inferno of the Valtellina; the Lam- brusco of Modena; the Chianti of Tuscan - a wine grown on the estate of Baron Ricasoli, not thought so much of in Italy as in England; and the Lacryma Christi of Naples. Most Italian wines are bottled in flasks, in the old Roman style, with oil l on the top, and wool over the oil.

1 The value attached to this wine is one example among many of the caprice of fashion. The Muscadine of Syracuse or the Lagrima of Malaga is equal to it in richness, and few people would prefer it to other wines, did they dare to contradict the decision of fashion in its favour, and to have a taste of their own.

Shiraz, so Redi's Bacco in Toscana should be consulted for the wines of Italy. Monte Pulciano is of a purple hue, sweet and slightly astringent. It is to this wine that Redi gives the palm, calling it la manna di Monte Pulciano. The wine of Chianti, near Sienna, is well known. Artiminio, Poncino, Antella, and Carmignano, though of less reputation, are not greatly inferior. The best Verdea 1 comes from Arcetri near Florence. Trebbiano, a gold-coloured syrup, is produced, according to Drs. Thudichum and Dupre, from grapes, "passulated on the vine by torsion of the stalk." Montelcino, Rimaneze, and Santo Stefano are Siennese wines. Of Sardinia the chief wines are the so-called Malvasias, Giro, Aleatico, like the Tinto of Alicante, and Bosa, Ogliaslra, and Sassari. Of Piedmont the principal wines are Barolo, Barbera, Nebbiolo, Braccheto. Asti, Chaumont, Alba, and Montferrat have had reputation thrust upon them. Grignolinos are made from a vine closely related to the Kadarka of Hungary, and the Carmenet of the Gironde. The wines of Genoa are of small repute. Central Italy furnishes Montefiascone,2 with a delicious ' Est est' propter minium ' est, Dominus meus mortuus est.

1 So called from its green colour. It is said to have been a favourite wine of Frederick the Great. It is held now in slighter esteem.

2 Called Est Est from the writing under the bust of the valet of the bibulous German bishop Defoucris, who drank himself to death, upon which his valet composed his epitaph.

Reverence for antiquity is our sole excuse for there production of these wretched lines. Monte Pulciano has also the credit of having killed a Churchman. Other wines doubtless have had the same honour.