The Hartlib Papers

Title:Copy Letter, John Beale To Hartlib
Dating:31 May 1658
Ref:52/119A-126B: 124B-126B BLANK
Notes:Original of second part at 52/105, further copies at 52/97, 52/115 & 52/127.
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             Hereford. May 31 1658
Desarest Sir
    This inclosed comes faster on you, then I had intended, if in your last I had not found D.P. kind ouvertures towards you, which hastened this in your way, that you may hold of this opportunity to accommodate the publique.
    If any Man think I speake too largely, Let him enquire the truth of the plaine Narrative & debate with himself, What can make Cider in a Cider Country, & in a time of store of it, come so neere the price of forreigne Wines.   You will bee pleased to take notice, that I have scarse time to reviewe what I have written, nor could transcribe, what I have formerly sent: For which cause, if you ioyne all parcells together, I must relye upon you to omitt names that may bee impertinent or to any offensive, & to expunge such repetitions, as are not necessarily inculcative; I write all as to you personally,, & with such freedome & plainenesse, that the truth may bee tried & examined. I think I have partly discharged that which in the beginning of the last Winter, I hinted, but told you I was afraid to say it, and I think it did almost offend some of our best Correspondents; namely, That wee could make the wilde Mountaines beare rich Wines at small charges.
       Another Euidence, That the Wine
        of Apples & Peares, may bee made as
         rich as the Wine of the Grape, with
           further directions in it.
Sir
   Lately I gave you notice, that in the beginning of March last, Cider was sold in Hereford for 4d the Wine quart: Now [catchword: for]
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for these two laste Moneths, it is sold at the two chiefe Innes, the black Swan & the Falcon, & in some other places of greatest resort, for 6d the quart; whilst Claret & white wine was in the best Tavernes in Hereford sold for 8d the quart. This I know reacheth not to the Title prefixed. With patience attend the sequele. Hee that keepes the Sun-Taverne, is a younger Brother of a chiefe family, of many Considerable Relations, his name Mr Hereford, & Popular in Hereford, bred up under opportunities of Correspondency with Merchants, & having the true gust of best Wines, & a sufficient purse & credit, being also Towne Clark. Hee, apprehending his Concernement in it; layes out all his Capacities & credite, to get the best Wines from London & Bristol that Money & friendship can procure: gets his Merchant to come from Bristol to Hereford, to bee a Witnes, & to ioyne Councell, skill & activity to beat downe the reputation of Cider, & to hold up the Credit of Wines, in which successe a part of their Subsistence consists. The issue prooves no other than I have formerly told you. Those French Wines, which to my certaine knowledge, are not easily & ordinarily obtaineable, in many Provinces of France, were not allowed to bee comparable to this Cider of 6d the quart.
        To this, three things may be objected.
1 That Faction, Interest & Custome, does pervert the Iudgment of them that prefer Cider.
2 That the difference of price gives the precedence to the French Wines.
3 That this is nothing to the Comparison with Sacks & Greeke Wines.    [catchword: To the]
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1     To the first Objection I answere, That by Strangers & unconcerned persons, the Vote is generally given to the Cider. & I know that it so pas't in the secret whisper of severall Merchants. Neither do I see or know one Man or Woman, that can drinke these French Wines with delight, as they doe drink Cider, that is without any mixture of Sugar, lemmons or other helpes to it. Soe that the Vse of Wine amongst Vs, is rather as a formality for the name & Credite of Wine, & for a Novelty or rarity, or fashion of entertainement, or for a present to a friend, then for the choice of the pallate, by which meanes our wealthiest Vintners are at a great losse by the generall Contempt of Wine in comparisone of Cider. This, I say, I doe know, having a neare Relation to the forenamed Vintner, & being an abbetor in his behalfe. And I conceive, that wee having a great store of Cider, for frequent & familiar vse, the rarity of these Wines (:for a short touch or guste:) hath the advantage of an insinuative Commendation.
2      To the second objection; That yet the price of Wine, shewes the precedence of it before Cider.   Our Answer must consist of many branches. And first for a light glosse, & as partly appertaining to the first objection; wee may acknowledge that Men as well as Woemen, are somewhat indulgent to that wich is far fetcht & deare bought; & withall wee may here weigh, That Wines which are transported hither by Merchants, are somewhat better, than the vulgar Wines of France: & that this Wine here, brought into the challenge, is far beyond the Wine of Common sale: that these Wines are brought so many [catchword: miles]
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miles by Sea & by Rivers & by Land.   That there a French Merchant, & here an English Merchant, must rayse the price of their liuelihood in the Conduct: That the Vintners licence & retinue is a charge of value, that the Customes must bee defrayed: To this adde the charge of raysing & dressing the Vine-yard, & now consider & wonder, that in a Country surrounded with orchards, that cost nothing the dressing, that are planted by all sorts of People, poore & rich, rather for a Recreation, then with toyle & charges, that doe in a small portion of ground, yield yearly so many thousand hogsheads of Cider (as hath beene shewed you:) where our Rivers are blockt up with Weares, our wayes with mountaines, & the want of Commerce, & where a penny is so hardly raised in Mercats of generall cheapenes, there Cider is sold so neare the rate of richest French Wines, brought so far by divers kinds of carriages, at so much charge, toyle, trust, & hazard? What improvement can bee like unto this? since the dressing of Vine yards, by the dommage of blasts & frosts, doth sometimes exceede the worth the the Wines, as they are sold in France; Wheras here wee may at very little charges, & no hazard rayse these Wines at our dores?
   Now adde this, that this high-rated Cider, is onely of Redstrakes bought in the Country for thirty shillings the hogshead, made without any reguard to the Rules, which I formerly gave you, which must be reguarded, if we will challenge the richest Wines.   Here you may suspect me for saying, that they buy it for 30s the hogshead, & sell it for 6d the Wine quart, our hogsheads conteining 70 gallons of statute measure, & a gallon of Statute measure being about the proportion of 6 of our Wine quarts, as I am informed.   For answere to this, I assert not the Conscience & Equity, but the truth of the [catchword: matter]
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matter of fact, thus far, that round about the Citty, att the distance of one, two, three, foure, five, six miles, within these fewe Monthes, we could buy store of the same Cider, at the rate of 20s or 30s the hogshead: The onely difference is this, that at these Innes & houses of resort, the draw it off in bottles some weekes before they drink it: the bottles being stone bottles of a quart measure, & laid up in Coole Cellars. Note here also: That there is much difference betweene the best of this kind of Cider, and that which is commonly bought out of the Countrey, which is most generally suffered to expire all the richest spirits; by lying a Moneth or two, at least a forthnight open to the wide ayre, when it is newly made, in all the time of fermentation, & then commonly jumbled in barnes & Sunny out-houses for want of Cellars (:for in this generall plenty wee have not Cellars for the greatest part of our Cider:) And this remedy of botteling it, cannot recover the first & second Errors, only it gives a precedence before that, which hath also another waste of spirits in the loosenes of the Vent, & in the negligence of drawing it, & somewhat it is helped by a short time of redoubling, fortifying & then mellowing or ripening it selfe vpon its owne fermentation. And this difference is not a litle, as the different rate shewes, yet very litle in comparison of all my forementioned Rules, taking the choice of fruit, which have a peculiar fulnes[altered] of strong Spirits, & all degrees of maturity: the busyest & finest spirits being not wasted, but constrained to assist the ferment inwardly, & then retained in places constantly coole, as in Cellars of Sand-houses, & cold springs & fountaines, & helped with the length of time for a yeare two or three.
   If this their botteling, may justly quadruple the value of [catchword: our]
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our common Cider, in so short a time, then you may infer, how much the best Cider of the longest date, may excell their 6 penny Cider. And hence you may infer some of those other assertions, which I have heretofore hinted to you in private, but am afraid to avouch in publique least it may more impaire my credit then profit others. For here you see, that all the best helpes are seldome throughly observed: & one single observation is so newe amongst Vs, & yet soe powerfull, that it hath turned our Common Cider into rich Wine, & hath brought a great gaine to them that have the wit to reguard it. But what sensible man would expose himself vpon a publique Theatre, to proclaime to the world a Paradoxe, which shall rayse the laughter & scorne of the multitude?
III     The third objection demaunds, What is this to the Comparison with sacks & Greeke Wines?
     First consider (as wee have alreddy advertised:) that wee have hitherto spoken but of one kind of Cider, & that brought into the Lists, with the comparison of French Wine, though it wanted the first, second & third maine helpes of improvement. And it was fittest to bee compared with French Wines, haveing somewhat of the smartenes of their pricking eagernes, in the farewell: And in Order wee alwayes take heede that wee doe not compare linnen with woollen; Satin with Velvet, these being of a very disparat qualities.
    To handle this Question, wee must also take into our Consideration the great diversity of Pallats, which may bee differenced Nationally by our Sexes, customes or Complexions: but I must not imbarque vpon this Ocean, nor straine upon Curiosityes. This is apparent that the French will not leave their pungent Clarets & White Wines for the habituall Dyet of the Sweete Wines of Spaine, & Greeke. Neither will they or the witty Italians leave their savory pottages, [catchword: lively]
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lively drinkes, & well relishing bread, with Sallads & Sawces, or Orenges, Lemmons, Salt, Spices, Vinegar, Oyle, & old Cheeses, for our English Currant broath, plumbread, cheese cakes, fat ale, hoppy beere, sugard Wines, & luscious Sawces. Not onely with them, but generally amongst Men. Sweet things can have but a short time of pleasantnes, soone closing the stomack. And some degree of smartnes is as necessary for our liquors, as salt for our foode. Hereupon I must examine this point vpon the taste of individuall pallats, which gives me leave to name Persons, place & time, by which the truth may better bee sifted. And truely hee is not worthy of these debatements, that finds not in them some thing worthy of a further inquisition.
    You have lately beene told of one Gentleman (in the published letter hee beareth the Character of Mr. I. S. of W.) who hath his party, that despiseth the redstrakt wine, in comparison of his equivocall Peare-maine Cider: of which I gave you the Secret Whisper, that it was made of the Bareland Peare, dropping of the tree with full ripenes, lying a while under the tree, & then mingled with a fit proportion of like season'd Crabs or wilde-apples. This is here a very cheape Wine, allmost as cheape here, as watter is said to bee in some Countryes: our Common-hedges wilde grounds, & ragged hills, will beare it plentifully.   Sir H. Lingen of Sutten, makes a Cider of ripe Eliots, somewhat hoorded on the heape, which hee & his party doth at this time so much prefer before Redstrack Cider, that they call it the sack of Cider. Pleasant it is, & gentile, & yet so strong & full of Spirits, that good fellows find it safest, to confine it to small glasses, & there only to sip of it. It hath the Colour & flavour of the best sacks, leaving upon the glasse a note of oyly rich- [catchword: nes]
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nes, as the best Sack does. For which cause, amongst his many other very large plantations, hee hath planted one very fayre orchard of Eliots. In this I envy not a supportance to Mr Austens Proposition, that the best table fruit makes the best Cider. I shall rather adde as much as I can to confirme it as in the following Examples. Mr Gritton, who was of the Spicery office to the late King, gave me the challenge, & also the secret of his owne experiment; that all these Ciders are Contemptible in comparison of the Cider of the Stockin-Apple (which hath of all Apples (in generall esteeme) the most gratefull pungency) mingled with our Herefordshire May-peare, which hath in a rough & greety pulpe, a most pleasant & lively iuyce. Truely I doe believe, that our want of some point of Art, or diligence is the Cause, that wee doe so seldome please our selves in the Cider of pleasant fruite. Wee see what care the Italians take to retaine & preserve the Spirits of their most delicate Wines, vnder an oyly surface. And some amongst Vs, that cannot beare the smartnes of the Redstrakt Wine, nor the strength of the Equivocall Peare-maine, or wilder fruite, doe think they have a far richer Wine, when the Redstrake is somewhat smoothed & rebated with a mixture of fragant Gennet moyles & such pleasant fruite. I have received the liquor of French Cornells, Gennet moyles & such pleasant fruite, imediately from the Mill into Stone bottles & by carefull prevention, that the Spirits might not bee wasted, I found it much improved in quicknes & strength as well as in pleasantnes.   Arnold Burhill had a name of his skill in the affaires of the pallate. Hee preferr'd the Cider of the Portingall, haveing retained it in carefull Custody two or three yeares. Wee find the Portingall hath a mordicant sharpenes, beeing commonly choosen for goose sawce & is full of winde, & will therefore require the longer time for maturation. And wee may note, that all these [catchword: pleasant]
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pleasant apples, The Eliot Portingall, Stockin-apple, French Cornell, Gennet-moyle. &c: have peculiar kinds of fragrancy, & then the Cider will in some of them, especially in the Gennet-moyle, pertake of the same or some more gratefull savour. In all this, I ingage not for the Mastery in any opinion; Neither can I foretell, what time may discover, nor must forestall in the vast ocean of Individuall Experiments.   But now to come up to the quick of the third objection, all this is answered, & much more may bee answered for the Cider of the first yeare, only Mr Burhils Portingall excepted. This here I must further adde, that if Cider bee made of Redstrakes, or of other stronger fruite that are all fully ripe (as best wine is made of grapes, fully ripe, not mingled with greene grapes:) & this Cider so laid up, that the best Spirits expire not, either first or last. Then in the second yeare Redstrakes (:for Redstrakes so ordered, will so long increase their pleasantnes:) & the robust Cider, of the more austere fruit, in the third & following yeares, will not onely contend in strength with your insolated grapes of Spaine & Greeke, rebating their austerity, & yet increasing their strength, as they increase in age; but they will charge you with a scruple, Whether they have not transcended the nature & property of Wines, soe that they may be ranged with water of life, or with Helmonts fire of life, with Quintessences & Elixars.   All our Senses, & all our Veines in our Bodyes, will speedily confesse, that they approach neerer to fire, flame, & oyle, then to a quencher of thirst. And thus Apples & Peares yield you Wines, of what taste or pro [catchword: perty]
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perty you please, from the Sweetest of Syrrups, through the Comparison of all Wines, of what taste or property you please, to the strength of Aqua fortis. Vpon occasion of which word, I must give you a History. Dr. Boswoode a learned Physitian in Hereford, casually dropped his knife into a Vessell of Cider (:I cannot say that the Cider was of this high straine:) When the vessell was emptied, hee looked for his knife, but the knife, steele, & Iron, all the blade & all that was within the hafte, was totally consum'd, the Ivory hafte remaining whole & perfect. I know not, whether wee may hence as well Collect the peculiar incorruptiblenes of that Excellent Cordiall, opener of obstructions & allayer of Corrosives, Ivory, as the force of Cider. And that this story may not affright you, the long lives of Cider drinkers, will give you a proverbiall Satisfaction & good security, that though Cider devoures Iron, yet it mundifyes from grosse & putrifying humors, & preserves the balsome of life. See belowe #
    Thus far are wee taught to make Wines of all Sorts at easy rates without travayling for them to forreign Countryes. How to provide store of Lees, for richest Aqua-vitæ's, every Cottager to store the publique? How to exalt luscious Syrrups (in the mixture of austere liquors:) into oyles & flameable matter without any other Limbeck, then of vegetable plants, or of other fire, then the revolution of time, & the activity of a durable fermentation. Let me seale up this discourse with Solomons seale. Hee had a fountaine sealed, Cant. 4. 11. Such was the Custome of those dayes. Tis no costly matter to keepe a fountaine Covered under lock & key: & this land is full of Springs. There keepe your bottles of best Cider, till they become as rich, as the best Wines [catchword: of]
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of Montefiasco. If a spring bee not at hand, then it is probable that there is depth of drye land, to make Cellars deepe enough to keepe off the Sun & Summerheate. Of which argument I intend to say more in a following discourse: In which I would restore some ancient helpes, & propose more accomodations in the best & easiest way of vesseling, & thereby improveing our Liquors.
#   I offer no warrant of health, or delight, to such as make a sudden & totall remoovall, from from all other accustomed kinds of drink, to an excessive & intemperat use of strongest or undigested Cider.   But to such as will use it as our sober neighbours of France use Wine, moderately, & for a briske Relish or condiment in their Watter, as they use salt or Sugar in other diet, to such[deletion above] it will bee for generall use of Diet, health & delight, by Sea or by Land. And though wee pleade thus high, to retaine the Spirits of Cider, when wee would compare it with Wines, yet our Common negligence, hath fully proved, that many kinds of Cider, are not nice, or apt to loose all their good qualityes, but without curiosity will suffice well to save fuell & mault in our houses, & better for Sea voyages/