The Press.
London, England, 1857-03-07 00:00:00

of the generous draught, are wholly independent of the
sweetening ingredient ; and it was impossible to conceive
how such wine could admit of improvement.
" And yet," exclaimed my " veritable Amphitryon,"
" there is not a drop of brandy in it. You have tasted,
what you ought invariably to taste, the pure wine."
Thus ended my inquiry into the sparkling fluid.
A leading " Liberal" once (rashly) boasted
that "he was convinced that an organisation
" might be formed which would gain us the
" Ballot in a couple of years." With a French
alliance, it is singular that there has been no
vigorous attempt to introduce a new tat•iff on
French wines. The great-grandsires of the
present generation used to drink cheap (and
good) French claret; and it is odd that the
unitarian agitators have given no ',attention to
the superior tonic qualities of the French
vintage. There are many who are anti.
Gallican in politics, but pro•Gallicau in their
vinous tastes.

The author has a quick eyo for the agricul-
tural state of France, but he does not seem
well versed in the history of England and
France. Adverting to the aspects produced
by the division of land in France, under the
law of division, ho says :

On this north side, however, of Dijon, the grape is alto•
gether secondary in consideration compared with the corn
crops. The latter abound in magnificent breadths. I saw
five hundred acres' extent of white wheat; thick in plant,
long in straw, heavy in ear: the property, probably, of
eight or ten different owners; but no partition was
visible. The spectacle of so large a provision of bread is
very genial, and, it may be said, impressive; but the face
of the country, in all other respects, is cheerless enough in
the absence of even the smallest hovel or lodge for the
hab►tation of labourers. For seven miles' length, perhaps,
not a roof is in sight, and not more than two barns. The
fact is, two•thirds of the standing corn would be cut down
by the proprietors themselves ; men enjoying a patrimony
of seventeen or nineteen hundred francs a year in real
estate, and who farm their oan land with the aid of their
sons, and two or three hired labourers, all of whom, the
employers and the employed, live in the adjacent town or
♦illage ; or, it may be, on the premises of some capacious
old mansion, chateau, or manor•house, on the skirts of the
farm lands, where the men are lodged and boarded, and
the horses and waggons are also stationed. This is in accor-
dance with the system to which the laws of inheritance
bind the estate owners of France : a system which has
multiplied petty proprietorship ad irifinilum, and im-
poverished for ever the landed gentry of the kingdom. A
similar tenure prevailed two hundred years ago in our own
coun try.

4' Gavelkind " obtains to this day in parts of
Kent, and other places. But the general
spirit of English society is a desire for indi-
viduals to emerge into a higher sphere, and a
compulsory social equality would be extremely
unpopular.
We pass over various descriptions of French
scenery, and prefer to extract some of the
author's miscellaneous passages. Let us hear
him upon French mutton—apropos of the
plains of Sologne

Here, however, are reared the vast flocks of sheep,
called Moutons Solognois, which the epicures of France
consider the choicest and must delicate mutton in the
whole of their country. Those that came under notice in
the journey to Orleans were not bigger than six•months•
old lambs; and I was informed they seldom exceed these
proportions. When a Frenchman talks of mutton, he
must be understood to mean, invariably, a mutton cutlet.
On any other portion of the animal but this extract from
its rib his notions are wild and delusive in the extreme.
The hotcl•keepers have, of late years, added the leg (gigot)
to their " cartes "; and it is put on table with a certain
degree of pretension and display (as an achievement of
most meritorious success Latter the sweets ! but it is always
a melancholy failure ; and shows a most pitiful ambition
in the cook that interposes such fibre and flavour between
appetite and digestion.

On the art of travelling in France, and espe-
cially in Dauphine, the Appendix contains
some good advice. He gives some hints for
tourists :

Though every British traveller must be presumed to
carry a" Murray" with him (and we cannot sufficiently
thank the said " Murray "for his inc)roparable manual), I
earnestly advise the purchasing of the boost publications
purporting to supply the foreign visitor with all the in-
struction and information essential to a due knowledge of
the provinces or towns in which he may be travelling or
sojourning. These pocket volumes are now got up with
wonderful accuracy and talent : the maps and illustrations
are excellent ; and the details more minute, as a matter of
course, than would be compatible with the scale of the
English rode mecum.
Most of these admirable little books are sold as parts of
the Bibliotheque des Chemins de Fer (Railway Library),
under the title of " Guides Itineraires," at Ilachette's
Library, No. 14, Rue Pierre Sarrasin, in Paris; the price
varying between two and three banes each, and containing
from one to two or three hundred pages, illustrated ac
cording to the sine of the volume, by tlfty or eighty wood-
sB4 444 map of oinpur acCurno7 1414 finish,