The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-12-04 00:00:00

IMPORTANT TO MERCHANTS

A GENTLEMAN, who has completed a long engagement
A
in a most respectable firm in Lisbon, is desirous of ob-
taining a few AGENCIES for the SALE of COTTONS,
WOOLLENS, &c. in that Capital, or elsewhere, where a
knowledge of the Portuguese Language is necessary. First
references, &c. wilt be given.
Address, J. C., at the Standard-office.

AX ANTED, for a Term of Three Years, Two specially-
V V secure BONDED WAREHOUSES, of good capacity,
within a first-length cartage of the George's and Prince's
Docks, or the Waterloo Dock.

Applications, addressed F. R., Postace, will meet with
t ten tio n.

In recognition of the eminent services of Admiral Sir R

Stopford in the recent achievements by the British arms in
Syria, we hear that the governorship of Greenwich Hospital

is- to .be tendered for his

acc!ptarice—an act in which the

spontaneous approbation of all parties will concur. Com-
modore Napier will also receive some highly honourable
testimonial of the approbation of the Sovereign for his bra-
very in the same service.—Ministerial Paper.
WIT OF A GOURMAND.—Your true gourmand is, gene-
rally speaking, without much wit. Mr. G—, invited to
dine with a lady, a scrupulous observer of etiquette, offered
his services to cut up a brace of partridges. Instead, how-
ever of doing so on the dish, he put them for the purpose,
on his own plate. " For whom do you intend your leavings ?"
asked the lady in surprise. " Madam," replied he, "I do

. •
not intend todleave any.,,
TESTIMONIAL IN HONOUR OF WILLIAM THE FOURTH.—
On Friday the Commissioners of Sewers at Guildhall were

much pleased at the exhibition of the model of a small

marble granite column,..,at the top of which was placed a

figure a William the Fourth, executed by a rising artist,
and proposed to be erected in honour of his late Majesty in
the wide space in King William-street, leading to London
Bridge. The commissioners have determined to fix a small

coluti'm for the safety of passengers in the place described,
and it is thought that the opportunity is a good one for
raising a grateful memorial to the late King, who opened the
bridge amidst the acclamations of the citizens of London,

who never failed to express the warmth of their loyalty and
attachment_to his Majesty. The column and figure of

granite would cost about £2,500

The estimate is, we un-

derstand, £2,300. As the erection of a monument would
be a very great ornament, and would serve other good pur-

poses, ibeu commissioners intend to take the matter into
consideration on Tuesday, and it is believed that a resolu-

tion will be proposed, recommending the proposition to the

Court of Common COuncil

MILITARY HER3ISM.—I saw him engaged hand to hand
with a French dragoon :—I saw him—for 1 was by this time
disabled by a severe wound, and stretched at length beside
others of my suffering comrades—give and. receive more tan

one pass, with equal skill and courage. Just then, a French
officer stooping over the body of one of his wounded coun-
trymen, _ who dropped at the instant on. his horse's neck,

delivered a thrust. at poor Harry Wilson's body ; and deli-

vered it effectualiy

f firmly believe that Wil;on died on

the instant ; yet, though he felt the sword in its progress,
he, with characteristic self-command, kept his eye still on
the enemy in his front; and, raising himself in his stirrups,
let fall upon the Frenchman's helmet such a blow, that brass
and skull parted before it, and the man's head was cloven
asunder to the chin. It was the most tremendous blow I

ever beheld struck ; and both he who gave, and his opponent
who received it, dropped dead together. The brass helmet
was afterwards examined by order of the French officer, who,
as well as myself, was astonished at the exploit, and the cut
was found to be as clean as if the sword had gone through a

turnip, not so much as a dint being left on either side of it.
—Reminiscences of a Dragoon.—United Service Journal.
INTOXICATING LIQUORS OF THE ANClENTS.—Admit-
ting that the invention of barley-wine originated in Egypt,
not because they had no vines, but because a stimulating
liquor, cheaper than grape-wine, was required for the use of
the common people. we can trace the use of it extending
throughout Europe. Dion Cassius says, that " the Pannon-
ians who inhabit the banks of the Danube, had neither oil

nor wine, except a very little, and that little had ; they eat
barley and millet, and from these two kinds of grain make a
drink." We learn from Ammianus, that a similar liquor,
called sabaia, was prepared from barley or wheat in Illyricurn.

Tacitus declares, that the ancient Germans were much ad-
dicted to drunkenness, and that amongst them " it was trs
disgrace to continue drinking night and day ;—they prepared
a beverage from barley or wheat, which they made into a
liquor somewhat resembling wine." It is only in this indi-
rect way that we can learn anything concerning the quality of
the corn wines of antiquity, because we know nothing of the
mode of preparation. Were we acquainted with the process,
the case would be otherwise ; and the chief fact of which we
are ignorant is, whether or not any ferment was made use of.
Without yeast, the slight fermentation, which takes place
spontaneously in corn liquors, would afford a poor, vapid,
acidulous drink, with very little exhilirating power ; and to
the taste of us moderns it would prove not a little disgusting.
Yeast was certainly known to the ancients ; Pliny says, " the
frothy head of all these liquors is used by ladies for beautify-
ing the skin of their faces ; " but he does not say that it was
used in brewing. At Roman feasts the wine was contained
in earthenware vases or glass bottles, with a label indicating
its age and quality, for they set the greatest value on the
oldest wines. Sometimes the wine was perfumed, and often
it was cooled with snow. It was almost always mixed with
water, being seldom drank by itself ; the guests did not mix
it, but for this purpose boys of great beauty were in attend-
ance, who measured it into cupsas required. The mixing of
water with wine, at all feasts, was enforced among the Greeks.
As the Scythians oians mixed no water, and were
much addicted to drunkenness, if a LacedEemonian did the
same he was stigmatised as a Scythian toper. The wine at
Roman entertainments was served at the second course along
with fruits. The Romans drank healths, either to each other
or to an absent friend, and the quantity drunk was in an ex-
act proportion to the number of letters in the person's name,
not to the degree of friendship. But the most extraordinary
of their convivial customs was the following :—A skeleton
was sometimes introduced at feasts, or the representation of
one, in imitation of the Egyptians, upon which the master of
the feast, looking at it, used to say, Drink and be merry,
for thus thou shalt be after death." Strange, indeed, must
be the temper of mind that could be excited to mirth by such
a spectacle. Some years since, in an old well in London,
were found some bottles of wine, which from various circum.
stances, especially the glass being in a state of decomposition,
and the shape of the bottles, were considered of grea,
quity. On account of a quantity of burnt wood which su
rounded them, it was thought that they had laid there sins

the great fire of London, in 1G66. One of these bottles con-
tained excellent Malaga, the other contained what appeared
to have been port ; but the spirit had changed into vinegar,
and the vegetable matter was in a state of putrefaction. Du-
ring the excavation of the ancient city of Herculaneum, which
was burned by an eruption of Vesuvius more than seventeen
hundred years ago, an earthen vase containing wine was found
in a cellar ; it was solid, and resembled a mass of porus, dark,
violet-coloured glass. It is probable that this mass had been
an evaporated wine. Boyle froze French and Renish wines
into ice. He relates as follows :—" A physician of my ac-
quaintance having purchased some Malaga sack at Moscow,
which was drawn from a frozen hogshead of the same liquor,
it proved much better and stronger than was expected, but
the remaining part of the ice being thawed, was little more
than phlegm. The doctor also observed the like to hap-
pen in some other liquors : he did not, however, find the
spirituous part always retire to the centre of the vessel, but
that it lay sometimes intersperse.l among the ice." Mr.
Boyle also instances that certain wines brought to Moscow,
arc so frozen on their arrival, that the casks are stayed, and
the wine cleaved with hatchets. He further adduces the
case of a barrel of strong beer, left by some sailors on shore in
Greenland. On their return next year, it was found hard
frozen ; " but running a heated spit into the middle of the
ice, there issued out a turbid liquor, that was exceedingly
strong and spirituous, whilst the frozen part was almost insi-
pid., We have next to trace the progress of the different
vinous liquors which has been made use of in the British
isles in ancient times. Previously to the conquest of Britain
by the Romans, (B.C. 55.) agriculture was almost entirely
unknown in the island. The Romans, well versed in this
important branch of knowledge, taught the British the arts of
peace as well as of war ; and, during the time that they main-
tained possession of the island, so far advanced were the in-
habitants in civilisation, that they exported corn and cattle in
abundance, as well as metals, and pearls of great beauty.
Before the introduction of agriculture into Britain, says Dr.
Henry, mead—thatis honey diluted with waterand fermented
—was probably the only strong liquor known to its inhabit-
ants, as it was to many other natisns in the same circum-
stances. This continued to be a favourite beverage amongst
the ancient Britons, and their posterity, long after they had
become acquainted with other liquors. The mead maker
was the eleventh person in dignity in the courts of the ancient
princes of Wales, and Wok place of the physician. The fol-
lowing ancient law of thatprtneipality shows how much this
liquor was esteemed by the princes : " There are three things
in the court which must be communicated to the king before
they are made known to any other person ; first, every sen-
tence of the judge ; second, every new song ; and, third,
every cask of mead." This was, perhaps, the liquor which
is called by Ossian the joy and strength of the shells, with
which his heroes were so delighted.—History of ititorietvtirsi
Liquors.