Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-09-03
ChartreuSe.
From Chambers journal.

From Chambers journal.
When, after the taking Of Rome by the Ital-
ians, Plus TX, feeling the loss of his income
through the absorption of the papal states into
Italy. sought indemnifcation through Peters
pence, he demanded Of the Carthusians an an
nual subvention of 1000. 0OOf This they con-
sidered as extortionate, and the general remon-
strated. The Pope Insisted. Thereupon the
general lost patience. and declared that the
order would only pay into the papal Golfers
what it chose, and would bind itself to no par
ticular sum. AS may be imagined, such oppo-
sition did not meet with favor at the Vatican,
and the Benedictines have been encouraged to
rival the Carthusians with liqueur of their
own compositions; so also have the
monks of Ire Fontane, with the ''Eucalyptica,
derived from the Eucalyptus plantations in the
Campagna, near Rome; but none of these can,
in the estimation of connoisseurs, equal the
delicate flavor of the Chartreuse. This liqueur
leaves the monastery Of the Grande Chartreuse,
In Dauphine, In peculiarly-formed, low, broad
bottles with the label and seal bearing the arms
of the convent and the letters ID. o. NJ" CDeo
Optimo MaXlmo) as pledges of genuineness
1t must not be supposed that the monks are
engaged in distillation of spirits and the mix
ing of herbs and bottling of Equeur. They
live apart from the manufacture in their
abbey in the high Alps Of Dauphine, and the
manufacture takes place in extensive factories
in the same mountain basin, but disconnected
with the abbey. This abbey of the Grande
Chartreuse is the headquarters of the
order, which has other houses in
France. Italy, Switzerland and Austria
mall. fifteen. The manufacture Is carried on
by paid operatives, and the village population
is employed in the collection of the requisite
herbs. Some Of these are becoming scarce
owing to the extent to which they have been
gathered. The herbs mixed with eau-de-
vie. which is purchased by the abbey. not manu-
featured by it, and then they are distilled along
with the spirit. Only one of the monks, the
steward, supervises the operations, and only
one of these operations is conducted in secret
and that is the mixture Of the herbs, in which
consists the secret. The rest of the brothers
OF the order have nothing whatever to do with
the manufacture; they follow their SILENT quiet
life Independent Of it. The manufacture of
Chartreuse is Of comparatively modern origin.
Till 1885 in the Grande Chartreuse alone an
elixir was made of certain herbs stepped and
distilled in brandy for medicinal purposes,
and it was solely as remedy that the original
Chartreuse employed and distributed
by the brothers. That their decoction
would become a hqueur for the palate Of lux
ury never occurred to them. In time, how
ever, both the manufacture was improved and
the fame of Its excellence extended, so that the
rude old workshops in which the brothers dis
titled the herbs no longer sufficed, and new
buildings were erected and operatives came
into that Alpine basin to lend their aid to the
perplexed and overworked brothers. Now, the
manufacture has called into existence quite a
small town. Formerly three kinds of Char
treuse were made-the white, the yellow and
the green; but the white has been abandoned
OF late years. The green is both the strongest
and the most expensive. There is more alcohol
in the green than in the yellow. It is limited
that the reverend fathers themselves regard q
blend Of the two as the perfection Of the hqueur
In the proportions Of one-third green and two
thirds yellow