New-York tribune., 1919-07-05
The Drinks They Write

The Meals They Write has been a
good series for us, as it has inspired,
a number Of excellent contributions,
but we are abandoning it to-day be-
cause the weather has definitely turned
rot, and we suggest that a more fitting
substitute for these times in every way
would be The Drinks They Write.
by j. w. T. Ley, we offer the following
extract from letter in which Dickens
described convivial meeting with
Washington. Irving:
Some unknown admirer of his
books and m ne sent to the hotel a
most enormous mint julep, wreathed
with flowers. We sat. one on either
side Of it, with great solemnity cit
filled respectfully sized round tablc),
but the solemnity was of short dura-
tlon. 1t was quite an enchanted iulep,
and carried us among innumerabe
people and places we both knew. The
julep held out far INTO the night, and
my memory never saw him afterward
otherwise than bending over it. with
his straw, with an attempted air of
gravity CATER some anecdote involving
some wonderfully droll and delicate
observation of character). and then, as
his eye caught m ne, melting into that
captivating laugh of his, which was
the brightest and best l have ever
hcard.'
Dickens should offer a fertile field
of research, for Roger Mifflin in Chris
topher Morleys "Haunted Bookshop'
says, q once took the trouble to com
pile a list of the amount of liquor
drunk in Dickens works, and assure
you that the total was astounding:
1000 hogsheads believe it was"
There is much deep and passionate
drinking in the novels of Ibanez, as in
La Bodega,' for instance:
"Thc ch eff attraction of the sumptu-
Gus supper, which was held in the
middle of the terrace, was the wine.
Men and women ate standing. and
when they held The full glass in their
hands they advanced to q table occu-
pied y Don Luis, the overseer, and his
daugh ter, and lighted by two oil lamps.
The ruddy flames, whose sooty tongues
rose in the air OF the II ght without
the slightest tremor, illuminated the
golden transparency of the wine. But
what was this? And all, after
admring the beautiful color, resumed
their drinking and opened their eyes
wide in grotesQuc astonishment, seek
ing words, as if they could not express
the veneration with which the porten-
tous liquid inspired them.
"'This is made from the very tears
of Jesus exclaimed one smacking his
lips piously.
9"And the humble threw themselves
upon the wine. drinking and guzzling
gluttonously, as if fortune itself were
gliding down their threats.
CA Dor Luis's table the bottles were
served after having for long while
remained in ice filled tanks. The wine
flowed through the drinkers mouth
leaving it insensible with the pleasant
paralysis OF GOODNESS.
Were going to get drunk pro-
nounced the overseer sententiously
This goes down without your feeling
it. It's nice and cool In your mouth
and turns to fire in your stomach"
Giving Thought to Prescott
While boosting the old uns, give a
thought to PrcscoIt's "Conquest OF
Mexico" We made "Limehouse Nights
in one hop, then looked around care
fully for a. successor that would be
lurld-one could not expect any tos be
as lurld. The conquest proves
to be like richly-colorcd pageant
with charts and dances and some gore
1t is better to skip the notes
it is nothing in the young life of the
average reader to find
"Torqucmada, monarch, Ind lib. /
cap. Is; lib. Ia. cap. 1917. Sahagun
Hist. de Messico. lib s, cap. IA; Claw
gero, tome II. PIP. 1896"
Also to read a note that is longer or
the page than the narrative itself, ane
halfway down to find an asterisk re.
ferring to a lower note. But the mar
rative is Brangwynesque and one won.
ders if that Aztec civilization be much
more remote for the life of the daily
commuter than Limehouse.
DICK HOLLYWOOD.
To have dined with Tennyson woulc
not have been 80 bad. Listen TO this
from "Audley Court"
There. on slope of orchard. Frnncis laid
dnmask napkin wrought with horse ant
hound,
Brought out n dusky loaf that emelt of home
And. hnlf cut down. II pasty costly made.
Where qunil and pigeon. lark and lcvere
lay.
Like fossils Of the rock. with golden yolks
lmhedded and injcllied laet. with these,
a flask of cider from his fathers vats
Prime. which lltnew, and 30 we snt and en-
ANav tn l. Il al.