Among The Refreshments Of These Warm Countries, I Ought Not To
Forget Mentioning The Sorbettes, Which Are Sold In Coffee-Houses,
And Places Of Public Resort.
They are iced froth, made with juice
of oranges, apricots, or peaches; very agreeable to the palate,
and so extremely cold, that I was afraid to swallow them in this
hot country, until I found from information and experience, that
they may be taken in moderation, without any bad consequence.
Another considerable article in house-keeping is wine, which we
have here good and reasonable. The wine of Tavelle in Languedoc
is very near as good as Burgundy, and may be had at Nice, at the
rate of six-pence a bottle. The sweet wine of St. Laurent,
counted equal to that of Frontignan, costs about eight or nine-pence
a quart: pretty good Malaga may be had for half the money.
Those who make their own wine choose the grapes from different
vineyards, and have them picked, pressed, and fermented at home.
That which is made by the peasants, both red and white, is
generally genuine: but the wine-merchants of Nice brew and
balderdash, and even mix it with pigeons dung and quick-lime. It
cannot be supposed, that a stranger and sojourner should buy his
own grapes, and make his own provision of wine: but he may buy it
by recommendation from the peasants, for about eighteen or twenty
livres the charge, consisting of eleven rup five pounds; in other
words, of two hundred and eighty pounds of this country, so as to
bring it for something less than three-pence a quart. The Nice
wine, when mixed with water, makes an agreeable beverage. There
is an inferior sort for servants drank by the common people,
which in the cabaret does not cost above a penny a bottle. The
people here are not so nice as the English, in the management of
their wine. It is kept in flacons, or large flasks, without
corks, having a little oil at top. It is not deemed the worse for
having been opened a day or two before; and they expose it to the
hot sun, and all kinds of weather, without hesitation. Certain it
is, this treatment has little or no effect upon its taste,
flavour, and transparency.
The brandy of Nice is very indifferent: and the liqueurs are so
sweetened with coarse sugar, that they scarce retain the taste or
flavour of any other ingredient.
The last article of domestic oeconomy which I shall mention is
fuel, or wood for firing, which I buy for eleven sols (a little
more than six-pence halfpenny) a quintal, consisting of one
hundred and fifty pound Nice weight. The best, which is of oak,
comes from Sardinia. The common sort is olive, which being cut
with the sap in it, ought to be laid in during the summer;
otherwise, it will make a very uncomfortable fire. In my kitchen
and two chambers, I burned fifteen thousand weight of wood in
four weeks, exclusive of charcoal for the kitchen stoves, and of
pine-tops for lighting the fires. These last are as large as
pineapples, which they greatly resemble in shape, and to which,
indeed, they give their name; and being full of turpentine, make
a wonderful blaze. For the same purpose, the people of these
countries use the sarments, or cuttings of the vines, which they
sell made up in small fascines. This great consumption of wood is
owing to the large fires used in roasting pieces of beef, and
joints, in the English manner. The roasts of this country seldom
exceed two or three pounds of meat; and their other plats are
made over stove holes. But it is now high time to conduct you
from the kitchen, where you have been too long detained by - Your
humble servant.
P.S. - I have mentioned the prices of almost all the articles in
house-keeping, as they are paid by the English: but exclusive of
butcher's meat, I am certain the natives do not pay so much by
thirty per cent. Their imposition on us, is not only a proof of
their own villany and hatred, but a scandal on their government;
which ought to interfere in favour of the subjects of a nation,
to which they are so much bound in point of policy, as well as
gratitude.
LETTER XX
NICE, October 22, 1764.
SIR, - As I have nothing else to do, but to satisfy my own
curiosity, and that of my friends, I obey your injunctions with
pleasure; though not without some apprehension that my inquiries
will afford you very little entertainment. The place where I am
is of very little importance or consequence as a state or
community; neither is there any thing curious or interesting in
the character or oeconomy of its inhabitants.
There are some few merchants in Nice, said to be in good
circumstances. I know one of them, who deals to a considerable
extent, and goes twice a year to London to attend the sales of
the East-India company. He buys up a very large quantity of
muslins, and other Indian goods, and freights a ship in the river
to transport them to Villa Franca. Some of these are sent to
Swisserland; but, I believe, the greater part is smuggled into
France, by virtue of counterfeit stamps, which are here used
without any ceremony. Indeed, the chief commerce of this place is
a contraband traffick carried on to the disadvantage of France;
and I am told, that the farmers of the Levant company in that
kingdom find their account in conniving at it. Certain it is, a
great quantity of merchandize is brought hither every week by
mules from Turin and other parts in Piedmont, and afterwards
conveyed to the other side of the Var, either by land or water.
The mules of Piedmont are exceeding strong and hardy. One of them
will carry a burthen of near six hundred weight.
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