CHAPTER XVIII.
ON DIFFERENT LIQUEURS, RATAFIAS, AND ELIXIRS TAKEN AFTER COFFEE.
The name of liqueurs is given to preparations composed of spirits of wine, brandy, sugar, and the extracts of certain substances more or less aromatic. The desired result is obtained either by distillation or by infusion. Infused liqueurs are called ratafias. Elixirs are certain wholesome or therapeutic liquors, taken only by spoonfuls. Ratafias are as old as the time of Louis XII., contemporary with Henry VII.; and elixirs were known antecedent to the time of Charles VII., contemporary with our Henry VI. The most renowned foreign liqueurs are the alkermes of Florence, the rossolis or rosoglio of Bologna, the barbados and the tarlufolgio of Turin; the citronelle of Venice, the cinamonium of Trieste, the maraschino of Zara, the krambambouli of Dalmatia, the absinthe of Switzerland, the kirschen wasser of the Black Forest, the persicot of Treves, the kumin Dantzic, the double anisette and the white curaçoa of Amsterdam, the tafià of the Isle of France, the blanc rack of Batavia, the old rum of Jamaica, the noyau of Martinique, the white vanilla of St. Domingo, the eau des créoles of Martinique, and the mirobolan of Madame Anfoux. The fine or distilled liqueurs fabricated in France are, les crêmes de thé, de menthe, de canelle, d’orange, and the eau angelique. Most of these are made at Montpelier, but all of them can be obtained at Tanrades’, in Paris, who is himself the proprietor and distiller of the crême d’ananas, and the petit lait d’Henry IV. Ratafias are, for the most part, made in the provinces. Thus Verdun is famous for its persicot, Phalsburg for its noyau, Lyons for its absinthe, Grenoble for its wild cherry ratafia, Hieres for its five fruited ratafia, and Orleans for its quince ratafia. Few of these, however, are known in England, where the principal liqueurs used are noyau, curaçoa, cherry-brandy, and cognac. Of these I should say the three last were the wholesomest and most stomachic. Nothing can exceed, indeed can equal, cognac for a liqueur, if it be old and genuine. A liqueriste, or a distillateur, is a distinct trade in France from a limonadier. These distillateurs composed their beverages for the most part from brandy or spirits of wine, aromatised by the infusion of spices, flowers, honey, fruits, &c. Cubebs, cinnamon, cloves, grains of paradise, liquorice, sweetened and flavoured with rose-water, pomegranate juice, and sugar, were the component parts of the earliest liqueurs which appeared in Europe, with the exception of the eau d’or, or aqua aurea, which Arnaud de Villeneuve describes as brandy, in which was infused or macerated rosemary flowers, with spices and colours to flavour it. When golden elixirs became rife, somewhat later, the public desired that the eau d’or should really contain gold; and hence the custom of putting some goldbeater’s leaf, cut up into small pieces, into the infusion. The eau de vie de Dantzic, of which a considerable portion is consumed in Paris, is prepared in this fashion.
Liqueurs, though known a considerable time previously, were first greatly sought for in France at the period when Catherine de Medicis, in 1533, came to wed the dauphin son of Francis I. The Italians whom she brought in her suite, and the creatures of that nation who flocked in crowds to France when she became queen, greatly introduced the use of liqueurs, which had been heretofore common in Italy. The nascent taste for them grew gradually into a passion; and in 1604, Sully, in examining the objects of luxury which cost the French most, particularises festins and liqueurs. The populo and the rossolis were, about two centuries ago, the most popular of liqueurs. The former was made with spirits of wine, water, sugar, musk, amber, essence of aniseed, essence of cinnamon, &c. The rossolis took its name from the plant ros solis, which was one of its ingredients. Among foreign rossolis, that of Turin was the most celebrated. The liquor, writes Patin, in 1653, in one of those letters, half French, half Latin, which he was in the habit of inditing,—the liquor called rossolis “nihil habet solare, sed igneum quid potentissimum, lumborum renum, que doloribus adversissimum.” At this period, all liqueurs were considered unpardonable luxuries, if not sinful. Madame Théanges, who had been a gay demirep in her day, at length became devout. Madame de Sévigné, writing in 1674, says:—“Elle (meaning Madame de Théanges) est souvent avec Madame de Longueville et tout à fait dans le bel air de la dévotion; mais elle est toujours de très bonne compagnie et n’est pas solitaire. J’étois l’autre jour auprès d’elle à diner. Un laquais lui présenta un grand verre de vin de liqueur; elle me dit, Madame, ce garçon ne sait pas que je suis dévote.” And Madame de Sévigné archly adds, “Cela nous fit rire.”
Well, indeed, might the company laugh, though the proper rebuke would have been to answer, in the words of Shakespeare, “Think’st thou, because thou art virtuous, we shall have no more cakes and ale? Ay, by St. Anne! and ginger shall be hot in the mouth, too.”
The first manufactory of liqueurs in France which had a remarkable success, was a fabric established at Montpelier.
In 1704, when Louis XIV. suppressed the community of limonadiers, establishing in their stead 150 privileged persons, an ordonnance pointed out what liqueurs it was lawful to sell. These were la fenouillette, le Vatté, l’orange, Cette, Genièvre, and millefleures. The first fabric of liqueurs which had any extensive renown was that of Montpelier. It may be well imagined that a city which had so long been celebrated as a school of medicine had eminent chymists and distillateurs; but, when these acquired a renown as liquorists, they reposed on their success, became careless, and in the end were justly supplanted by others. Lorraine succeeded to the renown of the Mons Puellarum, or Montpelier. This was chiefly owing to the decoction of one Solmini, probably an Italian, who, about a century ago, pretended to have invented a liqueur which he called parfait amour. This, however, was no new invention at all; it was but ratafias of fruits and nuts, the eau de cédrat of the Sieur la Faveur of Montpelier, which this worthy had disguised by giving it a red tinge by means of cochineal. The brothers Bosserrant succeeded Solmini, producing a cheap and inferior article, which had for a season a vogue. But the imposition was soon found out, and the reputation of the brothers was lost as speedily as it was acquired. In the country parts of France most of the grocers sold, and still sell, ratafias fabricated by themselves; but they are, one and all, poor stuff. At Beaumont and Neuilly, in the environs of Paris, were two ratafia makers who had great success. The Neuilly man made a considerable fortune and built a country house, in which he caused to be engraved this inscription, “Ex liquido solidum.” This is almost as good as the Irish distiller who made a large fortune by smuggling, and built a magnificent house which he called “Sans souci.” A brother in the trade, who had been less fortunate because more honest, built a small modest box nearly opposite, which he called “Sans six sous.” To return, however, to ratafias. These are certainly the liqueurs which are preferably adopted in all ménages bourgeois, because, being but infusions of flowers or fruits, they are the cheapest and the most easily made. The most popular ratafia in France is the black currant, a renown which it owes in a great measure to the praises bestowed on it by Lémery,[25] who thus speaks of it:—
“C’est un élixir très excellent, et très propre à entretenir la santé. Il est très bon pour les hydropiques dissout les pierres, fait sortir le gravier, guérit toutes les fièvres tierces, quartres, continues. Il presérve du vomissement sur la mer, et du scorbut de la bouche. Il fait sortir la petite vérole, la rougeole, le pourpre, et toutes les maladies contagieuses. Il prévient la goutte, et purifie merveilleusement le sang; c’est un antidote contre tous les poisons et piqûres de bêtes vénimeuses. Il est bon pour les coliques, les dyssenteries, les maux et duretés de la rate. Il fortifie l’estomac, chasse les vents, réjouit le cerveau, guérit les migraines et les maux de tête. Il est bon pour toutes les maladies des femmes, même en couche. Il facilitte l’accouchement. Quand on en use habituellement, on n’a presque rien à craindre de l’apoplexie ni de la paralysie. Il n’y a point de maladie qu’il ne soulage ni ne prévienne. Son effet dans les plaies est plus prompt que celui du baume du Pérou. On en a donné à des chevaux très malades, qui ont été guéris en très peu de temps,” &c.
Although the French of the metropolis are now somewhat disenchanted of their passion for black currant ratafia, yet it maintains its popularity in the provinces.
The liqueurs of the French West India Islands obtained a great renown in the last century. These liqueurs were strong and ardent, and required to be kept a long time before they were generally used. One of the most renowned makers of these liqueurs was the widow Anfoux of Martinique, who ultimately came to Paris. It was plain, however, that it was “distance” that “lent enchantment” to her distilling; for no sooner had she settled in the Rue Montmartre, than her decoctions, infusions, and brewings, began to pall on the taste of the Parisians. Before the first French Revolution, liqueurs were divided into two classes. The first might be called essences; they bore the name of oily liqueurs, for they were, in fact, thick and oily: the second class were, in opposition to those, called dry. The inventor of the oily liqueurs was a Doctor Sigogne, who, by the application of boiled sugar and saffron, sought to render the liqueurs which he produced more soft, velvety, and unctuous. In this he perfectly succeeded, and subsequently hit upon the happy name for his brewing of l’huile de Vénus. This liqueur had a prodigious success; some notions of which may be formed from the fact that, after the death of the inventor, small packages of it were sold at private sales at the rate of three and four louis a pint. The first distillateur liquoriste who acquired a reputation in Paris was Le Lièvre, then La Serre, and afterwards a Sieur Omfroi.