After the teeth had gain’d their first repose,
The dishes ta’en away, the cloth remov’d,
The rich repast gigantic tankards close,
Replete with wines, by nicest tastes approv’d.
It is the same thing with the Armenians, they never drink till at the end of their meals. “After they have said grace, the dishes are removed, in order to bring in the desert, and then they prepare themselves to drink to excess.”
We come now to the Swiss. Here follows what Daniel Eremita, a very learned man, who published a description of their country, has said of them. “[8]They have the same simplicity in drinking, but they do not keep the same moderation. Wine is what they place their delight in, and they prefer it to all things in the world. At their assemblies, both for pleasure and business, or any other affairs, wine always makes a party; with which, when they have overloaded their stomach, they discharge it, and sit down to it again, and drink as they did at first. They leave the care of their family to their wives and children, who live with the utmost economy, in favour of their husbands, who are continually at the tavern. They talk with glass in hand, and please themselves in that posture to recount their acts and jests, and those of their ancestors, as examples to posterity. They speak freely all they know, and know not what a secret is. In short, this way of life does not only continue whole days successively, but all the time they live.”
Nor have things now taken another aspect in Switzerland. The author of a travel lately into that country, tells us for certain, that “wine is a singular attractive, a powerful charm, against which the Swiss can make no manner of resistance[9].”
Before I close this chapter I shall take notice of the Flemings, whom we ought to look upon as making part of Germany, who, though they are surrounded by water, take care never to drink any, which made Scaliger, when in Holland, say to Douza,
“In mediis habitamus aquis, quis credere possit
Et tamen hic nullæ, Douza, bibuntur aquæ[10].”