Several years passed in this honourable contest with the passions; in which duty and honour triumphed over wild wishes, and selfish appetites. Madame Villacerfe, from an indisposition which confined her to her chamber, but not to her bed, was, by the prescription of a physician, ordered to be bled.

Festeau, as surgeon to the family, being sent for, his countenance as he entered the room, proved the state of his mind. After gently touching her pulse, and a few professional questions, in a low voice, he prepared for the operation, by tucking up that part of a loose dress which covered her arm : an interesting business to a man who had long laboured with the most ardent attachment to his lovely patient, whose illness infused an irresistible softness over her features, and lighted up the embers of an affection, suppressed, but never extinguished.

Pressing the vein, in order to render it more prominent, he was observed to be seized with a sudden tremor, and to change his colour: this circumstance was mentioned to the lady, not without a fear, that it might prevent his bleeding her with his usual dexterity. On her observing, with a smile, that she confided entirely in Festeau's skill, and was sure he had no inclination to do her an injury, he appeared to recover himself, and smiling, or forcing a smile, proceeded to his work, which was no sooner performed, than he cried out, "I am the most unfortunate man alive, I have opened an artery instead of a vein.”

It is not easy to describe his distraction, or her composure; in less than three days, the state of her arm, in consequence of the accident, rendered amputation necessary, when so far from using her unhappy surgeon with the peevish resentment of a little mind, she requested of him not to be absent from any consultation on the treatment of her case, and ordered her will to be made.

After her arm was taken off, symptoms appearing, which convinced Festeau and his associates, that less than twenty-four hours would terminate the existence of one who was an ornament to her sex; the voice, the looks, the anguish of her lover, as well as her own feelings convinced her of the solemn truth.

This opinion, her earnest and solemn entreaties, on a death ded, not to be disregarded, obliged her friends to confirm, and a few hours before that awful moment, which none escape, and which bold bad men only affect to despise, after desiring the attendants to leave the chamber, Madame Villacerfe addressed her disconsolate surgeon in the following words :

"You give me inexpressible concern for the sorrow in which I see you overwhelmed, notwithstanding your kind efforts to conceal it. I am remov. ing-to all intents and purposes, I am removed from human life and all that relates to it, it is therefore highly incumbent on me to begin to think and act like one wholly unconcerned in it.

"I feel not the least resentment or displeasure on the present occasion. I do not consider you as one by whose error I have lost my life; I regard you

rather as a benefactor, who have hastened my enterance into a blessed immortality.

"But the world may look on the accident, which, on your account alone, I can call unfortunate, and mention it to your disadvantage; I have therefore provided, in my will, against every thing you may have to dread from the illwill, the prejudices, or the selfish misrepresentation of mankind.”

This pattern for Christians, this example for heroes, soon after expired. A judicial sentence, devoting his fortune to confiscation, and his body to exquisite tortures, could not have produced keener sensations of misery and horror, than Festeau felt during her address, which was an emanation of celestial benignity, an anticipating revelation, a divine ray from the spirit of that God who inspired and loved her, and in whose presence she was shortly to triumph and adore.

But when he contemplated her exalted goodness and unparalleled magnanimity in suffering pain and mortal agonies, inflicted by an unhappy man, who, of all others, loved and doated on her most; when he saw her dying look, and heard that groan which is repeated no more, sick of the world, dispirited with human life and its pursuits, angry beyond forgiveness with himself, he sunk into the settled gloom and long melancholy of despair.

This is one of the many instances in which a little forethought, and a small share of prudence, would have prevented much serious evil, and irretrievable calamity. As it was impossible that Madame Villacerfe's relations could be entirely strangers to the partiality of Monsieur Festeau, they should industriously have prevented all intercourse between the young people.

The agitated frame and deranged appearance of her lover, observed previous to the catastrosphe, by a gentleman nearly related to the lady, and from whose letter I derive the materials of my narrative, pointed him out as the most improper man for medical or surgical assistance, which requires coolness, dexterity, a steady hand, and a collected mind.

In the sudden and disastrous accidents to which human life is, on every side, and at every moment, exposed, it will frequently be found, that those connected to us by the nearest ties of blood, friendship, or affection, are often, by those very circumstances, disqualified from affording us prompt and effectual relief.

The fond mother, whose infant is a constant source of toil, which only a mother would willingly submit to, and of delight, which all must envy, on seeing it suddenly spring from her arms into a deep and rapid stream, would probably sink to the ground in a fainting fit, or an hysteric convulsion; thus would she be rendered, by the ardor of affection and the violence of her feelings, wholly unable to snatch her child from death.

A bystander, perhaps a reprobate and a scoundrel, uninfluenced by philanthropy, love, or a sense of duty, and amply repaid by half a crown, would, with all his senses about him, directly plunge in, and, a stranger to the unmanageable ecstasies of a mother, restore the darling to her arms.

FOR THE PORT FOLIO.

ESSAY ON THE NATURE AND USE OF WINE.

WHEN in the consumption of this article, it is considered that for every dozen of pure Wine, there is perhaps a pipe, or fifty times this quantity of adulterated and sophisticated wine drunk, the whole without exception, the source of a thousand disorders, and in many instances very active poison, but superficially disguised; it would appear that the blind infatuation which confirms so many in the habit of hard drinking, arises less from a natural love of bestiality, than an ignorance of the real nature, and pernicious effects of forty nine parts out of fifty of the wines which are used; and particularly in those countries where the climate and soil are not congenial to the vine, a circumstance which in a great measure enslaves the taste of the community to the arbitrary will of the Wine Merchant, and secures his flagitious arts from detection.

A plain intelligible essay on this subject may be greatly advantageous to the rising generation, and useful to all those who are determined to prefer Health, to a life chequered with pain and disorder.

Parents should not content themselves with simply endeavouring to deter their children from wines, and strong liquors, by telling them that they are bad for them, and that drunkenness is a vice: they should begin by informing them that the greater part of wines are poisoned to make them agreeable, and confirm them in this belief by pointing out to them instances, which are not wanting in any town, where excesses of this nature are invariably punished with the complete destruction of health, and the contempt of society. With these physical and moral guards few would err, for we are content with knowing what things are poisonous, without the most curious experimentalist among us, wishing to try their effects upon himself.

Wine is a compound juice, whose principal ingredients are, water, alcohol, or the pure spirit of brandy, and sugar.

To these may be added, extractive colouring matter, which gives to each kind, and particular red, its peculiar colour. Tannin, or the principle of astringency. Tartar, which is a chymical salt; and an Aromatic Oil, upon which the high flavour chiefly depends.

The quality of any wine is formed from a mixture of all these ingredients; the absence of one or more of them; and the proportion in which its component parts are blended together.

The juice of the grape simply expressed, does not intoxicate; it must first undergo fermentation, in which process, one of its principal component parts, sugar, is decomposed, and alcohol is formed, which is the basis of all spirituous liquors: it then becomes wine. The carbonic acid, or fixed air, which escapes, is the other component part of

sugar: when it is preserved in a proper manner, wines possess that brisk, sparking quality, which distinguish ciders, and the wines of Champagne, and Asti, in Piedmont,

In some wines there is more sugar than is necessary to be decomposed, and hence we have sweet wines. Others possess a large portion of tannin and tartar, and become astringent, such as red, and particularly Port wines.

Wines when drank new are not so palatable, or wholesome as when kept till their ingredients are properly blended, and associated in such a manner, as to give them that mellow and unctuous quality, which recommends them so much, and perhaps are never better than when six years old: spirituous wines, such as Madeira, and Port, are here meant. If kept too long in the cask, they impoverish, and imbibe qualities from the wood, foreign to them. If in the bottle, they depose at last too great a portion of their constituent parts; a new chymical change is operated; and generally they undergo an alteration much to the disadvantage of good wines. They should be kept in a moderate temperature, to give them all the advantages of their natural excellence, for if they are placed in too cold an atmosphere, they will lose a great part of the heat necessary to their preservation, and must receive an additional warmth before drinking, which destroys in some measure the elasticity of their flavour, and renders them insipid: if kept in too high a temperament the vessels will sometimes burst, or a new fermentation will take place, and they will turn sour.

It is for the purpose of counterfeiting these distinguishing qualities in wines, that Wine Merchants have recourse to ingredients totally foreign to their nature. Bad tart white wines are changed into red, by the aid of sumach, logwood, and various berries: sugar of lead, and absorbent earths, are added to take up the excess of acid, and make them sweeter. Brandy is distilled over galangal, cardamum, and strong spices to give them strength and pungency. The leaves of deleterious plants, which are very pernicious, are used to impart an artificial flavour. These diabolical cordials when they have attained a proper colour and clearness, are mixed with ciders and real wines, according to the conscience and avarice of the Wine Merchant.

Of all these ingredients the leaves of deleterious plants to impart flavor, and the preparations of lead to sweeten sour wines, are the worst; every glass is poison, and an habitual use of them produces head-aches, pains in the stomach, and cough in the first instance: afterwards dry colics, palsy, convulsion, and death. Instances may be adduced where Wine Merchants have confessed on their death-bed, that they have seen hundreds of their customers die victims to the poisons which had been sold to them. White Wines of an uncommonly high colour, or new Red Wines of a very light colour, having a woody,

or tart taste, deposing a red sediment, are adulterated and dyed: it may be discovered by passing them through filtering paper, as the dying matter will stain the paper. White Wines very high coloured, or of an unknown high flavour may be justly suspected of adulteration: this is generally done with burnt sugar, raisins, coloured brandies, &c.

But the most dangerous to the public, and the most profitable adulterations to the Wine Merchant, are those preparations of lead, whereby spoiled sour wines are made sweet, and which operate as slow poisons: these may be known by a sweet taste, succeeded by an astringent one; occasion heat and thirst; contractions in the throat, &c. To detect these, tests must be had recourse to, which betray the presence of any metallic particles, either by changing the colour of the liquor, or precipitating the metallic preparation.

Various wine-tests may be found in Chymical Treatises: in Park's Chymical Catechism there is a very good one made with oyster shells, &c.: The following is by a German professor:

One drachm of the dry liver of sulphur,

Two drachms Cream of Tartar,

shake them well in two oz. distilled water, till completely saturated with hepatic: filter it through blotting paper, and keep it in a closestopped phial. In a small glass of the suspected wine, pour from fifteen to twenty drops of this liquor: if the wine turns black, or a darker colour, altogether or partially; if it has at first a sweet, and then an astringent taste, it is surely poisoned with some preparation of lead, but above all if it turn thick, in white gray clouds. If the colour resemble pale ink, it arises from iron: if the wine be impregnated with copper or verdigris, a blackish gray sediment will be deposed: this is the case sometimes owing to the brass cocks through which wine is made to pass.

Sulphur is put into wines to make them keep, but if they are surcharged with it, the effects are very unwholesome; its presence may be detected by turning a piece of silver black. Quick-lime is frequently used to give to burgundy and claret, a ruby colour; gravel complaints are thereby produced.

Good old wines are undoubtedly an excellent cordial to the infirm and aged; and as they contain more or less vegetable acids, are a good antiseptic remedy in cases of putrid and malignant fevers. When taken in moderation it tends to increase the circulation of the fluids, and invigorate the functions of the body, as may be observed in the vivacity of the eyes, and the motion it produces. To children it should be given in very small quantities, as it accustoms the nerves of the stomach to an unnatural action, which disturbs the regular operations of nature. The best and most wholesome of wines, however, are highly prejudicial to