dosing machine—An explosion and its consequences—M. Werlé’s gallery of paintings—Madame Clicquot’s Renaissance house and its picturesque bas-reliefs—The Werlé vineyards and vendangeoirs

VII.
REIMS AND ITS CHAMPAGNE ESTABLISHMENTS (continued).

The house of Louis Roederer founded by a plodding German named Schreider—The central and other establishments of the firm—Ancient house in the Rue des Elus—The gloomy-looking Rue des Deux Anges and prison-like aspect of its houses—Inside their courts the scene changes—Handsome Renaissance house and garden, a former abode of the canons of the Cathedral—The Place Royale—The Hôtel des Fermes and the statue of the ‘wise, virtuous, and magnanimous Louis XV.’—Birthplace of Colbert in the Rue de Cérès—Quaint Adam and Eve gateway in the Rue de l’Arbalète—Heidsieck & Co.’s central establishment in the Rue de Sedan—Their famous ‘Monopole’ brand—The firm founded in the last century—Their extensive cellars inside and outside Reims—The matured wines shipped by them—The Boulevard du Temple—M. Ernest Irroy’s cellars, vineyards, and vendangeoirs—Recognition by the Reims Agricultural Association of his plantations of vines—His wines and their popularity at the best London clubs—Various Champagne firms located in this quarter of Reims—The Rue du Tambour and the famous House of the Musicians—The Counts de la Marck assumed former occupants of the latter—The Brotherhood of Minstrels of Reims—Périnet & Fils’ establishment in the Rue St. Hilaire—Their cellars of three stories in solid masonry—Their soft, light, and delicate wines—A rare still Verzenay—The firm’s high-class Extra Sec

VIII.
REIMS AND ITS CHAMPAGNE ESTABLISHMENTS (continued).

La Prison de Bonne Semaine—Mary Queen of Scots at Reims—Messrs. Pommery & Greno’s offices—A fine collection of faïence—The Rue des Anglais a former refuge of English Catholics—Remains of the old University of Reims—Ancient tower and grotto—The handsome castellated Pommery establishment—The spacious cellier and huge carved cuvée tuns—The descent to the cellars—Their great extent—These lofty subterranean chambers originally quarries, and subsequently places of refuge of the early Christians and the Protestants—Madame Pommery’s splendid cuvées of 1868 and 1874—Messrs. de St. Marceaux & Co.’s new establishment in the Avenue de Sillery—Its garden-court and circular shaft—Animated scene in the large packing hall—Lowering bottled wine to the cellars—Great depth and extent of these cellars—Messrs. de St. Marceaux & Co.’s various wines—The establishment of Veuve Morelle & Co., successors to Max Sutaine—The latter’s ‘Essai sur le Vin de Champagne’—The Sutaine family formerly of some note at Reims—Morelle & Co.’s cellars well adapted to the development of sparkling wines—The various brands of the house—The Porte Dieu-Lumière

IX.
EPERNAY.

The connection of Epernay with the production of wine of remote date—The town repeatedly burnt and plundered—Hugh the Great carries off all the wine of the neighbourhood—Vineyards belonging to the Abbey of St. Martin in the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries—Abbot Gilles orders the demolition of a wine-press which infringes the abbey’s feudal rights—Bequests of vineyards in the fifteenth century—Francis I. bestows Epernay on Claude Duke of Guise in 1544—The Eschevins send a present of wine to their new seigneur—Wine levied for the king’s camp at Rethel and the strongholds of the province by the Duc de Longueville—Epernay sacked and fired on the approach of Charles V.—The Charles-Fontaine vendangeoir at Avenay—Destruction of the immense pressoirs of the Abbey of St. Martin—The handsome Renaissance entrance to the church of Epernay—Plantation of the ‘terre de siége’ with vines in 1550—Money and wine levied on Epernay by Condé and the Duke of Guise—Henri Quatre lays siege to Epernay—Death of Maréchal Biron—Desperate battle amongst the vineyards—Triple talent of the ‘bon Roy Henri’ for drinking, fighting, and love-making—Verses addressed by him to his ‘belle hôtesse’ Anne du Puy—The Epernay Town Council make gifts of wine to various functionaries to secure their good-will—Presents of wine to Turenne at the coronation of Louis XIV.—Petition to Louvois to withdraw the Epernay garrison that the vintage may be gathered in—The Duke and Duchess of Orleans at Epernay—Louis XIV. partakes of the local vintage at the maison abbatiale on his way to the army of the Rhine—Increased reputation of the wine of Epernay at the end of the seventeenth century—Numerous offerings of it to the Marquis de Puisieux, Governor of the town—The Old Pretender presented at Epernay with twenty-four bottles of the best—Sparkling wine sent to the Marquis de Puisieux at Sillery, and also to his nephew—Further gifts to the Prince de Turenne—The vintage destroyed by frost in 1740—The Epernay slopes at this epoch said to produce the most delicious wine in Europe—Vines planted where houses had formerly stood—The development of the trade in sparkling wine—A ‘tirage’ of fifty thousand bottles in 1787—Arthur Young drinks Champagne at Epernay at forty sous the bottle—It is surmised that Louis XVI., on his return from Varennes, is inspired by Champagne at Epernay—Napoleon and his family enjoy the hospitality of Jean Remi Moët—King Jerome of Westphalia’s true prophecy with regard to the Russians and Champagne—Disgraceful conduct of the Prussians and Russians at Epernay in 1814—The Mayor offers them the free run of his cellars—Charles X., Louis Philippe, and Napoleon III. accept the ‘vin d’honneur’ at Epernay—The town occupied by German troops during the war of 1870–1

X.
The CHAMPAGNE ESTABLISHMENTS OF EPERNAY AND PIERRY.

Early records of the Moët