SIR WALTER RALEGH'S "PATENT WINE."
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."]
Six,—Your reviewer may well wonder what Sir Walter Ralegh's " pateirt wine" tasted like. The gallant author of The Tower from Within seems to have confused three separate things.: (1) The Balsam of Guiana, which was an innocent factor in Sir Walter's being charged with complicity in Gunpowder Plot; (2) his celebrated cordial, a medicinal preparation not known to have been a source of revenue; (8) the "Farm of Wines," a valuable patent granted to him by Queen Elizabeth, whereby, inter alio, vintners licensed to retail wines were bound to pay 20s. annually to the patentee. That Ralegh, when he had been for two years in the Tower, could seriously be accused of taking part in the Powder Treason testifies at once to the keenness of his enemies and the easy conditions of Ms imprisonment during that time. The suspicion, based on his supplying, through one Captain Whitelock, some of the balsam to the wife of the French Ambas- sador, was hardly less absurd than the portentous " evidence " that Lady Ralegh had, in the course of a spring-cleaning at Sher- borne, caused the armour there to be scoured. The "Farm of Wines" produced nearly as much trouble as profit; but with all Ralegh's versatility, and far as he was, in ninny ways, ahead of his time, it is not recorded that he sought to improve upon its recognized vintages.—I am, Sir, Sio., ROBERT PALS. 4 Paper Buildings, Temple, E.C.
Previous page
