It is more than probable that in
its noble natural condition this was the very wine of Anjou so
beloved by Athos in the 'Musketeers.' Now, if the reader has ever
washed down a liberal second breakfast with the wine in question, and
gone forth, on the back of these dilutions, into a sultry, sparkling
noontide, he will have felt an influence almost as genial, although
strangely grosser, than this fairy titillation of the nerves among
the snow and sunshine of the Alps. That also is a mode, we need not
say of intoxication, but of insobriety. Thus also a man walks in a
strong sunshine of the mind, and follows smiling, insubstantial
meditations. And whether he be really so clever or so strong as he
supposes, in either case he will enjoy his chimera while it lasts.
The influence of this giddy air displays itself in many secondary
ways. A certain sort of laboured pleasantry has already been
recognised, and may perhaps have been remarked in these papers, as a
sort peculiar to that climate. People utter their judgments with a
cannonade of syllables; a big word is as good as a meal to them; and
the turn of a phrase goes further than humour or wisdom.
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