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 410 FRANCE (WINES OF) as a political writer, able critic, and elegant lecturer; Philarete Chasles, Provost- Paradol, Cuvillier - Fleury, Ernest Renan, Hippolyte Rigaud, Henri Taine, Edmond Scherer, Caro, and Jules Janin, the feuilletonist. Gustave Planche and Sainte-Beuve are entitled to a prominent place in this class of writers; the former was a sound and unsparing critic, in the fine arts as well as literature; the latter excelled in the delineation of literary charac- ters, and also published a Tableau de la poesie f ran false au 16" siecle and a history of the Port-Royalists. Charles de Remusat and Al- bert de Broglie have treated historical mat- ters from a philosophical or religious point of view. The" ophile Gautier, Edmond About, Paul de Saint- Victor, L6onDelaborde, Vitet, and De- lecluze have particularly devoted themselves to fine-art criticism ; Dele"cluze, Fetis, Hector Ber- lioz, Fiorentino, and Scudo, to musical matters. Of recent writers, Ernest Renan by his Vie de Jesus, Les apotres, Saint Paul, and UAnti- christe, and Hippolyte Taine by his Histoire de la litterature anglaise and works on art, have attracted much attention throughout the civilized world. Of late years public af- fairs and political questions have so much occupied the mind of France that literature has languished ; and although there has prob- ably been no falling off in intellectual activity, the rising generation of writers do not seem on the whole to qual their predecessors. See Histoire litteraire de la France, by Dom Rivet and other Benedictine monks, continued by members of the institute (22 vols. 4to, 1733-1858) ; La France litteraire (1826-'42), and La litterature francaise contemporaine (1837-'44), by J. M. Querard; Histoire litte- raire de la France avant le 12* siecle, by Ampere (3 vols., 1838-'40) ; Tableau de la litterature au moyen dge, by Yillemain (2 vols. 12mo, last ed., 1857) ; Essais sur Vhistoire litteraire du 16 e siecle, by Saint-Marc Girardin and Philarete Chasles (1827) ; Tableau de la poesie francaise au 16 8 siecle, by Sainte-Beuve (1828) ; Histoire de la litterature francaise, by Demo- geot (new ed., 1857) ; Histoire de la litterature francaise, by D. Nisard (last ed., 1867) ; Cata- logue general de la librairie francaise, from 1840 to 1865, by Otto Lorenz (1871); and fitudes sur la litterature contemporaine, by Edmond Scherer (1872-'3). FRANCE, Wines of. In respect to soil, cli- mate, and the abundance and variety of the wines which she produces, France has been called the vineyard of the earth. Nearly seven eighths of her territory is grape-bearing, and the products of her vines being for the most part but slightly alcoholic, her people are, as a rule, wine drinkers without being addicted to intemperance. With the exception of the ex- treme northern and northwestern departments, the whole country is more or less devoted to the culture of the grape ; but as certain soils and exposures are better adapted to that pur- pose than others, the wines of high commer- cial value are produced in limited and compara- tively isolated districts. By far the greater part of the French vintage is consumed within the country, or is mixed with or employed to imitate various wines of established reputa- tion. The total product of the country amounts to between 1,500,000,000 and 2,000,000,000 gallons, worth about $350,000,000. First in importance as an article of commerce, and in the estimation of connoisseurs for their intrin- sic excellence, are the wines produced in the department of Gironde, a part of the old province of Guienne, of which Bordeaux is the capital ; whence the district is also viticul- turally known by its old name of the Borde- lais. Gironde is practically divisible into five wine-producing districts: Me"doc, a strip of territory on the left bank of the river Gironde, extending from Blanquefort, near Bordeaux, to the sea; the Graves, or high plains near the confluence of the Garonne and the Dor- dogne ; the Cotes, or slopes on the right bank of the Garonne; the Palus, or low marshy territory on both banks of the Garonne, in the immediate neighborhood of Bordeaux; and the district of Entre-deux-Mers, or low lands between the Dordogne and Garonne. Within this area more than 350,000 acres are devoted to vineyards, whose annual produc- tion exceeds 50,000,000 gallons, five eighths of which are red and three eighths white wines, worth $56,000,000. The poorest kinds are sold at less than a franc the gallon, while the best fetch in favorable seasons considerably more than 20 francs. The distinguishing qual- ities of the wines of Gironde are purity, sub- astringency, lightness, and fragrance. In its general features Medoc is a long, narrow plain, inclining somewhat to the Gironde, and con- taining about 45,000 acres of vineyards, pro- ducing annually 8,000,000 gallons. Of these nearly one eighth are high-class wines, an equal amount are simply fine wines, and the remain- der are ordinary qualities. The two first men- tioned grades yield a net product of about 5,000,000 bottles. They are red in color, and, notwithstanding a slight characteristic rough- ness, have great flavor and strength without being intoxicating, and after lying several years in the bottle acquire a delicious bouquet. They not only bear transportation better than other French wines, but are even improved by long sea voyages. It is customary to arrange them in three categories: 1, the classified wines, of which there are about 60 growths recognized by the commerce of Bordeaux ; 2, the citizen or bourgeois wines; 3, the peasants, or wines of the small proprietors. The classified growths are again subdivided into four or five kinds, the first of which comprises the celebrated first three growths (les trois premiers crus) of the whole Medoc, viz., the Chateau Margaux, Cha- teau Laifitte, and Chateau Latour, which are of equal excellence and of enormous price even in France. In this division it is also custom- ary to include the Chateau Haut-Brion, a red