To-day, the wit and the
splendor have alike disappeared. Issoudun, whose great extent of
ground bears witness to its ancient importance, has now barely twelve
thousand inhabitants, including the vine-dressers of four enormous
suburbs,--those of Saint-Paterne, Vilatte, Rome, and Alouette, which
are really small towns. The bourgeoisie, like that of Versailles, are
spread over the length and breadth of the streets. Issoudun still
holds the market for the fleeces of Berry; a commerce now threatened
by improvements in the stock which are being introduced everywhere
except in Berry.
The vineyards of Issoudun produce a wine which is drunk throughout the
two departments, and which, if manufactured as Burgundy and Gascony
manufacture theirs, would be one of the best wines in France. Alas,
"to do as our fathers did," with no innovations, is the law of the
land. Accordingly, the vine-growers continue to leave the refuse of
the grape in the juice during its fermentation, which makes the wine
detestable, when it might be a source of ever-springing wealth, and an
industry for the community. Thanks to the bitterness which the refuse
infuses into the wine, and which, they say, lessens with age, a
vintage will keep a century. This reason, given by the vine-grower in
excuse for his obstinacy, is of sufficient importance to oenology to
be made public here; Guillaume le Breton has also proclaimed it in
some lines of his "Phillippide."
The decline of Issoudun is explained by this spirit of sluggishness,
sunken to actual torpor, which a single fact will illustrate.
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