THROUGH A GLASS LIGHTLY
temper in bottle for at least twice that period. Only after the lapse of several generations he falls into his second childhood, when he should be drunk and no more said. The ignorant bring him out with port and claret and sherry, and would have him play an insignificant fourth to the great triumvirate; but in reality he should come forth alone, he should sparkle and gleam in his flashing tower of old English glass. Alone and unaccompanied he should disappear slowly and with method down the throats of those who love him, conferring some essence of his own greatness upon them; for, great as he is in all other particulars, he has, above all, the indescribable qualities—style and distinction.
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