vagant instance of this description is exemplified in the intoxicated frenzy of Nero, whose banqueting hall (styled Domus Aurea), exhibited every mark of voluptuousness and debauchery. This building was so constructed, that the ceiling, partitions, and other compartments had a rotatory motion, similar to that of the celestial bodies, shewing the different seasons of the year, and letting fall on the heads of the bacchanalian votaries, at each revolution, showers of essences, flowers, and perfumes, to delight the senses; while the most costly wines were dealt about with an unsparing profusion, to infatuate the mind and excite the passions. The conduct of Nero was not more remarkable for its extravagance and folly than that of Aurelius Antoninus, (surnamed Heliogabalus,) who, after plunging into the vortex of every dissipation, so far degraded himself as to invite the lowest and most abandoned of his subjects to his banquets; while the infatuated propensities of Caligula led him to feed his horse with gilt barley, and cause the animal to drink wine with him out of a golden cup.

The vice of drunkenness has tended to degrade man more than any of the other weaknesses, to which human nature is prone. It is well remarked in the Guardian, when personifying the follies of life, "that drunkenness was the only vice that did not change the face of its possessor into that of another creature; but this is to be taken far from a privilege, for these two reasons: because it sufficiently deforms them of itself, and because none of the lower rank of beings is guilty of so foolish an intemperance."* "A drunken man," says Addison, "is a greater monster than any that is to be found among all the creatures that God has made, as indeed there is no character which appears more despicable in the eyes of all reasonable persons. Bonosus, one of our own countrymen, who was addicted to this vice, having set up for a share in the Roman empire, and being defeated in a great battle, hanged himself. When he was seen by the army in this melancholy situation, notwithstanding he had behaved himself very bravely, the common jest was, that the thing they saw hanging upon the tree before them was not a man but a bottle." The Scythians abhorred the Bacchanalian feasts of the Greeks, because they thought it was unreasonable to suppose that a God should drive men into all the violent transports of madness which drinking produces. The Lacedæmonians had no notion of drinking for pleasure, and they not only accounted drunkenness infamous, but severely punished those who were detected in such criminality. On returning from their public Spectator, No. 569.

Guardian, No. 56.

meals, no persons were allowed torches or lights, because it was expected that men who were perfectly sober should be able to find their way in the dark. A law was enacted by Pittacus, king of Lesbos, that "he who committed a crime when drunk, should receive a double punishment"-one for the crime itself, and the other for the inebriety which prompted him to commit it.

Paley observes, that "the guilt of any action in a drunken man bears the same proportion to the guilt of the like action in a sober man, that the probability of its being the consequence of drunkenness bears to absolute certainty." The British laws consider drunkenness an aggravation, not an excuse for criminal behaviour, and have provided, that he, who is guilty of any crime through his own voluntary drunkenness, shall be punished for it as if he had been sober. The offence is punishable either in the ecclesiastical courts, or by a justice of the peace according to the statute. It is even a sufficient cause to remove a magistrate himself from office.

By the laws still in force,* if any person shall be convicted of drunkenness before a magistrate, he must forfeit five shillings for the first offence, or sit six hours in the stocks; and for the second offence, he must enter into a bond with two sureties in £10 each, to be of good behaviour, or be committed: our late enactment is but a modification of those.

In the time of the Commonwealth, the magistrates of Newcastle-onTyne punished drunkards by making them carry a tub, which they called the drunkard's cloak. A hole was made in the bottom, (which was turned upwards), to admit the head of the delinquent to pass through, and two smaller ones were perforated in the sides for the hands. This he was obliged to carry in the open streets, so long as the magistrates chose, exposed to the contempt and ridicule of the people.

The sacred writers observe, that "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging; and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.† "Be not among wine-bibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh-for the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty. Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who hath contentions? Who hath babbling? Who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes ?" "They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. Look not thou upon wine, when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup; when it moveth itself aright-at the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth

Jac. I. c. 5—21. Jac. I. 47. † Prov. xx. 1. ‡ Ibid. xxiii. 20, 21.

like an adder."*"Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink, that continue until night, till wine inflame them! And the harp and the viol, the tabret and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the operation of his hands. Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink."t

These quotations so strongly express the evil consequences of drunkenness, that commentary on them is almost unnecessary; yet, it may be stated:

1st, That this frailty is an enemy to the common concerns of life, as well as to those of futurity, since it expels from men's minds all reverence to God, and respect for man, and excites to the gratification of every base and inordinate inclination.

2d, That while it produces but a momentary pleasure, it engenders a lasting regret, so that it has been justly said of it, that it works like so much poison, and is difficult to cure as the biting of a serpent.

The pernicious effects of drunkenness are thus beautifully expressed by Prior :

Unhappy man, whom sorrow thus and rage

To different ills alternately engage;
Who drinks, alas! but to forget, nor sees
That melancholy sloth, severe disease,
Memory confused, an interrupted thought,
Death's harbingers, lie latent in the draught;

And in the flowers, that wreathe a sparkling bowl,
Fell adders hiss, and poisonous serpents roll.

The destructive influence of intoxication is too familiar to require much further illustration; extravagance, anger, and lasciviousness follow in its train; the duties of life are neglected by the derangement of the faculties and the consequent incapacity and stupefaction which it occasions; while the expense it incurs, robs society of its legitimate support, and the unhappiness it produces, tends to shorten life, and embitter the last moments of existence.

The waste of property which a habit of continual drinking produces, will appear monstrous, when it is certain that many men consume at least a bottle of wine daily; and, taking that at an average of 2s. 6d. the bottle, this, would, in twenty years, amount to £912. 10s.—a sum which, if properly applied, would be the means

of meliorating the condition of many a helpless widow and orphan. If, amongst the lower orders, spirits and ale be taken into consideration as the common beverages; and allowing to each individual a consumption of three pence a-day, this would come to £4. 11s. 3d. annually, or £91. 5s. in twenty years. This though comparatively small, and far under the actual outlay, is so enormous that when applied to the aggregate population of Great Britain and Ireland, (upwards of twenty-four millions,) estimating at fifteen millions of drinkers, the whole would shew a sum of £68,437,500 annually, or £1,368,750,000 in twenty years.

That the excessive use of inebriating liquors is productive of incalculable evil to the community at large, is a truth, which not even the drunkard himself, in his sober moments, would be disposed to deny. Were we to examine the prisons, bridewells, houses of correction, penitentiaries, lunatic asylums, and other places of incarceration, we should find a vast number of the inmates of those abodes of human degradation to have been the victims of vice and folly, through the inordinate use of intoxicating liquors; while the numerous paupers that unhappily throng every city, town, and village, may owe their misery, in a great measure, to the same desolating cause. But while the abuse of ardent spirits and intoxicating beverages of all kinds is to be lamented, yet it is urged by some, that a moderate and salutary use of them is not to be condemned, as they have been found beneficial on various occasions, have added to the comforts of life, and heightened the enjoyments of society when kept within the bounds of reason and propriety. And they further allege, that the invention of spirituous liquors is no more to be attributed to an evil propensity in man, than any other invention or discovery, which has been productive of the best consequences: the evil, they assert, lies in the excess of the application the good in the restriction. So that if man debases himself by an immoderate use of any of the bounties of nature, that is no condemnation of their value and importance. It is an aphorism in China, that "the drunkard's fault is not the wine's, but his own.” True! for had he abstained from the wine, the fault would not have occurred.

It was customary among the ancient Egyptians, in order to prevent excesses at festivals, or other entertainments, to bring into company the figure of a corpse, to remind the guests of mortality, and the slender thread on which life existed, as well as the necessity for temperance and moderation in their enjoyments.

Montesquieu is of opinion, that drunkenness predominates throughout the world in proportion to the coldness of the climate or the

distance from the equator towards the pole, and that the law of Mahomet was one of climate suited to that of Arabia, as the law mentioned by Plato, Aristotle, and Eusebius, (which forbade the Carthaginians to drink wine,) was a law of a similar description.

Ample testimony of the melancholy effects of drunkenness may be found on reference to the minutes of evidence taken before the Committee of the House of Commons, which was appointed in June, 1834, to inquire into the extent, causes, and consequences of intemperance among the labouring classes of the United Kingdom. Before this Committee were laid scenes of the most appalling nature, arising from the habitual and excessive use of ardent spirits, and it appeared that most, if not all, of the desperate atrocities which had been committed were chiefly owing to its influence. It is worthy of remark, that during the Irish rebellion in 1798, there was one-fourth of a greater proportion of spirits used than in either of the two preceding or succeeding years. It has been estimated that in England, fourfifths of all the crimes in the country have been committed under the excitement of inebriating liquors. During the year 1832, there were taken into custody by the London police, 32,636 persons for drunkenness alone, not including any of the numerous cases in which assaults, or more serious offences, had been committed under the influence of drink. This statement relates merely to the suburbs of London, without any of the numerous cases that occurred in the city itself. It is, moreover, alleged, that more than one-half of the insanity amongst the population is occasioned by inebriety-of 405 patients admitted into a lunatic asylum, at Liverpool, 257 were known to have lost their reason by this vice.

From the preceding facts and observations, it must be obvious that the assumption, which has been urged by some, of a high duty on spirits leading to excess in its indulgence, is contrary to experience and actual practice. Yet it cannot be affirmed, that to the operation of a low duty, the great bulk of the irregularities which take place, is to be attributed. It is not in the management of distillerylaws, or their adaptation to the suppression of smuggling, either in public or private distilleries, that we are to look for the causes, which have produced in Ireland those acts of wickedness and bloodshed, that have so much disgraced the character of a country yielding to no other in fertility of soil, in beauty of scenery, or in the valour and ingenuity of its inhabitants. By a more general diffusion of knowledge, the inculcation of sound religious principles, and a complete participation in all those privileges, which the union with Great