thefe inftances are; that it is not, perhaps, one in a thousand, who escapes thus; that of those, who do thus escape, the far greater part owe their prefervation to hard working, or to an exercife as fatiguing, as any of the more laborious employments. So that if either our frame be not of an unusual firmness, or we do not labour for our bread, and will not for our health; we cannot be of their number, who have fo much as a chance, that they will not fhorten their lives by their excess. And when we have this chance, we are to remember, how very little we can promife ourfelves from it. We are liable to all the difeafes, which, in the ordinary courfe of things, are connected with intemperance; and we are liable to all thofe, from which even fobriety exempts not; but in this latter cafe, we have, by no means, the fame to hope with the fober, who are easily recovered of what proves mortal to the intemperate, Dean Bolton. § 137. On Intemperance in Drinking. SECT. III. To confider, fifthly, the unhappy effect of drunkenness upon our minds. Every time we offend in it, we are firft madmen, and then idiots: we firft fay, and do, a thousand the molt ridiculous and extravagant things, and then appear quite void of fenfe. By annexing thefe conitant inconveniences to drinking immoderately, it feems the defign of a wife Providence to teach us, what we may fear from a habit of it to give us a foretaste of the miferies, which it will at length bring upon us,not for a few hours alone, but for the whole remainder of our lives. What numbers have, by hard drinking, fallen into an incurable diftraction! And who was ever for many years a fot, without deftroying the quickrefs of his apprehenfion, and the ftrength of his memory? What mere drivellers Lave fome of the beft capacities become, after a long course of excess! As we drink to raise our spirits, but, by thus raifing, we weaken them; fo whatever fresh vigour our parts may feem to derive from our wine, it is a vigour which waftes them; which, by being often thus called out, deftroys its fource, our natural fancy and understanding. "Tis like a man's fpending upon his principal: he may, for a feafon, make a figure much fuperior to his, who fupports himself upon the intereft of his fortune; but is fure to be undone, when the other is unhurt, We meet with, as I have already obferved, inftances, where an extraordinary happiness of conftitution has prevented its entire ruin, even from a courfe of drunkenness of many years continuance: but I much question, whether there are any in ftances, that fuch a courfe has not been remarkably prejudicial to a good capacity. From all the obfervations, which we can make on the human frame, it may be fairly fuppofed, that there are no fuch instances that it is not reasonable to think we can be, for many years inflaming our brains, without injuring them-be continually difordering the most delicate parts of our machine, without impairing them. A lively imagination, a quick apprehenfion, a retentive memory, depend upon parts in our ftructure, which are much more easily hurt, than fuch, whofe found ftate is neceffary for the preservation of mere life: and therefore we perceive those several faculties often entirely loft, long before the body drops. The man is very frequently feen to furvive himself to continue a living creature, after he has, for some years, ceased And to this deplorato be a rational one. ble itate nothing is more likely to bring us, than a habit of drunkenness; as there is no vice, that more immediately affects thofe organs, by the help of which we appre→ hend, reafon, remember, and perform the like acts. What, fixthly, ought to raise in us the utmost abhorrence of drunkenness is, the confideration of the many crimes, to which it difpofes us. He, through whofe veins the inflaming potion has spread itself, must be under a greater temptation to lewdness, than you can think him in any other circumftances: and from the little reafoning, of which he is then capable, as to the difference of the two crimes, would hefitate no more at adultery than fornication. Thus, alfo, for immoderate anger, contention, fcurility and abufe, acts of violence, and the most injurous treatment of others; they are all offences, into which drunkenness is moft apt to betray us; fo apt to do it, that you will fcarcely find a company drinking to excefs, without many provoking fpeeches and actions paffing in it-without more or lefs ftrife, before it feparates. We even perceive the most gentle and peaceable, the most humane and civilized, when they are fober, no fooner intoxicated, than they put off all thofe commendable qualities, and affume, as it were, a new nature-a nature as different from from their former, as the most untractable and fierceft of the brute kind are, from the most accomplished and amiable of our own. To fome vices drunkenness difpofes us; and, Laftly, lays us open to more, and certainly to the greatest. It lays us, indeed, open to most vices-by the power, which it gives all forts of temptations over us; and by putting us into a condition, in which the rafb and pernicious fuggeftions of others have an especial influence upon us-in which, a profligate companion is enabled to direct us almoft as he pleafes, It gives all forts of temptations power over us, by difqualifying us for confideration; and by extinguifling in us all regard to the motives of prudence and caution. It makes us ready to follow the rafheft counfels of our companions; becaufe, not allowing us to reafon upon them, and incapacitating us for the government of ourfelves, it, of course, leaves us to the guidance of thofe, with whom we are inoft pleafed-of those, who give into our exceffes. It, certainly, lays us open to the greatest crimes; because, when we are thoroughly heated by the fpirituous draught, we then like what is daring and extravagant-we are then turned to bold and defperate un dertakings; and that, which is moft licentious, carries then with it the appearance of an attempt, fuiting a courageous and undaunted mind. Hence rapes, murthers, acts of the utmoft inhumanity and barbarity have been their as; who, when sober, would have detefted themselves, if fuch crimes could have entered their thoughts. It may, perhaps, be of ufe to obferve here, what cenfure has been paffed on drunkennefs by thofe, who had only the light of reafon for their guide. It was the faying of one of the wifer Heathen, That a wife man would drink wine, but would be fure never to be made drunk by it. Another of them condemns wine, as betraying even the prudent into imprudence. The advice of a third is, avoid drinking company: if you acciden tally come into it, leave it before you ceafe to be fober; for, when that happens, the mind is like a chariot, whose driver is thrown off: as it is then sure to be hurried away at random, fo are we, when our reafon is gone, fure to be drawn into much guilt. We have one calling drunkenness the study of madness; another, a voluntary madness. He who was asked, how a perfon might be brought to a diflike of wine? antwered, by beholding the indecencies of the drunken.* The I have, in the former tract, taken notice of the coarfe fare, which Hom provides for his heroes: it may not be amifs to remark here, from Athenæus, what leflons of fobriety he furnithes-what his care is, to diffuade from drinking to excefs. This, indeed, may apppear deferving to be more particularly infifted upon, fince from the praises which he gives wine he was thought not to have been fparing in the ufe of it. The boast that neas, heated by liquor, had made of his willingness to fight with debills, was urged to engage him in a combat, which would have been fatal to him, but that In the Third Book of the Odyfey, the difcord of the Greeks, at a Council called to deliberate about their return, the Poet afcribes to their drunkenness Sour with debauch a reeling tribe they came, With ireful taunts each other they oppose, Each burns with rancour to the adverfe fide. In Book the Ninth of the Opyss. Polyphemus is reprefented as having his fight deftroyed, when he was drunk, by a few of thofe, whofe joint force was not, with refpect to his, that of a child. He greedy grafp'd the heavy bowl, Thrice drained, and pour'd the deluge on his foul. Then nodding with the fumes of wine Dropt his huge head, and fnoring lay fupine. Then forth the vengeful inftrument I bring; Urg'd The difcountenance, which drunkenness received among the Romans, will be hereafter taken notice of. Among the Greeks, by a law of Selon, if a chief magiftrate made himfelf drunk, he was to be put to death. By a law of Pittacas, a double punishment was inflicted upon fuch who, when drunk, had committed any other crime. They were thofe, by whofe laws he, who drank any greater quantity of wine than was really neceffary for his health, fuffered death. Thus much as to their fentiments on drinking to excefs, who had only the light of Nature to fhew them its guilt. Dean Bolton. § 138. On Intemperance in Drinking. SECT. IV. Let me in the next place, fuggeft fuch cautions, as ought to be obferved by him, whofe defire it is to avoid drunkenness. Carefully fhun the company that is addifted to it. Do not fit long among thofe, who are in the progrefs towards excefs. If you have often loft the command of yourself, when a certain quantity of liquor has been exceeded, you should be fure to keep yourself always much within that quantity. Make not ftrong liquor neceffary to your refreshment. Never apply to it for eafe, under cares and troubles of any kind. Know always how to employ yourself ufefully, or innocently to amuse yourself, that your time may never be a burden upon you. In the first place, Do not affociate with thofe who are addicted to drunkenness. This I lay down as a rule, from which it is fcarce poffible to depart, and keep our fobriety. No man, not the fteadieft and wifeft of men, is proof against a bad example continually before him. By frequently feeing what is wrong, we, firft, lofe our abhorrence of it, and, then, are easily prevailed with to do it. Where we like our company we are infenfibly led into their manners. It is natural to think we fhould endeavour to make ourfelves agreeable to Urg'd by fome prefent God, they swift let fall In Book the Tenth, The felf-denial of Eurylachas preferved him from the vile transformation, to which the intemperance of his companions fubjected them. Soon in the lufcious feaft themselves they loft, And drank oblivion of their native coaft. In the fame Book the tragical end of Elpenor is thus described: A vulgar foul, Born but to banquet, and to drain the bowl. Full headlong from the roof the fleeper fel!, And fnapp'd the fpinal joint, and wak'd in Hell. The drunkenness of Eurytion, one of the Centaurs, is fatal to him, and to the whole race. Op. B. XXI. The great Furyiten when this frenzy ftung, Pirithous' roofs with frantic riot rung: His nofe they fhorten'd, and his ears they flit, And fent him fober'd home, with better wit. Hence with long war the double race was curs'd, Fatal to all, but to th' aggreffor first. A, who had reproached Ulves as made infolent by wine, dies himself with the intoxicating bowl in his hands. OD. Book XXII. High in his hands he rear'd the golden bowl, And pierc'd the neck. He falls, and breathes his last. the the perfons, with whom we much converfe; and you can never make yourself more agreeable to any, at leaft as a companion, than when you countenance their conduct by imitating it. He who affociates with the intemperate, and yet refufes to join in their exceffes, will foon find, that he is looked upon as condemning their practice; and, therefore, that he has no way of continuing them his friends, but by going into the fame irregularity, in which they allow themselves. If his chearfulness, his facetiousness, or wit, endear him to them, and render them unwilling to quit an intercourfe with one fo qualified to amufe them; all their arts will be tried to corrupt his fobriety where he lies moft open to temptation will be carefully watched; and no method left unattempted, that can appear likely to make him regardlefs of his duty. But who can reckon himself fafe, when fo much pains will be used to enfnare him? Whofe virtue is fecure, amidst the earnest endeavours of his conftant companions to undermine it? Another caution which I have laid down is, Never fit long among thofe, who are in the progress towards excefs. The expediency of this advice will be acknowledged, if we confider how difficult it is to be long upon our guard-how apt we are to forget ourselves, and then to be betrayed into the guilt, against which we had most firmly refolved. In the eagerness of our own difcourfe, or in our attention to that of others, or in the pleasure we receive from the good humour of our companions, or in the share we take of their mirth, we may very naturally be fuppofed unobferving, how much we have drank-how near we are got to the utmoft bounds of fobriety: thefe, under the circumstances I have mentioned, may eafily be paffed by us, without the leaft fufpicion of it-before we are under any apprehenfion of our danger. As in difputes, one unadvised expreffion brings on another, and after a few arguments both fides grow warm, from warmth advance to anger, are by anger fpurred on to abufe, and thence, often, go to thofe extremities, to which they would have thought themselves incapable of proceeding: fo is it when we fit long, where what gives the most frequent occafion to difputes is before us-where the intoxicating draught is circulating; one invites us to more our fpirits rife-our wariness de clines-from chearfulnefs we pass to noify mirth-our mirth ftops not long short of folly-our folly hurries us to a madnefs, that we never could have imagined likely to have been our reproach. If you have often loft the command of yourfelf, where a certain quantity of liquor hath been exceeded; you should be fure never to approach that quantity - you fhould confine yourfelf to what is much fhort of it. Where we find that a reliance upon our warinefs, upon the fteadiness and firmness of our general refolutions, has deceived us, we fhould truft them no more; we fhould confide no more in thofe precau tions, which have already proved an infufficient check upon us. When I cannot refift a temptation, I have nothing left for my fecurity but to fly it. If I know that I am apt to yield, when I am tempted; the part I have then to act is, to take care that I may not be tempted. Thus only I fhew myfelf in earnest; hereby alone I evidence, that my duty is really my care. We have experienced, that we cannot withdraw from the company we like, exactly at fuch a point of time--we have experienced, that we fometimes do not perceive, when we have got to the utmost bounds of temperance-we have unhappily experienced, that when it has been known to us, how fmall an addition of liquor would diforder us, we then have fo far loft the power over ourselves, as not to be able to refrain from what we thus fully knew would be prejudicial to us. In thefe circumftances, no way remains of fecuring our fobriety, if we will refort to any place where it is at all hazarded, but either having our flint at once before us, or confining ourfelves to that certain number of meafured draughts, from whence we are fure we can have nothing to fear. And he, who will not take this method-he who will reft in a general intention of fobriety, when he has feen how often that intention has been in vain, how often he has mifcarried, notwithstanding it, can never be confidered as truly concerned for his paft failings, as having feriously refolved not to repeat them. So far as I omit any due precaution against a crime, into which I know myself apt to be drawn, fo far I may juftly be regarded as indifferent towards it; and fo far all my declarations, of being forry for and determined to leave it, must be confidered as infin cere. § 139. On $139. On Intemperance in Drinking. SECT. V. Never make any quantity of ftrong liquor neceffary to your refreshment. What occafions this to be a fit caution is, That if the quantity we cannot be without is, in the beginning, a very moderate one, it will, probably, foon increase, and become, at length, fo great as must give us the worft to fear. The reafon, why it is thus likely to be increased, is, that a fmall draught, by the habitual use of it, will cease to raise our fpirits; and therefore, when the defign of our drinking is in order to raise them, we fhall at length feek to do it by a much larger quantity of liquor, than what was wanted for that purpose at first. It seems to be, further, proper advice on this fubject, That we fhould never apply to ftrong liquor for eafe under cares or troubles of any kind. From fears, from difappointments, and a variety of uneafineffes, none are exempt. The inconfiderate are impatient for a fpeedy relief; which, as the fpirituous draught affords, they are tempted to feek it from thence. But how very imprudent they muft be, who would by fuch means quiet their minds, is moft evident. For, is any real ground of trouble removed, by not attending to it -by diverting our thoughts from it? In many cafes, the evil we would remedy by not thinking upon it is, by that very courfe, made much more diftreffing, than it otherwife would have been; nay, fometimes, quite renedilefs. In all cafes, the less heated our brain is, and the greater calmnefs we preferve, the fitter we are to help ourselves; the fitter we are to encounter difficulties, to prevent our being involved in them; or, if that cannot be, to extricate ourselves Speedily from them. The eafe, which liquor gives, is but that of a dream: when we awake, we are again ourfelves; we are in the fame fituation as before, or, perhaps, in a worse. What then is to be the next step? Soon as the ftupifying effects of one draught are gone off, another must be taken; the fure confequence of which is, that fuch a habit of drinking will be contracted, as we fhall vainly endeavour to conquer, though the criginal inducement to it should no longer fubft. To guard against this, as it is of the utmost importance to all of us, fo the only certain way is, by stopping in the very frit inftance; by never feeking, either ander care or pain, relief from what we drink, but from thofe helps, which reason and religion furnish; the only ones, indeed, to which we can wifely refort in any ftraits; and which are often found capable of extricating us, when our condition feems the most defperate. A prudent man fhould never defert himfelf. Where his own efforts avail him not, the care of an over-ruling Providence may interpofe, and deliver him. But to borrow fupport against our troubles from liquor, is an entire defertion of ourselves; it is giving up our state, as an undone one-it is abandoning our own difcretion, and relinquishing all hopes of the DEITY's affistance. Laftly, Know always, how you may usefully employ, or innocently amuse yourself. When time is a burden upon us, when we are at a loss how to pass it, our chearfulness of course abates, our fpirits flag, we are reflefs and uneafy: here then we are in the fitteft difpofition, and under the strongeft inducements, to refort to what we know will enliven us, and make our hours glide away infenfibly. Befides, when we cannot tell what to do with ourfelves, it is natural we should feek for thofe, who are as idle as ourselves; and when fuch company meet, it is easy to see what will keep them together; that drinking must be their entertainment, fince they are fo ill qualified for any other. Idlenefs has been not unfitly term'd, the parent of all vices; but none it more frequently produces than drunkenness; as no vice can make a greater wafte of our time, the chief thing about which the idle are folicitous. On the other hand, he who can profitably bufy, or innocently divert himfelf, has a fure refort in all humours-he has his fpirits feldom depreffed, or when they are fo, he can, without any hazard, recruit them he is fo far from feeking a correfpondence with fuch, as are always in a readiness to engage in fchemes of intemperance and riot, that he fhuns them; his amusements, quite different from theirs, occafion him to be feldom with them, and fecure him from being corrupted by them. This we may lay down as a moft certain truth, that our virtue is never fafe, but when we have proper diverfions. Unbent we fometimes muft be; and when we know not how to be fo in an innocent way, we foon fhall be in a guilty. But if we can find full entertainment in what is free from all reproach, in what neither has any thing criminal in it, nor can lead us into what is criminal; then, indeed, and only then, can we |