

VENTEROLOGY. 



THE attention of such as have had the direction of a people has 

 freqently been applied, for political purposes, to the consideration of 

 those influences which principally bear on the character, either for 

 the sake of subduing those passions which might prejudice a faith, 

 or prove injurious to the welfare of a state ; the first object was aimed 

 at by Mahomet, when he denied to his followers the use of wine ; 

 and by the Roman Catholics when they ordained the fasts which, by 

 rendering the body less subject to the animal passions, made the 

 mind more alive to religious precepts : the Jews also were not igno- 

 rant of these influences, and made their laws accordingly. 



Not only in a moral, but also in a civil point of view, has that 

 which "enters a man's mouth" been destined to have its influence; for it 

 cannot have escaped the observation of any reader of history, however 

 hastily he may have glanced over its pages, that the description of a 

 people having any peculiar or striking character, is always accom- 

 panied with some account of their mode of living, to Avhich that cha- 

 racter may in a great degree be ascribed. The love of warfare, for 

 which the Persians were distinguished, may to a large extent be 

 referred to the wine of which they were so fond and used so freely. 

 Darius himself appears to have been in this respect by no means ab- 

 stemious, for he boasts in his epitaph that he could drink much wine 

 and carry it well. In the contest for the crown of Persia between 

 Cyrus and Artaxerxes, the former, in his letter to the Lacedemonians, 

 in which he asks their assistance, lays claim to it, among other reasons, 

 011 the ground of his being a great drinker, and better able to bear 

 a large quantity of wine than his brother. Philip of Macedon was 

 fond of the pleasures of the table, and indulged not a little in the use 

 of wine ; this latter propensity was once mentioned to Demosthenes 

 as a subject for much praise, but the orator replied that " to drink 

 freely was rather the quality of a spunge than that of a king." The 

 Ipve of wine and war descended from Philip to his son Alexander 

 the Great; his success in the one and his excess in the other are 

 matters of history : the murder of Clitus was effected during the 

 heat of wine ; and, to crown all, Alexander himself died under its 

 influence after draining the cup of Hercules. Such, and many more 

 like instances might be mentioned, in which the indulgence of any 

 particular appetite has a great sway over the character of individuals 

 and nations ; but the saying of Philocrates, when he differed from 

 Demosthenes, must not be passed over : l ' Do not wonder, Athenians, 

 that I differ from Demosthenes, for he drinks water and I drink 

 wine." 



We have an amusing dialogue from Twelfth Night, or What you 

 Will, between Sir Andrew Ague-cheek and Sir Toby Belch, in which 

 the former being chided by the latter for his slowness and queer fashion 

 of making love to Maria, excuses himself thus : Sir Andrew. Me- 

 thinks sometimes I have no more wit than a Christian, or an ordinary 



M. M. No. 90. 4 H 



