1830.] The Malcontent. 523 



upon that point my habits secure me from that vicious aberration. 

 It is quite a mistake to suppose that the indulgence, however frequent, 

 in the use of wine, constitutes the odious character now about to be de- 

 nounced. " Drink deep, or taste not/' I have clasped the legs of the 

 table, I have spurned the impediments of staircase and bannister, and 

 curved homewards, after the pattern of the true line of beauty, and these 

 oh ! how frequently ! What then ? I have revelled in the ethereal con- 

 verse of a friend I have myself conversed, and that, too, not swinishly ; 

 I have been in heaven. Even now, " fallen on evil tongues and evil days/' 

 may I say . 



" Noctu sum in cselo clarus, atque inter Deos ; 

 Inter mortales ambuloque interdius" 



this, I repeat, is no evidence of a drunkard. 



He is one who listens to the admonitions of his friends, and heeds not 

 what they say pursuing his clamorous career through good report and 

 evil report regardless of the quality or extent of his swallowings 

 Champagne or cyder Sauterne or small-beer, it matters not : he is seen, 

 at one moment, busy in the resorts of vice ; and presently is heard gro- 

 velling in the cellar, yelling amongst the barrels struggling with an 

 obstinate spigot, and (for such is his insanity) extracting the vinous 

 fluid in unheard-of quantities from the cask itself! Such a character as 

 this I heartily despise. I view him as a base and worthless member of 

 society a sot a drunkard. 



He must be a wretch over nice, and to a laughable extent fastidious 

 who cavils at my principles ; they are of the purest kind. They may, 

 by the by, be more aptly termed impulses than principles what I 

 desire to do, is done what I affect not, I forsake it is my nature. Thus, 

 there are many detestable exactions of society which the world vulgarly 

 calls duties, to which I pay no manner of attention, for which I have, I 

 protest, a loathing. 



Let me with perfect decorum and great diffidence open, as it were an 

 oyster, the whole shell of my morality, to the end that it may be more 

 conveniently apparent ; permit me with much deference to lift up the 

 testaceous covering. Do you not think to be candid that a man may 

 be too amiable, honest, virtuous, discreet eh? a leetle too refined, 

 polished, of too much delicacy, over-politeness ? resolve me. What say 

 you to too much scrupulosity too great an exactness too large a bene- 

 volence ? To descend to minors, may he not be too nice in his dress, too 

 fine, finical, too sober, steady, serious ? I own, I conceive that such may 

 be the case. 



Now, with respect to our transactions with our fellow men, I hold 

 that we should, as we are told, " do as we would be done by ;" nay, I am 

 (fancifully, think ye?) entirely of opinion that much good is literally 

 done " by stealth" however much the benevolent parties concerned may 

 " blush to find it fame." 



It was rumoured with an earnestness, and a diligence not suffi- 

 ciently to be exclaimed against, that I was destitute, in a remarkable 

 degree, of proper feeling. I a man of no feeling ! I, who have spent 

 all my life in endeavouring to conceal (effectually at last) the most vio- 

 lent and uncontrollable feelings ; I, who have wept more (in secret) 

 than would have kept a dozen crocodiles in decent mourning for their 

 whole lives ; who haye a turn for that sort of thing, and whose hydraulic 



3 U 2 



