248 Facts towards a History of 



* Ainsi soit-il,' rt^pondit le pasteur, convert! k son tour par 



son penitent." 



An argument very much after this fashion was held by the 



learned Sir Thomas More. Sir Thomas was sent ambassador 



to the Emperor by King Henry the Eighth. The morning he 



was to have his audience, knowing the virtue of wine, he 



ordered his servant to bring him a good large glass of Sack ; 



and, having drank that, called for another. The servant, with 



officious ignorance, would have dissuaded him from it, but in 



vain ; the Ambassador drank off a second, and demanded a 



third, which he likewise drank off: insisting on a fourth, he 



was over-persuaded by his servant to let it alone ; so he went 



to his audience. But when he returned home, he called for 



his servant, and threatened him with his cane. "You rogue," 



said he, *' what mischief have you done me ! I spoke so to 



the Emperor, on the inspiration of those three glasses that I 



drank, that he told me I was fit to govern three parts of the 



world. Now, you dog ! if 1 had drank the fourth glass, I had 



been fit to govern all the world." With such authority, may 



we not say — 



Bibe ; si sapis, bibe. 



The French, a very sober people, have a proverb — 



Quil faut, a chaqiie mois, 

 S'enivrer au moins une fois. 



Which has been improved by some, on this side the water, 

 into an excuse for getting drunk every day in the week, for 

 fear that the specific day should be missed. It would, how- 

 ever, startle some of our sober readers, to find this made a 

 question of grave argument — yet, ^' whether it is not health- 

 ful to be drunk once in a month,^' is treated on by Dr. Carr in 

 his letters to Dr. Quincy. 



A French author has written a long 61oge " De rivressc,^' 

 in which there is a chapter entitled, ** Qu'il est bon pour la 

 sante de s'enivrer quelquefois." He sings in animated 

 strains — 



Buvez, mes chers amis, et buvez a grands coups. 

 Quels siecles de sante vous aurez devant vous ! 



Drink, my dear friends, and deeply too, 

 Ages of health you'll have before you. 



