1827.] The Philosophy of Drunkenness. 007 



inference to believe that a man, who is quarrelsome when he is drunk, is 

 therefore what we should call " a quarrelsome man." 



In another place, Mr. Macnish himself observes, that intoxication fre- 

 quently produces all the effects of "temporary insanity ;" and to this opinion 

 i. <?/that it rather distorts the operations of the mind, than merely liberates 

 them from the check of policy or judgment we should be rather disposed 

 to accede. Many men are always very religiously disposed when they are 

 drunk (and at that time only); but it would be too much to infer that these 

 persons had " naturally" any peculiar disposition to piety. For the com- 

 fort of those who may lapse into misdeeds when they are intoxicated, we 

 repeat our opinion, that, supposing them then to exhibit their " natural" dis- 

 positions, we take natural disposition to be a matter of but little consequence. 

 If a man's ordinary life be unexceptionable whether that advantage arises 

 from his restraining his temper, or otherwise, matters little. The fault 

 that he commits, is not (in our view) the having bad disposition?, but the 

 exhibiting them, and suffering them to offend his fellows : the fault is that 

 he is drunk. Ten thousand soldiers, after carrying a town by assault, rob, 

 burn, and massacre without mercy. There is no peculiarity in the dispo- 

 sitions ("naturally") of all these men; but the restraints legal and 

 moral which have commonly operated upon them, for the time, are held 

 to be removed. Some few there are who are distinguished, in these emer- 

 gencies, by humanity and forbearance : these are those probably upon 

 whom religious feeling and education has made such an impression as to 

 correct savage and natural propensity more fully than in the rest. Some 

 others, on the other hand, inured for a time to such habits of licence, cannot 

 be restrained by fear, or a sense of fitness, from pursuing them where they 

 cease to be permitted. But the examples, both ways, are few : the great 

 mass are plunderers and man-killers where they are permitted to be so, and 

 they return reasonably well to their ordinary habits and civil duties, when 

 that permission ceases. 



Experience, too, we should say, constantly shews us that men as far 

 as their natural dispositions can possibly bo judged of are thrown out of 

 those dispositions when they are in a state of ebriety. Mr. Macnish 

 says 



* There are persons who are exceedingly profuse, and fond of giving away their 

 money, watches, rings, &c. to the company. This peculiarity will never, I believe, 

 be found in a miser: avarice is a passion strong under every circumstance. 

 Drinking does not loosen the grasp of the covetous man, or open his heart. He is 

 for ever the same." 



We disagree with Mr. Macnish as to this fact. Almost every man will 

 have seen instances of persons the most niggardly in their habits, and even 

 sordidly unjust in their dealings who make bargains with great liberality, 

 or lend their money freely when they are drunk. Who shall determine 

 what is the " natural 11 disposition of a man like this ? whether his sudden 

 and evanescent generosity be a temporary madness, or his avarice a passion 

 acquired ? 



And again, upon the " natural disposition to drink, 1 ' ascribed by Mr. 

 Macnish to a certain class of persons in his opening and repeated in 

 several parts of his book as in the case of the 



" Sanguineous Drunkard. The sanguine temperament seems to feel most 

 intensely the excitement of the bottle. Persons of this stamp have usually a ruddy 

 complexion, thick neck, small head, and strong muscular fibre. Their intellect is 

 in general mediocre, for great bodily strength and corresponding mental powers 



