SMI Mankers, Customs, and [Part II. 



they ^W suck down any thing from the poor man's po 

 of beer to the rich man's lands and tenements. 



360. The Americans preserve their gra>nty and qui- 

 etness and good-humour even in their drink ; and so 

 much the worse. It were far better for them to be as 

 noisy and quarrelsome as the English drunkards ; for 

 then the odiousness of the vice would be more visible, 

 and the vice itself might become less frequent. Few 

 vices want an apology, and drinking has not only its 

 apologies but its praises ; for, besides the appellation 

 of " generous xoine," and the numerous songs, some in 

 very elegant and witty language, from the pens of 

 debauched men of talents, drinking is said to be neces- 

 sary, in certain cases at least, to raise the spirits, and 

 to keep out cold- Never was any thing more iaise. 

 Whatever intoxicates must enfeeble in the end, and 

 •whatever enfeebles must chill. It is very well known, 

 in the Northern coimtries, that, if the cold be such as 

 to produce danger oi frost-biting, you must take care 

 7wt to drink strong liquors. 



361. To see this beastly vice in young men is shock- 

 ing. At one of the taverns at Harrisburgh there were 

 several as fine young men as I ever saw. Well dressed, 

 well educated, polite, and every thing but sober. 

 What a squaUd, drooping, sickly set they looked in 

 the morning ! 



362. Even little boys at, or under, twelve years of 

 age, go into stores, and tip off their drams ! I never 

 struck a child, in anger, in my life, that I recollect ; 

 but, if I were so unfortunate as to have a son to do 

 this, he having had an example to the contrary in me, 

 1 would, if all other means of reclaiming him failed, 

 whip him like a dog, or, M'hich would be better, make 

 him an out-cast from my family. 



363. However, I must not be understood as meanina. 

 &at this tippling is universal amongst gentlemen ; wifl» 

 God be thanked, the women of any figure in life do by 

 HO means give into the practice ; but, abhor it as much 

 as well-bred women in England, who, ip general, no- 

 more think of drinking strong liquors, than they do of 

 drinking poison. 



364. I shall be told, that men in the hcrtmt field. 



