ON BIRDS. 39 



misery , and ruin. He will make you impoverish 

 your wives and children, and not only ruin your 

 own health, but ruin also the health of your 

 soul, rendering you at last a fit subject of the 

 devil. But this is not all that this old rascal 

 does. He has been even known to incite those 

 who have been too much under his seductive 

 influence to commit the crime of murder, and 

 many, as they were ascending the fatal scaffold, 

 have attributed their being led to do this from 

 their having begun an acquaintance with Old 

 Tom. Nor is this all. As a Magistrate for 

 Middlesex, I can assure you that very many of 

 those who are brought to our County Lunatic 

 Asylum at Hanwell, in a state of insanity, both 

 men and women, are indebted for their madness 

 to this same Old Tom ; for, I am sorry to say, 

 that he has a very extensive acquaintance. 

 What can I say more to you, except to urge 

 and beseech every one to avoid his company and 

 acquaintance, or, in other words, not to become 

 a gin-drinker? From my long experience, I 

 have known good, hard-working men, well to 

 do, fall victims to this sad vice, and become 

 ruined in this world and, it is to be feared, 

 ruined in the next. 



