CHAP. XI.] CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE. 357 



tipple too ! The scenes that I witnessed at 

 Harrisburgh I shall never forget. I almost 

 wished (God forgive me !) that there were Bo- 

 roughmongers here to tax these drinkers: they 

 would soon reduce them to a moderate dose. 

 Any nation that feels itself uneasy with its ful 

 ness of good things, has only to resort to an 

 application of Boroughmongers. These are by 

 no means nice feeders or of contracted throat : 

 they will suck down any thing from the poor 

 man's pot of beer to the rich man's lands and 

 tenements. 



360. The Americans preserve their gravity 

 and quietness 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 odious- 

 ness 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 wine" and the numer 

 ous songs, some in very elegant and witty lan 

 guage, from the pens of debauched men of 

 talents, drinking is said to be necessary, in cer 

 tain cases at least, to raise the spirits, and to 

 keep out cold. Never was any thing more false. 

 Whatever intoxicates must enfeeble in the end, 



