100 LETTERS TO BROTHER JOHN. 



would almost choke him ; while a Scottish High- 

 lander will toss off glass after glass, not only 

 without inconvenience, but with a most pleasant 

 gusto. 



Now, what have these persons done these snuff- 

 takers, pipe-smokers, and dram-drinkers? Why, 

 as far as the organs in question are concerned, 

 they have, by blunting their sensibility, actually 

 thrown dust into the eyes, and partially blinded 

 that very " cherub " whose sole business it is to 

 watch over their safety. Is not this madness? 

 Is it not the same thing as though a man should 

 wilfully disable the arm that was only raised to pro- 

 tect him ? 



When a man, for the first time, swallows a glass 

 of raw spirit, his guardian angel, SENSIBILITY, tells 

 him not indeed in a language that can be heard, 

 but in one ^ far more impressive a language that 

 can be felt tells him, I say, as plainly as pain can 

 speak, that raw spirit is an injurious stimulant. 

 Yet, what does the fool do ? Why, turns a deaf ear 

 to the intimation which could 6e, by possibility, no 

 other than a friendly one, and obstinately perse- 

 veres till the voice that warned him warns him no 

 more ; and then, with a folly scarcely less than 

 idiotic, and an impudent hardihood scarcely less 



