370 THE MOEAL STATUS OP ALCOHOL. 



recognise an adumbration of pure and virtuous thought in 

 the outpouring of those bitter words. Toned and tempered 

 down a little, the sentiment differs not much from the one 

 enunciated by Mr. Bright some time ago in the House of 

 Commons. 



Honour and praise to Mr. Bright ! It is not always that 

 I am able to agree with him ; but, speaking in regard to an 

 anti-alcoholic bill, he penetrated the shell of truth that nut 

 so very hard to crack and reach the kernel. Not having 

 the reports before me, I am unable to quote the honourable 

 member's words ; hence he will acquire the right to complain 

 of me. John Bright is always eloquent, even when most 

 crotchety. 



His sentiments, conveyed in the language of another, will 

 be reft of much of the significance they bore when conveyed 

 in his own. What the honourable member did say was much 

 to this purport, viz. that he did not value at the worth of a 

 straw any such alcoholic sobriety as might be the result of 

 compulsion ; he therefore would not support an anti-alcoholic 

 bill. What he did value was the temperance as to strong 

 liquors which came as the result of conviction, of hideousness 

 revealed by the shining of that 'inner light' concerning which 

 the early Quakers testified so much. 



The honourable member would not force alcoholic absti- 

 nence on people; but he would desire that, by silent waiting, 

 watching, and self-communion, individuals should be led to 

 impose the necessary restraint on themselves. Sound philo- 

 sophy this ; words that might well be written in letters of 

 gold; suggestive words. They prompt the mind to range 

 over a wider field than that occupied by mere considerations 

 of alcohol. 



O, John Gough ! there are other intoxications than alco- 

 hol ; one, for instance, that infects the blood of man from 

 the day of his making the discovery that ladies are prettier 

 than lamp-posts. From heavenward, so high as the flesh- 



