324 



Temperance. 



VOL.V. 



which there cost two shillings sterling, six 

 ounces of pure alcohol, and eight or nine 

 ounces of extractive matter, not quite equal 

 in its nutritious quality to the same weight 

 of common bread. Now that weight of bread 

 then cost about one penny sterling, so that 

 the man who derived his nourishment from 

 ale, paid about twenty-four times as much for 

 it as if he had bought it in the shape of bread ; 

 and also swallowed with his pennyworth of 

 bread, six ounces of pure alcohol, or twelve 

 ounces of proof spirit. 



These observations apply chiefly to the 

 moderate use of alcoholic liquors; and show 

 that a comparison between such use and total 

 abstinence, gives a decided preference to the 

 latter. But this comparison, thus limited, is 

 hardly a fair one. It is exceedingly difficult, 

 and sometimes impossible, to use ardent spi- 

 rits as a drink, without running into absolute 

 excess. Even where obvious intoxication is 

 not produced, frequent indulgence in the use 

 of such liquors excites an appetite, which 

 strengthens in proportion as it is fed, and is 

 sometimes scarcely perceived until it has 

 grown too powerful to be resisted. There 

 doubtless are many in the situation of Dr. 

 Johnson, who have not the candour to ac- 

 knowledge it. When asked by Hannah 

 More to take a little wine, he answered, 

 that he could not take a little, and that absti- 

 nence was easier to him than temperance. 

 It appears he could be strictly abstemious, 

 but could not drink moderately. It is not to 

 be supposed that any young person sets out 

 with a deliberate intention of becoming a 

 drunkard. There is something so disgusting 

 in this beastly vice, that any one would in- 

 stinctively recoil at the prospect of becoming 

 a sot. How, then, do so many fall into this 

 pit of pollutions 1 The question is a momen- 

 tous one, and worthy of a careful examina- 

 tion. But before I attempt to answer it, let 

 us suppose that all the members of the com- 

 munity belonged to one of the two following 

 classes: the low, guzzling, absolute drunk- 

 ards, without shame and without character, 

 in whom the love of strong drink was the 

 ruling passion, by which every other was ab- 

 sorbed, — and the strictly abstemious, who 

 made no use of intoxicating liquor them- 

 selves, and would neither manufacture, give 

 or sell it toothers. Whatever proportion the 

 members of these classes might bear to each 

 other, it appears highly improbable that many, 

 if any, would be added to the intemperate 

 one. In such a community, the race of 

 drunkards must soon become extinct, either 

 by death or reformation. As moderate drink- 

 ing of alcoholic liquor would be totally out 

 of fashion, there would be very little danger 

 that any of the temperate class would con- 

 tract a fondness for such liquor ; and as no 



man of respectability would keep the article 

 for sale, the drunkards would probably be- 

 come temperate from sheer necessity. 



This supposition seems to me to answer 

 the question ; and to suggest this solution of 

 the problem. It is the countenance given, 

 by men of character and respectability, to 

 the manufacture, sale, and moderate use of 

 intoxicating liquor, that produces all the 

 drunkenness which exists among us. 



The farmer who furnishes his labourers, 

 during the time of hay and harvest, with in- 

 toxicating liquor, not only contributes towards 

 keeping up a race of drunkards, but establish- 

 es a principle, as far as his e.xample can es- 

 tablish it, which can scarcely fail to supply 

 the next generation with a succession of sots. 

 If the toils and heat of harvest are admitted 

 to require the use of such liquor, then it 

 must follow that other employments, equally 

 exposing and laborious, also require it. As 

 harvest does not last all the year, the farmer 

 who drinks alcoholic liquor only in harvest, 

 and on other extraordinary occasions, may 

 perhaps escape becoming a sot ; but the man 

 whose regular business throughout the year 

 calls for similar indulgence, must, if he sub- 

 mits to it, almost inevitably become intem- 

 perate ; — thus we find that forgemen, lime- 

 burners, and others of like occupation, if they 

 indulge a notion that their employments re- 

 quire the aid of intoxicating liquor to sustain 

 them, almost invariably become drunkards — 

 men who follow these occupations may be 

 abstemious if they will, but can scarcely ever 

 be moderate drinkers. 



When a house is on fire, we sometimes 

 behold the men who are collected very dif- 

 ferently employed. Some are pumping water 

 from a well, others are carrying it in buckets, 

 others again are playing the engine, while 

 another number are assiduously engaged in 

 rescuing the property from the flames. Yet 

 all these efforts are directed essentially to the 

 same object. So it appears that in the man- 

 ufacture of drunkards, there are many per- 

 sons variously employed, who perhaps seldom 

 reflect upon the ultimate effect of their 

 united labours. Some are engaged in culti- 

 vating the article from which intoxicating 

 liquors are produced, others manufacture the 

 liquor, others deal in such liquors in the 

 wholesale line, and of course very seldom 

 immediately furnish the absolute sot with his 

 favourite beverage — others keep respectable 

 taverns, where nobody is allowed to get 

 drunk, but where decent people are furnish- 

 ed with all they demand, and where moderate 

 drinking, in a civil way, is not discounte- 

 nanced — others again neither manufacture 

 nor sell intoxicating liquors, but merely pur- 

 chase and use them in moderation, in their 

 families and among the workmen. All these 



