208 



he never had any wine of Chios in his house 

 before the physician prescribed it for the 

 palpitation of the heart, a complaint he 

 laboured under, which is a convincing proof 

 of it's having been used medicinally in those 

 days. On the other hand, Androcydes, in his 

 letter to Alexander the Great, says, (to cor- 

 rect his intemperate drinking of wine,) " My 

 good lord, remember when you take your 

 wine, that you drink the very blood of the 

 earth ; hemlock, you know, Sir, is poison to 

 man, even so is wine to hemlock/' 



That an excess of this reviving beverage is 

 pernicious to the health, no one will attempt 

 to deny, any more than he would to excuse 

 repeated intoxication. Wine is not so much 

 used in this age to debase man as it was in 

 times past. Those liquors least intoxicating 

 are now preferred ; and the quality of the 

 wines given at table is at present more at- 

 tended to than the quantity ; which has in- 

 troduced cheerfulness and good sense around 

 the decanters, in exchange for boisterous dis- 

 putes. In an age that has advanced so far 

 towards refinement, there can be no need to 

 set up the alarm of poison, or condemn all 

 the wine-merchants as murderers, as has lately 

 become the fashion of some authors, which 

 can answer no other purpose than that of 



