330 



ON WINE DIUNKING, AND 



in large and in small quantities, between constant and 

 occasional use, and between strong and weak wines. Now- 

 a-days wine is usually drunk in much smaller quantities than 

 formerly ; our reputation for deep potations is not so great 

 as it used to be, in spite of the amount sold. "I learned 

 it " {mj song), " in England, where, indeed, they are most 

 potent in potting," says lago : "your Dane, your Gorman, 

 and. your swag-bellied Hollander are nothing to your Eng- 

 lish." This is still true, but not so true as formerly. Tlio 

 " falling off" is partly, I think, duo to the alteration in the 

 human constitution bequeathed to us by our intemperate 

 ancestors, and partly because drinking is not so fashionable. 

 Men are now often ashamed to take too much. In reading 

 the biographies and histories of the last centni;y one is 

 struck by the fact that dnankenness was not looked upon as 

 particularly disgraceful.* 



Politicians, soldiers, and literary men wore in the habit 

 of frequenting taverns and drinking wino to an extent we 

 can now only wonder at. Addison, Steele, Pitt, Theodore 

 Hook, and many other heroes did not think it beneath their 

 dignity to darken their brains with drink. The intem- 

 perance, both in eating and drinking, of our pious fore- 

 fathers, can be read of in the pages of Thackeray and in, 

 the narratives of Lord Cockburn. Their habits are chiefly 

 of interest here as sliowing what wo have inherited, in 

 many cases, from them. 



Before noticing its effects on the organs ami tiHsnes of oui- 

 bodies, it is necessary to say a word or two al)out wine 

 itself. 



The minute vegetable growth that produces alcoholic 



* De Qiiincey (" GonfcHsiona of an Opium-Eater") nietiUoiiH that a 

 certain duke uned to say, " Next Friday, by tlie ble.«3ing o£ Heaven, I 

 propose to be drunk." 



