CHARLES WATERT0N, ESQ. CXXXV 



more enviable than that of a rational man 

 under the influence of excessive drinking. In- 

 stinct teaches the first to avoid, the place of 

 danger, whilst intemperance drives the last 

 headlong into the midst of it. To me there 

 is no sight in civilised society more horribly 

 disgusting than that of a human being in a 

 state 'of intoxication. The good Jesuit, who, 

 six and forty years ago, advised me never to 

 allow strong liquors to approach my lips, con- 

 ferred a greater benefit on me than if he had 

 put the mines of Potosi at my immediate 

 disposal. 



I might fill a large volume with the account 

 of miseries and deaths which I could distinctly 

 trace to the pernicious practice of inebriety. I 

 have seen manly strength, and female beauty, 

 and old age itself, in ruins under the fatal 

 pressure of this degrading vice. The knave 

 thrives on the follies of the drunkard, and 

 whole families may trace the commencement 

 of their decay to the dire allurements of the 

 public-house. Father Mathew has done more 

 for Great Britain by his divine suit of Sobriety 

 versus Sot, than all her parliaments and 

 h 4 



