2v2 



OAMIXG ft GAM HI fVlV. 



graded below the level of civilized li^; and since it 

 cannot gag the sot, it forces him to pa} back to & 

 ciefy something in compensation lor the injury he is 

 doing- to it by his pernicious and contaminating ex- 

 ample. The two vices we are treating of are nearly 

 allied, although one is a moral, the other a physical 

 one. The only difference of any consequence t&GtiH 

 to consist in this, that the law views every decree" tit 

 which gaming is indulged in, til an offence against ft; 

 trhife it is only the excess in the use of ardent spirits 

 or opium, which it condemns as of evil tendency, and 

 puiiisljes when it betrays ifcelf in ejttrss of action. 

 The difference, therefore?, might seem to some inert Iv 

 an nfehnportant distinction. Drinking a few glasses 

 of wine, and pfcj ttfg (bra couple of hours at penny of 

 six- penny whist, arc very harmless acts both j but to 

 drink a bottle of raw spirits, and to gamble away 

 one's own or win another's: fortune at dice, at a siding 

 of a few minutes are vicious acts, because their cmi- 

 set|oences are in jurious nr dangerous to public moral> ; 

 although the latler is perhaps the forerunner of 

 greater misery and mischief to society than the former, 

 being more speed} and compreheiishe in its opera- 

 tion. But in practice, as tvefl as in principle, the 

 vices alluded to, namely, gaming, drirllclflg- spirits and 

 eating or srnokmg opmm to excess, arc about equal- 

 ly prolific of crime amongst the lower classes of tire 

 people. 



Dram-drinking begins with physical excitation and 

 ends hy both mental and bodily debasement. The 

 effects of opium are probably of a much slower aud less 

 destructive order. Gaming sets out by ovn -exciting 

 the mental energies, and finishes by dissipating both 

 these and the ph\si< al powf rs. It is doubtful which 

 of the two poisons deepest the stream of society in its 

 lower grades. 



