352 Conclufion and Recapitulation . 
with a view only to their diverfions, fhould think a little more 
about the increafe of men for the good of their common parent. 
The second is, to difcourage the ufe of spirituous liquors 
at all events. Were I a minifter of ftate, things might ap- 
pear in a different light ; but as I am, I think no pecuniary 
advantage can be an equivalent : nothing gives me fuch me- 
lancholy prefages of a ruined ftate, as the depending on gin 
for fo great a part of the revenue. It was long ftnce foretold, 
by the wisest and best men in this nation, and the fincereft 
friends to their fovereign, to liberty, and mankind, what a bane- 
ful influence fpirituous liquors would fpread over the face of 
this land ; and that inftead of promoting the welfare of the 
flate by raiflng taxes, in the courfe of time there would hardly 
be any people left to tax. Do we not bid extremely fair to 
verify this predi&ion ? Does not experience fupport it in the 
ftrongeft manner ? Good god ! is it poflible a wise state can 
raife a great tax upon an article, which the more of it is con- 
fumed, the more the morals of the common people are injured, 
and the more their lives deftroyed : and the weaker their confti- 
tutions grow, the more fpeedy and dreadful thefe effects mufl 
be. It has already reigned fo long, that fifty years more will not 
recover the ftrength and beauty of the breed, was not a drop 
of gin to be drank. We have already the ftrongeft evidence 
of our real want of numbers, and that gin is one of the chief 
caufes of it. In my vi th letter I gave you an account of the 
great mortality of children under parifh-nurfes : whilft I am 
yet writing, a man of veracity aflures me, that of many hun- 
dred children taken in for years paft, at a certain infirmary, 
after 
