-Animæ quibus altera fato

Corpora debentur, Lethei ad fluminis undam
Securos latices, et longa oblivia potant.*

The ancient poets contributed materially to the currency of this delusion. Horace in one of his odes contends that indulgence in wine is the most effectual method of driving away care and sorrow:

Neque

Mordaces aliter diffugiuut solicitudines.f

That celebrated poet sounds the praise of intemperance in the following manner :—

"Ebrietas quid non designat? operta recludit

Spes jubet esse ratas: in prælia trudit inertem,
Sollicitis animis onus eximit: addocet artes.
Fæcundi calices, quem non fecere disertum?
Contracta quem non in paupertate solutum."

Ovid also thus wreathes the cup with praise:—

"Vina parant animos, faciuntque coloribus aptos.
Cura fugit, multo diluiturque mero.

Tunc veniunt risus, tunc pauper cornua sumit,
Tunc dolor et curæ, rugaque frontis abit.
Tunc aperit mentes, ævo rarissima nostro
Simplicitas, artes executiente Deo."

The odes of Anacreon are familiar to every votary of Bacchus, and are constantly echoed in praise of wine. Anacreon was a fascinating poet, but an abandoned and degraded debauchee. The effusions of Horace and Anacreon abound with glowing encomiums on wine and its convivial associations, but rarely, if ever, do they present to their readers a faithful representation of the reverse side of the picture. The poets of old unfortunately embodied in attractive imagery, sentiments rather in accordance with the vitiated notions of the age in which they flourished, than in unison with the purest principles of virtue and morality.

The productions of modern poets have been not less injurious in their tendency, and have greatly contributed to the credit and support of this popular fallacy. Some have attributed to intoxicating liquor the power of increasing the comfort of the humbler classes, and have delighted to associate it with all their festive occasions. Thus by one writer, it has been described as the poor man's

† Lib. i. Ode 18.

Virgil Æneid, lib. vi. v. 713. Athenæus however states, of the drinking songs of Anacreon, that he feigned them, and that he lived in a temperate manner.-Deipnost. x. 7.

"Sweet oblivion of his daily care.

while a flattering illusion has been cast over the opposite picture of endless miseries resulting from unlawful indulgence. Bloomfield, in his popular poem, "The Farmer's Boy," speaks of malt liquor as a "sovereign cordial;" and Goldsmith unfortunately supports the same delusion. The latter writer thus laments the declining prosperity of the village alehouse:—

"Low lies that house where nut-brown draughts inspired
Where gray-beard mirth and smiling toil retired;
Where village statesmen talked with looks profound,
And news, much older than the ale, went round.
Obscure it sinks, nor shall it more impart

An hour's importance to the poor man's heart."

A moment's reflection will convince the impartial mind of the injurious tendency of exhibiting, in language so clear and so beautiful, sentiments so false in sympathy and pernicious in tendency as those contained in the above quotations. In this manner, however, the sanction of superior talents has too often been lent to perpetuate a vice most odious in its character, and destructive in its effects.

The poetry of Burns, the bard of Scotland, has perhaps, more than any other of like nature contributed to perpetuate and strengthen the practice of drinking. Burns thus addresses whiskey as the muse which inspired his lays

O, thou my muse! guid auld Scotch drink:
Whether thro' wimpling worms thou jink,
Or, richly brown, ream o'er the brink,

In glorious feam,

Inspire me, till I lisp and wink,

To sing thy name!

The two succeeding verses contain strong encomiums on this fell destroyer of human happiness:

Food fills the wame, an' keeps us livin':
Tho' life's a gift no worth receivin',
When heavy dragg'd wi' pine and grievin';

But oil'd by thee,

The wheels o' life gae down-hill scrievin',

Wi' rattlin glee.

The next verse depicts in expressive language the esti mation in which it is held in his native land:

Thou art the life o' public haunts;
But thee, what were our fairs and rants?
Ev'n godly meetings o' the saints,

By thee inspired,

When gaping they besiege the tents,
Are doubly fired.

Burns thus concludes:

Fortune! if thou 'll but gie me still
Hale breeks, a scone, and whiskey gill,
And rowth o' rhyme to rave at will,
Take a' the rest,

And deal't about as thy blind skill
Directs the best.

The whole of this poet's writings abound with delusive praises of strong drink, and it is not unreasonable to suppose that thousands of his countrymen, have, in admiration of the beauty of his language, imbibed notions, and adopted practices, injurious in their tendency and fatal in their results. A poet of the same nation thus deplores the tendency of Burns' verses :

Robin Burns, in many a ditty

Loudly sings in whiskey's praise;
Sweet the sang! the mair's the pity,
E'er on it he war'd sic lays.

Ignorance and poverty, combined with extreme toil and care, form a prolific and very general source of intemperance, Ignorance and sensuality have ever been united. Men possessed neither of moral principle nor of intellectual strength, are but too prone to seek enjoyment in sensual gratification. The transitory pleasures of sense often engage the attention and captivate the affections, while the nobler and more durable enjoyments of intellectual cultivation, are but too little estimated or relished.

The excessive toil and care which are so generally the lot of the humble classes of mankind, may be considered as other powerful auxiliaries to intemperance. The lives of a large proportion of the operative part of the community are in general passed in mere animal exertion, having few opportunities or even motives for moral or intellectual improvement. The habitations of the same class are too frequently found devoid of those domestic comforts which other branches of society possess. The duty of providing for a numerous family often presses heavily upon them, and often too, is there but a scanty supply of labour for furnishing still scantier means of support. Under cir cuinstances of this description it can exeite little surprise, N

that in too many instances, these unfortunate individuals resort to such attractive means of temporary relief from their distresses, as may opportunely be presented to their notice, and placed within their reach. Fascinating inducements to intemperance, are held out at houses established and licensed for the sale of intoxicating liquors. At these seductive abodes, the infatuated votaries of strong drink, endeavour, for a few moments, to banish the cares and sorrows with which they are depressed. An intelligent writer observes, "that the moral inducements for drinking inebriating compounds, are much more prevalent than even the physical pretences.' "The desire," he further remarks, "for oblivion of care, of irksome business and of laborious thought; expectation of drowning sorrow, and of repelling misfortune; the wish to feel ourselves prosperous, or to be flattered by pleasing hopes, are the chief reasons for desiring strong liquors."* Individuals more elevated in the scale of society, it is to be feared, endeavour to obtain relief from toil and care by undue indulgence in sensual pleasure. It has been correctly observed, that exhausting toils unfit the mind to withstand temptation, and a great portion of mankind are but too willing to alleviate the ills of life with so soothing but deceitful an antidote as is presented to them in the form of intoxicating liquors.

Another cause of intemperance among the poor and labouring classes, is the general sensuality and earthliness of the community. "There is indeed," remarks a recent writer, "much virtue, much spirituality, in the prosperous classes, but it is generally unseen. There is a vastly greater amount in these classes of worldliness, of devotion to the senses, and this stands out in bold relief. The majority live unduly for the body. Where there is little intemperance in the common acceptation of that term, there is yet a great amount of excess. Thousands who are never drunk, place their chief happiness in pleasures of the table. How much of the intellect of this community is palsied, how much of the expression of the countenance blotted out, how much of the spirit buried, through unwise indulgence! What is the great lesson, which the more prosperous classes teach to the poorer? Not self-denial, not spirituality, not the great Christian truth, that human happiness lies in the triumphs of the

* Lecture on Fermented Liquors by Sir A. Carlylse.

mind over the body, in inward force and life. The poorer are taught by the richer, that the greatest good is ease, indulgence. The voice which descends from the prosperous, contradicts the lessons of Christ and of sound philosophy. It is the sensuality, the earthliness of those who give the tone to public sentiment, which is chargeable with a vast amount of the intemperance of the poor. How is the poor man to resist intemperance? Only by a moral force, an energy of will, a principle of self-denial in his soul. And where is this taught him? Does a higher morality come to him from those whose condition makes them his superiors? The great inquiry which he hears among the better educated is, what shall we eat and drink, and wherewithal shall we be clothed? Unceasing struggles for outward, earthly, sensual good, constitute the chief activity which he sees around him. To suppose that the poorer classes should receive lessons of luxury and self-indulgence from the more prosperous, and should yet resist the most urgent temptations to excess, is to expect from them a moral force, in which we feel ourselves to be sadly wanting. In their hard conflicts, how little of life-giving truth, of elevating thought, of heavenly aspiration, do they receive from those above them in worldly condition!"*

The spirit of excitement which is natural to man, constitutes, when improperly directed, a powerful auxiliary to the formation of intemperate habits. The spirit of excitement, usually accompanied by the pride of emulation, is strongly exhibited in the customs and practices connected with drinking, as will be amply illustrated in the ensuing pages. No class of causes has so greatly contributed to foster intemperance as the vitiated customs and practices of society. Man is, to a great extent, the creature of habit. He adheres with almost invincible tenacity to the associations by which he has been surrounded from early years. It is, therefore, of infinite importance that youth should be early initiated into the acquisition and practice of good habits. Evil habits easily and naturally increase in strength. A poet remarks:

Ill habits gather by unseen degrees,
As brooks run rivers, rivers run to seas.

The association of indulgence in the use of intoxicating

* An Address on Temperance, by Wm. E. Channing, D. D.