cency of his own mind: thus he describes himself as in a situation To hear the lark begin his flight, The morning, in fine, independent of its salutiferous exhalations, displays to the world a new and magnificent and most inviting creation. The shades of night had concealed the view and enjoyment of earth and skies. But now the light returns, and we behold all nature renewed in youth and beauty. We are reminded of Milton's fine description of the creation, when God first commanded the earth to put forth the verdant grass. He scarce had said, when the bare earth, till then Brought forth her tender grass, whose verdure clad Then herbs of every leaf, that sudden flower'd, With high woods the hills were crown'd, With tufts the vallies, and each fountain side, With borders 'long the rivers: that earth now Seem'd like to Heaven, a seat where gods might dwell, Or wander with delight, and love to haunt Her sacred shades. Nor is this poetic fiction: the morning landscape is indeed exquisitely beautiful. All nature rejoices in a 142 EARLY RISING CONDUCIVE TO HEALTH, &C. delightful renovation of life and vigour. The feathered tribes salute the bright source of day with their melodious notes. In a word, every living creature is in action, and is sensible to new returns of health, pleasure, and new capacities of enjoyment. SECTION XXI. CACETHES BIBENDI; OR, THE EVIL CUSTOM OF DRINKING-ITS EFFECTS ON LIFE AND HEALTH. AGAINST drunkenness there are, perhaps, no arguments so strong as those which may be collected from the songs of bacchanals. We are dissuaded from it by the moralist, who represents it as the fascination of a siren, which wins us over to vice by subduing our reason; and we are invited to it by the song of the bacchanal, as something which will soothe our cares, inspire us with joys, vehement if not permanent, and banish from our mind the evils and troubles of life. The former seems to think that this vice has so many allurements as to require his cautions against our being seduced by it; and the latter that it has so few, as to stand in need of his recommendation of it. In reasoning, these words will go no farther than to prove that he who is poor may, by drinking, become in imagination rich; or, that he who stammers may, by the same expedient, find the temporary use of his lungs. He who is not poor will then recollect that he stands in need of no such a receipt; and he who does not stammer will think that remedy unnecessary which was in tended to cure a disease by which he is not afflicted. We can, moreover, inform them, upon pretty good authority, that this medicine has made many a rich man poor, and deprived many an orator of his speech. Drunkenness is further recommended to us as the inspirer of courage-it thrusts forward the unarmed man to battle. That it has this effect is very true, and so much the worse for the unarmed man. The testimony of a black eye, or a bloody nose, the frequent offsprings of a drunken frolic, are striking proofs, that to go unarmed to battle is no great mark of wisdom, or desira ble courage. There are many persons in the world who measure a man's qualities by his capacity to hold wine; the religion of these good people is a bottle of port, their wit a thump on the back, and their jokes, upon the whole, no laughing matter. They are, however, so honest, and so disagreeable, that a reasonable man will do any thing to serve them, and any thing to avoid their company. We may probably incur the imputation of being envious, when we declare, that we have experienced very little satisfaction in the presence of him whose only boast is, that he is a better man by two bottles than any other person in the company. Wine, however, inspires confidence, wit, and eloquence; that is, it changes modesty to impudence, ingrafts the art of joking upon dulness, and makes a story-teller of a fool. While these qualifications are worth attaining, I would have sobriety considered as a vulgarity, if not stigmatized as a vice; but when this ceases to be the case, let us hope that the liberal spirit of tolerating principles, which is so much the fashion of the age, will allow a moderate man, without infamy, to say, “I would rather not get very drunk to-day." Indeed, I have reason to believe this might be brought to pass, having seen a gentleman with great politeness excused from taking his wine upon producing a certificate from his physician, that he then laboured under a violent fever; or a voucher from the church-wardens of the parish, properly authenticated, to testify that his aunt was dead. It is often not very incorrectly supposed, that there must be some disgrace or impropriety in habitual drunkenness, from the many excuses which are framed by persons who indulge themselves in it. There are many a fond couple (fond, we mean, of liquor) who, "from eve to morn, from morn to dewy eve," de luge their thirsty souls in gin. Mr. M. excuses himself because he has lost money in the alley; and poor Mrs. M. complains of a perpetual coldness at the stomach. Some find excuse for drinking in the loss of their wives, in which they are happily aided by the proverb, that says "sorrow is dry." Others drink to dissipate the cares and solicitudes of matrimony; and others, because they cannot be admitted to a portion of such cares and solicitudes. Sufficient argument, therefore, may be found to make a notable and legitimate drunkard of the bachelor, the married man, or the widower. It is difficult to ascertain amongst what class of people H |