Note 59 — WINE.
Reading edition
“It would save many lives if Gin, &c. was not allowed to be sold until reduced to one third the strength of Proof Spirit. People do not at first drink from any liking or desire, but being cold, or faint with hunger or fatigue, they find immediate comfort and refreshment from the use of Spirits—and as they can purchase a dram with less money than they can cover their back, or fill their belly, so they gratify the strongest and least expensive appetite—and insensibly become drunkards.”
“Ardent Spirits are not only eminently destructive to the Body, but are the most powerful incentives to Vice of every kind; Drunkenness engenders all other Crimes. Does the Robber pause in his Trade? Does the Murderer hesitate?—they are presently wound up at the Gin shop. Has the Seducer tried his arts in vain? The Brothel is more indebted to this source, than to all the other lures to Seduction.”—From Hints for the Preservation of Health.—Callow, 1813, 12mo. p. 2.
“There are Three sorts of Drinkers: one drinks to satisfy Nature, and to support his Body, and requires it as necessary to his Being.
“Another drinks a degree beyond this, and takes a larger dose to exhilarate and cheer his mind, and help him to sleep—these two are lawful drinkers.
“A third drinks neither for the good of the Body or the Mind, but to stupify and drown both.”—Maynwaringe on Health, &c. 12mo. 1683, p. 123.