of the city of Rome and other diabolical acts, are familiar to every reader of history. This tyrant was a most intemperate character. It was his usual custom to frequent taverns, and places of gross debauchery.

On

Sylla, a dictator of the same mighty empire, surnamed the Fortunate, was one of the most cruel and intemperate tyrants that ever existed. On his entrance into Rome, during the contest with Marius, he caused 7000 citizens to be massacred, to whom he had promised pardon. the Senate's inquiring into the cause of the dying shrieks of the citizens, Sylla cooly answered, They are only a few rebels whom I have ordered to be chastised. This was only the commencement of his cruelty. Each succeeding day exhibited a still greater number of slaughtered bodies. No less than 4700 of the most powerful and opulent citizens were slain.

After these proceedings, Sylla abdicated the dictatorship, and retired to a retreat at Puteoli. The remainder of his days were spent far from the noise of arms, in the eager pursuit of sensual gratification; hated by all-beloved by none. The companions of his retirement were the most base and licentious of the populace, and Sylla took pleasure still to wallow in voluptuousness, though on the verge of life, and covered with infirmities. His intemperance hastened his end. His blood was corrupted, and an imposthume was formed in his bowels. He at last died in the greatest torments, about 78 years before Christ, in the 60th year of his age. It has been observed, that like Marius, on his death-bed, he wished to drown the stings of conscience and remorse by being in a perpetual state of intoxication. The character of Sylla is that of an ambitious, dissimulating, credulous, tyrannical, and debauched commander." ""*

To this infamous list of intemperate rulers, may be added, Maximinius, also an Emperor of Rome, one of the most cruel and ferocious tyrants that ever lived. He was famous only for his bloody, revengeful disposition; and in consequence received the names of Busiris, Cyclops, and Phalaris. Maximinius was on his way to Rome, where he was proceeding to perpetrate some of his enormous cruelties, when his soldiers by assassination freed their country from a tyrant. This event was the cause of great rejoicings at Rome. It is stated, that Maximinius was 8 feet

* Bibliotheca Classica, art. Sylla.

in height, and remarkably corpulent. His voracity was equally astonishing. He generally ate every day 40 pounds of flesh. During the same time, he drank 18 bottles of wine.*

The records of modern times abound in examples, exhibiting the awful power of inebriation in the production of cruelty and crime.

The human mind has truly been designated the noblest part of man. He holds his high rank in creation as an intelligent and accountable being; and in proportion as he cultivates or neglects the development of his intellectual and moral powers, does he elevate or sink himself in the scale of rational beings. How degrading for man made in the image of his Creator, to prostitute his moral powers, and to enervate his intellect through the influence of strong drink.

Among other effects of strong drink on the intellectual faculties, may be enumerated the following:

1. Mental incapacity and inaptitude to acquire knowledge.

Strong drink has been forcibly described as tending to "destruction of mental capacity and vigour, and extinction of aptitude for learning." The mental faculties are rapidly impaired, when under the paralyzing influence of strong drink, and gradually become more and more incapable of action and less vigorous in their operations. The once strong and active mind exhibits evidence of weakness and incapacity, and is unable to exercise its powers with its wonted energy and decision. The desire also for knowledge appears to decline with the incapacity to acquire it. Hence, the disinclination to studious exercises manifested by those who are in any degree intemperate in their habits.

2. Obscurity of mental perception.

The mind loses its accustomed distinctness of perception, and is unable to discover with accuracy and clearness the harmony or discordance of any given objects of contemplation. The beauty and order of intellectual perception, become less apparent and agreeable. Marmontel in his Memoirs furnishes us with an illustration in point"The pleasures of the table contributed to obscure my

Bibliotheca Classica, art. Maximinius.

Parliamentary Report-Select Committee, p. 4.

mental faculties. I never suspected that temperance was the nurse of genius, and yet nothing is more true. I awoke with my head troubled, and my ideas heavy with the vapours of an ample supper. I was astonished that my spirits were not as pure and as free as in Mathurin or in Masonstreet. Ah! 'tis that the labour of the imagination will not be disordered by that of other organs. The muses, it has been said, are chaste, it should have been added, that they are temperate."* The effects of abstinence in preparing the mind for those efforts, when not only mental energy, but a rich and fertile beauty of imagination is required, have been observed, from a very early period of the world. During hours of intense study, many of the most celebrated philosophers of old, abstained from every thing that was rich and stimulating in diet. Demosthenes, the celebrated Grecian orator, as a beverage, drank water only. Protogenes, a painter of great eminence among the ancients, when executing some splendid design, lived in the most frugal manner. Painters of our own age have adopted a similar plan. Fresnoy, in his maxim for the artist thus remarks:

"To temperance all our liveliest powers we owe,
She bids the judgement wake, the fancy flow;
For her the artist shuns the fuming feast,

The midnight roar, the bacchanalian guest."

Individuals distinguished in the annals of literature and science, in more recent times, have adopted a similar practice. Dryden † and Milton form illustrious examples. Milton not unfrequently recommends abstinence in diet. To the lyric and elegiac poet, he admits of the use of wine and good cheer; but to the epic which requires intellect of a higher and more comprehensive character, the diet of Pythagoras must suffice.

"For many a god o'er elegy presides,

Its spirit kindles and its numbers guides,
There Bacchus, Ceres, Erato, are seen,

And with her beauteous boy, the Idalian queen,

* Memoirs of Marmontel, vol i. p. 306.

† Dryden is evidently satirized by Baynes, who thus alludes to his prep aration for study by a course of medicine. "When I have a grand design, I ever take physic and let blood; for when you would have pure swiftness of thought, and fiery flights of fancy, you must have a care of the pensive part, in fine, you must purge the belly!!!" This practice, we are informed by La Motte, the physician, was actually adopted by Dryden. Dr. Cheyne, in allusion to the intimate connexion which exists between the condition of the body and the state of the mind, makes use of this emphatic observation, "He who would have a clear head must have a clean stomach." M

And thence the chiefs of elegiac song,
Drain the full bowl, and join the jocund throng.
But he whose verse records the battle's roar,
And hero's feasts and demi-gods of yore;
The Olympic senate with their bearded king,
Or howls, that loud through Pluto's dungeons ring;
With simpler stores must spread his Samian board,
And browse, well pleased, the vegetable hoard:
Close at his side the beechen cup be placed,

His thirst by nature's limpid beverage chased."

Euler and La Place, the one celebrated for his proficiency in mathematical science, the other distinguished as a natural philosopher, were each habitually abstemious in their diet. Euler attained to the age of seventy-six years. In society he was most acceptable, ever adding to its gratification by his agreeable wit, and cheerful and uniform temper. The light and abstemious diet of La Place alone enabled him, until within two years of his death, without exhaustion or inconvenience, to persevere in his accustomed habits of continued and intense study. John Locke, by his abstemious habits attained to the age of seventy-three years. In the former part of his life he had a feeble constitution; the asthma for many years proved to him a source of considerable depression and distress. To the use of water, which was his common drink, Locke very justly attributed the prolongation of his life. Boyle, who undoubtedly ranks as the first chemist of his age, also made use of water. Although possessed of an exceedingly delicate. constitution, this distinguished patron of science died at the age of sixty-five years. Sir Isaac Newton was habitually abstemious in his diet; he died at the advanced age of eighty-five years; it is a well known fact, that when he composed his admirable Treatise on Optics, Sir Isaac Newton abstained altogether from stimulating liquors and animal food, restricting himself to water and to vegetables. Luther also, and Johnson may be cited as equally illustrious examples. Of the former, one of his biographers states: "It often happened, that for several days and nights he locked himself up in his study, and took no other nourishment than bread and water, that he might the more uninterruptedly, pursue his labours." In 1737, Dr. Johnson, according to Boswell abstained entirely from fermented liquors, "A practice to which he rigidly conformed for many years together, at different periods of his life."* Dr. Johnson himself made the following remarks:

Mr. Croker in his edition of Boswell's Life of Johnson, makes the follow ing pertinent remarks on this passage: "At this time his (Dr. Johnson's)

"By abstinence from wine and suppers, I obtained sudden and great relief, and had freedom of mind restored to me, which I have wanted for all this year, without being able to find any means of obtaining it."* To these examples might be added a voluminous list of individuals celebrated in the annals of literature and science.

3. Incorrect Judgement.

The mind enervated by artificial stimulants, loses its power of forming a correct judgement. The faculties by which the judgement comes to a decision, are weakened, and rendered more or less inoperative by the want of reflection. The judgement, therefore, is little exercised, and loses its force and activity-and when formed, is crude and unstable. "Wine," remarks an eminent writer, "raises the imagination, but depresses the judgement. He that resigns his reason, is guilty for everything he is liable to in the absence of it." The effects of intoxicating liquors on the judgement are strongly adverted to in the Scriptures: "It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink: lest they drink and forget the law, and pervert the judgement of the af flicted."+

"The known effects of fermented liquors on the intellects," observes Sir A. Carlysle, are the increased rapidity of thought, the destruction of continuity in the memory, and the derangement of the natural faculty of judging or concluding upon the sum of any sort of evidence." Sumptuary laws, both in ancient and modern times, relating to magistrates and other official characters have been framed on the same principle."+

abstinence from wine may perhaps be attributed to poverty, but in his sub: sequent life, he was restrained from that indulgence by, as it appears, moral, or rather, medical considerations. He probably found, by experience, that wine, though it dissipated for a moment, yet eventually aggravated the hereditary disease under which he suffered; and perhaps, it may have been owing to a long course of abstinence, that his mental health seems to have been better than in the carlier portion of his life.-(See Extract from Dr. Johnson's Prayers and Meditations, cited in the text.) Selden had the same notion: for being consulted by a person of quality, whose imagination was strangely disturbed, he advised him not to disorder himself with eating or drinking, to eat very little supper, and say his prayers daily, when he went to bed; and he (Selden) made but little question but he would be well in three or four days.-(Table Talk, p. 17.) "These remarks," further observes Mr. Croker, "are important, because depression of spirits is too often treated on a contrary system, from ignorance of, or inattention to what may be its real cause."

Prayers and Meditations, p. 13. † Proverbs xxxi. 4, 5, Chap. 21.