Ale, wine, spirits, and tobacco : a lecture delivered before the Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society, January 7th, 1861 / by John Barclay.

  • Barclay, John
Date:
1861
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Ale, wine, spirits, and tobacco : a lecture delivered before the Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society, January 7th, 1861 / by John Barclay. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    we are told by missionaries, and especially by female missionaries, often ministering angels, that, among tlie heathen of our towns they find it a powerful means of dealing with drunkards to be able to say they themselves are under a vow,—most heartily must all good men and women wish them God-speed; only, let them not hastily conclude that what is good for them, is, of necessity, good for all whose callings are wholly other, and who have a liberty that is not depraved into licentiousness. That very same argument which is powerful when used by a missionary to a poor debased drunkard, would, from the lips of a doctor, only lead a rich man, and with justice, to consider his physician a fool. Before going further, I feel it to be quite necessary that I should let it be clearly understood how fully I admit the evils resulting from the abuse of drink, and how emphatically I condemn it in all its forms. Judges, magistrates, gaol chaplains, all concur in stating that drunkenness is the main source of crime, even to the extent of three-fourths of all offences. It is also a source of much wretchedness and misery and poverty; and when I tell you that, in 1859, coroners’ inquests were held on 306 persons—206 males and 100 females, who died from actual excessive drinking, it is plain that much disease is also attributable to this degrading vice; for if 306 died, how many more must have drunk to excess, so as to produce serious, yet not fatal results ? I will yield to no one, teetotaller or Maine Law advocate, in the emphasis with which I condemn all this disgusting and brute-like sensual indulgence—the just judgment for which comes speedily on the head of the drunkard. The drinking customs of society, especially among the lower upper classes, are one most fertile source of evil. When a gentle- man buys a horse, he never thinks of confirming his bargain over a glass, but the horse-dealer invariably does. When a child is born, when a daughter is married, alas! when even a parent is buried, drink, in the lower and upper-lower classes, is the inva- riable accompaniment of congratulation or condolence. Again, the paying of wages at night and on Saturdays, and the clubbing together of the wages of several, to save payments in small coin,