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"amends for it in his next fentence, where "he leaves a blank space without fo much as "a confonant to direct us. I mean," fays I, "after those words," the fleet that used to be the terror of the ocean, fhould be wind-bound for the fake of a;" after which enfues a "chafm, that in my opinion looks modeft "enough." Sir," fays my antagonist, “ you may easily know his meaning by his gaping; "I fuppofe he designs his chasm, as you call it, "for an hole to creep out at, but I believe it "will hardly ferve his turn. Who can endure "to fee the great officers of ftate, the B-y's

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and T--t's, treated after fo fcurrilous a man“her?” “I can't for my life," fays I, "imagine "who they are the SPECTATOR means. "No!" fays he !--- Your humble fervant,

Sir!" Upon which he flung himself back in his chair after a contemptuous manner, and fmiled upon the old lethargic gentleman on his left hand, who I found was his great admirer. The whig however had begun to conceive a goodwill towards me, and, feeing my pipe out, very generously offered me the use of his box, but I declined it with great civility, being obliged to meet a friend about that time in another quarter of the city.

At my leaving the coffee-houfe, I could not forbear reflecting with myfelf upon that grofs tribe of fools who may be termed the over-wife, and upon the difficulty of writing any ti this cenforious age, which a weak head may not conftrue into private fatire and perfonal reflection.

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A man who has a good nofe at an innuendo, fmells treafon and fedition in the most innocent words that can be put together, and never fees a vice or folly ftigmatized, but finds out one or other of his acquaintance pointed at by the writer. I remember an empty pragmatical fellow in the country, who, upon reading over "The Whole

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Duty of Man," had written the names of feveral perfons in the village at the fide of every fin which is mentioned by that excellent author; fo that he had converted one of the best books in the world into a libel against the 'fquire, churchwardens, overfeers of the poor, and all other the most confiderable perfons in the parish. This book, with thefe extraordinary marginal notes, fell accidentally into the hands of one who had never feen it before; upon which there arose a current report that fomebody had written a book against the 'fquire and the whole parish. The minifter of the place, having at that time a controverfy with fome of his congregation upon the account of his tithes, was under fome fufpicion of being the author, until the good man fet his people right, by fhewing them that the fatirical paffages might be applied to several others of two or three neighbouring villages, ar that the book was written against all the finners in England.

* By ADDISON.

*

Just published," Verfes at the laft public commence"ment at Cambridge," written and spoken by Mr. L. EUSDEN. SPECT, in folio,

No. 569.

N° 569. Monday, July 19, 1714.

Reges dicuntur multis urgere culullis

Et torquere mero, quem perfpexiffe laborent,
An fit amicitia dignus

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HOR. Ars Poct. ver. 434.

Wife were the kings who never chofe a friend
Till with full cups they had unmask'd his foul,
And feen the bottom of his deepeft thoughts.'
ROSCOMMON.

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O vices are fo incurable as thofe which men are apt to glory in. One would wonder how DRUNKENNESS fhould have the good luck to be of this number. Anacharfis, being invited to a match of drinking at Corinth, demanded the prize very humoroufly, because he was drunk before any of the rest of the company; for, fays he, when we run a race, he who arrives at the goal firft is entitled to the reward: on the contrary, in this thirfty generation, the honour falls upon him who carries off the greatest quantity of liquor, and knocks down the rest of the company. I was the other day with honest Will Funnel the Weft-Saxon, who was reckoning up how much liquor had paffed through him in the last twenty years of his life, which, according to his computation, amounted to twentythree hogfheads of October, four ton of Port, half a kilderkin of fmall beer, nineteen barrels of

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Cyder, and three glaffes of Champaigne; befides which he had affifted at four hundred bowls of Punch, not to mention fips, drams, and whets without number. I queftion not but every reader's memory will fuggeft to him feveral ambitious young men who are as vain in this particular as Will Funnel, and can boaft of as glorious exploits.

Our modern Philofopers obferve, that there is a general decay of moisture in the globe of the earth. This they chiefly afcribe to the growth of vegetables, which incorporate into their own fubftance many fluid bodies that never return again to their former nature: but, with fubmiffion, they ought to throw into their account thofe innumerable rational beings which fetch their nourishment chiefly out of liquids; efpecially when we confider that men, compared with their fellow-creatures, Drink much more than comes to their fhare.

But, however highly this tribe of people may think of themselves, a Drunken man is a greater monster than any that is to be found among all the creatures which God has made; as indeed there is no character which appears more defpicable and deformed, in the eyes of all rational perfons, than that of a Drunkard. Bonofus, one of our own countrymen, who was addicted to this vice, having fet up for a fhare in the Roman empire, and being defeated in a great battle, hanged himfelf. When he was feen by the army in this melancholy fituation, notwithstanding he had behaved himself very bravely, the common jeft

was,

was, that the thing they faw hanging upon the tree before them was not a man, but a bottle.

This vice has very fatal effects on the mind, the body, and fortune, of the perfon who is devoted to it.

every

In regard to the mind, it first of all discovers flaw in it. The fober man, by the strength of reafon, may keep under and fubdue every vice or folly to which he is moft inclined; but wine makes every latent feed fprout up in the foul,. and fhew itfelf; it gives fury to the paffions, and force to thofe objects which are apt to produce them. When a young fellow complained to an old Philofopher that his wife was not handsome, "Put lefs water in your wine," fays the Philofopher," and you will quickly make her fo." Wine heightens indifference into love, love into jealoufy, and jealoufy into madnefs. It often turns the good-natured man into an idiot, and the choleric into an affaffin. It gives bitterness to refentment, it makes vanity infupportable, and difplays every little fpot of the foul in its utmost deformity.

Nor does this vice only betray the hidden faults of a man, and fhew them in the most odious colours, but often occafions faults to which he is not naturally fubject. There is more of turn than of truth in a faying of Seneca, that Drunkenness does not produce but difcover faults. Common experience teaches the contrary. Wine throws a man out of himself, and infufes qualities into the mind which the is a ftranger to in her fober

moments.

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