Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Or The Causes Of The Decay Of Our National Morality, And On Some Modern Schemes For Its Renovation.
jurious to health , destructive to morals , and enervating to the intellect-Allowing the assertions to be true , it is no less true that the excitement of wine is a pleasure , of so intense a kind , that it has been found to outweigh all such considerations , even amongst many of the highest and wisest of mankind . The poet of every age and clime celebrates the joys of the ivy-crowned god ; and the people of all times and places applaud
the lay , and join in the chorus : —wine calls forth and exalts all pleasant and social feelings ; it makes wit sharper , raillery more sprightly ; relaxes the grave , emboldens the timid , and unfolds the reserved ; with the stranger it acquaints us , transforms acquaintances into friends , and our friend becomes a second self ; but the inward delight which gladdens the heart , surpasses even these vivid external manifestations ,
Ambition , when arrived at the topmost round , feels not the internal satisfaction which the fourth glass awakes in the breast of the votary of Lyffius . Nor has the bibulous philosopher need to travel through the thorny paths that lead to the dull realities of fortune , reputation , knowledge or power , when he has all the pleasures that flow from them in his bright imaginings ; and who—the bottle drained—feels rich , wise , and potent , as a monarch . It is vain to say such pictures are seductive : —are they not true ?
Even of vice we must speak the truth : —she will not the less retain her captivations because we deny she possesses any . —We must treat the subject fairly , and follow the wide distinction which nature has made between genial indulgence and vicious excess . We must be blind indeed not to see this distinction in the many examples of each that are before us . The folly and madness of the drunken man ' s conversation ,
the degradation of his intellect , the disgusting expression of his countenance , and the mean , violent , and malignant passions by which he is agitated , the base and criminal actions of which he is capable , the symptoms of the paroxysm ofhis self-created disease , are but too apparent to all observers . To himself alone , the brief madness being over , the punishment is well known in all its bitterness ; the headache , the
sickness , the nervous tremor , not unmixed with remorse , follow directly ; in time , the understanding acquires a constant hebetude ; he feels that in one respect he has lost his good name—he becomes regardless of it in every other : he loses a taste for all amusements of an innocent and social nature ; the courtesies of society and the affection of relatives have no interest for him ; the very pride of manhood is abased ; all
feelings and motives of a gentler or nobler kind decay ; he responds only to the intensest excitements , to such as correspond with that high pitch of intoxication which becomes necessary to his temporary escape from the misery of a sober hour . Now its possible tendency to this state , or of an approach to it , is the
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Or The Causes Of The Decay Of Our National Morality, And On Some Modern Schemes For Its Renovation.
jurious to health , destructive to morals , and enervating to the intellect-Allowing the assertions to be true , it is no less true that the excitement of wine is a pleasure , of so intense a kind , that it has been found to outweigh all such considerations , even amongst many of the highest and wisest of mankind . The poet of every age and clime celebrates the joys of the ivy-crowned god ; and the people of all times and places applaud
the lay , and join in the chorus : —wine calls forth and exalts all pleasant and social feelings ; it makes wit sharper , raillery more sprightly ; relaxes the grave , emboldens the timid , and unfolds the reserved ; with the stranger it acquaints us , transforms acquaintances into friends , and our friend becomes a second self ; but the inward delight which gladdens the heart , surpasses even these vivid external manifestations ,
Ambition , when arrived at the topmost round , feels not the internal satisfaction which the fourth glass awakes in the breast of the votary of Lyffius . Nor has the bibulous philosopher need to travel through the thorny paths that lead to the dull realities of fortune , reputation , knowledge or power , when he has all the pleasures that flow from them in his bright imaginings ; and who—the bottle drained—feels rich , wise , and potent , as a monarch . It is vain to say such pictures are seductive : —are they not true ?
Even of vice we must speak the truth : —she will not the less retain her captivations because we deny she possesses any . —We must treat the subject fairly , and follow the wide distinction which nature has made between genial indulgence and vicious excess . We must be blind indeed not to see this distinction in the many examples of each that are before us . The folly and madness of the drunken man ' s conversation ,
the degradation of his intellect , the disgusting expression of his countenance , and the mean , violent , and malignant passions by which he is agitated , the base and criminal actions of which he is capable , the symptoms of the paroxysm ofhis self-created disease , are but too apparent to all observers . To himself alone , the brief madness being over , the punishment is well known in all its bitterness ; the headache , the
sickness , the nervous tremor , not unmixed with remorse , follow directly ; in time , the understanding acquires a constant hebetude ; he feels that in one respect he has lost his good name—he becomes regardless of it in every other : he loses a taste for all amusements of an innocent and social nature ; the courtesies of society and the affection of relatives have no interest for him ; the very pride of manhood is abased ; all
feelings and motives of a gentler or nobler kind decay ; he responds only to the intensest excitements , to such as correspond with that high pitch of intoxication which becomes necessary to his temporary escape from the misery of a sober hour . Now its possible tendency to this state , or of an approach to it , is the