tables, food, &c. The effect which gas, the manner and the places of sepulture and other substances and habits have upon the inhabitants do not pass unnoticed or without suggestions. We go forward to the remarks on the abuse of spirits, in which there will be facts found that will surprise both the declaimers about the increase of Gin Palaces, and those who are in the habit of swallowing immoderate quantities of liquid fire.

A hundred years ago, says Dr. Hogg, the inhabitants of London were grievously addicted to drunkenness, particularly the lower classes, as may be imagined from the fact that there were then three times as many houses open for the sale of spiritous liquors, as there are now, even although the town was only about a third of its present size. According to Maitland, the number of such houses, including inns, taverns, coffee-houses, ale-houses, and brandy-shops, was 15,839, whereas, according to M'Culloch, in 1835, it was 5000. The repeal of an act which imposed five shillings on every gallon of British spirits, with the view of preventing smuggling, seems to have given rise suddenly to this monstrous state of things, and which attracted the attention of the legislature. One noble lord said he had seen the people as he had passed to the House, lying insensible in the streets, and the Bishop of Salisbury improved upon this, by adding that boards were put up inscribed with, "You may get drunk for one penny, dead drunk for two pence, and have clean straw for nothing!!" The proprietors of public-houses actually provided cellars and places strewed with straw, for the accommodation of their customers. In consequence of certain enactments a great improvement took place in the manners of the inhabitants relative to the vice in question. One admirable result, however, followed from this prevalent drunkenness-it called forth the matchless satire of Hogarth.

"It was during this mania for drunkenness that HOGARTH flourished, and the vice of the day afforded numberless subjects for his humorous brush the last Scotch rebellion having broken out in 1745, he took the opportunity of exhibiting the effect of the liquid poison on one of the regiments of footguards, on their MARCH to FINCHLEY.' The troops are represented in great disorder, all more or less under the influence of spirits, and the scene is between two public-houses, the King's Head and the Adam and Eve, at the two corners of the Hampstead-road and the New-road.

"Hogarth about the same time painted the two celebrated pictures of 'GIN LANE' and BEER STREET,' in the former of which the victims to the seducing poison are put into coffins in the street, and in the latter the gouty gentleman in his sedan chair is obliged to wait at the public-house door, while the two chairmen get some drink. The actual destruction of life at that period from the abuse of spirits was very great. The number of births in a town generally much exceeds the deaths; it is so in London at present, and it had been so previous to the period spoken of, but the numbers during the rage for drunkenness had become nearly equal, and

afterwards the deaths exceeded the births; to such an extent, indeed, had the mortality increased, that, in the year 1741, the burials were 32,169, while the christenings were only 14,937.

"Again, the mortality, in 1700, was one in twenty-five annually; but, in 1741, it had increased to one in twenty-a twentieth part of the people being taken off every year-at which rate the whole population would disappear in twenty years."

The "Spirit of Gin is again raising its demon head," continues the author, and the following is the picture, (we think it is in various particulars exaggerated), which he draws of the present,

"Within the last six or seven years, the public-houses have altogether changed their character and appearance. Instead of the house of entertainment, where the mechanic could take his pipe and pint of ale after his work, or the stranger find a resting place after his journey, there is now only standing-room before a stately counter, behind which are arranged a number of sleek and smart bar-maids and waiters, and over which is supplied, in never-ceasing succession, glass after glass of gin to a ragged, cadaverous assemblage of both sexes, who, as soon as served with their ardent potion, stagger forth to make room for other groups of a similar description. Gin is almost the only fluid drank, and if a poor man, tired from his labour, ask leave to sit down to take his pot of porter, he will most probably be told by one of the flippant attendants at the bar that they can give no such accommodation; that, in fact, they do not provide room for people who come there on business.

"Crowds of people are always to be observed in and about the doors of the public-houses in the principal thoroughfares; they are to be seen in the street in the morning, waiting for the doors of these houses to be opened, they are with difficulty dislodged from them at midnight, but the most trying period of all is that during the hours of divine service on a Sunday, when the swinish multitude, half intoxicated and noisy, are expelled into the street to hover and quarrel about the doors, until the service is over, and the doors again open to admit them, to complete their fill of debauchery,"

What are the consequences of gin drinking?

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Apoplexy, Delirium tremens, Insanity, Palsy, Dropsy, Liver complaints, and general break up of the constitution, are among the most common ills incident to this vicious habit; the ultimate effect, as we have already seen, is—death.

"A very strong fact, corroboratory of the opinions here advanced, is contained in the Middlesex Asylum Report for 1834, it is thus expressed : - The 76 deaths which have occurred in the year have been, with the exception of those who have died from advanced age, principally caused by the disease of the brain, of the lungs, and the complaints brought on by those deadly potions of ardent spirits in which the lower classes seem more than ever to indulge. In a very great number of the recent cases, both amongst the men and women, the insanity is caused entirely by spirit drinking. This may, in some measure, be attributed to the young not being taught to consider the practice disgraceful, and to their being VOL. III. (1837.) No. 1.

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tempted, by the gorgeous splendour of the present gin mansions, to begin a habit which they never would have commenced had they been obliged to steal, fearful of being observed, into the obscurity of the former dram shop."

And how is gin compounded?

This train of ills is attributable to the abuse of intoxicating drinks, more especially spirits, without reference to these being adulterated to a most dangerous extent; it is well known that the gin that is consumed in London is composed of the most destructive poisons; gin, in its pure state, is a most wholesome spirit; but the London dramshop keeper, to make the liquor intoxicating, and, at the same time to increase his profit on its sale, adds oil of vitriol, sugar of lead, alum, turpentine, and other drugs in large proportions, reckless alike of his own character, and of the injury he inflicts on the community. The spirit is sent out by the distiller in a pure form, and of uniform strength; but the publican dilutes and adulerates it in various ways, and with impunity, for there is no law sufficient to prevent or punish this nefarious act; the dilution may be effected before the eyes of the exciseman, and he dare not interfere (as stated by one of the witnesses before the House of Commons committee on drunkenness), they only duty of the officer being to see that there is no increase of the stock at the distiller's strength without a proper permit; the publican consequently commences operations on the gin as soon as it arrives on his premises, and large quantities of oil of vitriol, alum, nitre, ether, turpentine, white copperas and salt of tartar, with copious draughts of water, are added to the original stock, which now undergoes a change in its quality (speaking chemically), the result of which is, that the compound, instead of being a wholesome spirituous liquor, becomes an acrid ether; its taste is changed from a pure alcoholic flavour to that of a fiery poison, which almost excoriates the palate and throat as it is swallowed, and a fluid more highly injurious to the animal economy could scarcely be invented. Thus, instead of the people taking 3 wholesome spirit in moderation, they take an immoderate quantity of a raw poisonous compound, more nearly allied to vitriolic ether than to any other fluid. It may not be amiss to mention, also, that the distiller's price is fourteen shillings the gallon, eight and sixpence of which is duty, whereas the publican retails his compound at eight shillings the gallon. The inference from this must be sufficiently obvious."

It came out before the Committee of the House of Commons, in the inquiry concerning the extent and causes of drunkenness, at the instance of Mr. Buckingham, late member for Sheffield, that the vice of intoxication has been for some time past on the decline among the higher and middle ranks of society, but has increased within the same period among the labouring classes throughout the three kingdoms. In Glasgow, one witness said, that the sum spent in liquors was nearly equal to the "whole amount expended in public institutions of charity and benevolence in the entire united kingdom."

Gin, however, is not the only liquid that is swallowed in immense quantities by people in London. Malt liquor, in the shape of

porter, and which is greatly adulterated also, is consumed by some classes at a rate that must be incredible to those who have not witnessed the potions swallowed by its swiggers. The author mentions that the coal-heavers on the Thames frequently drink each. from two to three gallons in one day.

The worse than bestial practices to which we have been referring are not the only ones which are laid to the account of the Londoners, among those which are in direct violation of good taste and health. Here is part of Dr. Hogg's list of pernicious practices.

"The city of London has long had the character of gluttony on all festive occasions; and indeed it contains so many corporations that this is not to be wondered at, for these bodies seem intended to encourage gormandizing, enabling as they do their members to feed at the public expense. Some of the aldermen of the city have been particularly distinguished in this respect, and the demand for the most extravagant luxuries for the table has been met by efforts of no ordinary nature on the part of the caterers for civic entertainments; nay, it has often occurred that three or four worthies have met to dine at a tavern in the city, and their bill has amounted to £5 a head,

"With the exception of this chartered portion of the town, the metropolis cannot be accused of gluttony, though it is common for all classes to live well, if their means will permit them so to do. The quantity of animal food and fermented liquor taken by the lower classes of tradesmen and operatives, appears to be greater than is consumed in the country, and the additional stimulus thus generated cannot but be prejudicial to health; the practice of eating supper also prevails among these classes of persons, not unfrequently accompanied by a certain quantity of ardent spirits, a practice so detrimental that none but those in good health are able to follow it.

"Nothing more plainly betrays our ignorance of the principles of health, and at the same time our slavish submission to selfish indulgence, than the custom of eating suppers: instead of allowing the body, with its multifarious powers, to be refreshed by tranquil sleep, and the mind to be relieved from care and thought, irritation and excitement, the stomach is loaded with probably a heterogeneous mass of food, and the whole machinery of the inward man is forced into sluggish operation, when the vital powers are at the lowest ebb; the brain, feverish and disturbed, sends forth startling visions and horrifying dreams, until morning dawns, when the haunted imagination recovers itself, and is conscious of the mental and bodily vigour being rather exhausted than refreshed by the night's turmoil. This is not the exception with many persons, but the daily or rather nightly rule, and they persist in the pernicious course, notwithstanding that they are often sensible of the injury it inflicts on the constitution.

"The hours at which meals are taken in London, more particularly by the middle and upper ranks of society, are at variance with nature's rules, and consequently tend to the lowering of the standard of health. It is no argument that persons go on from day to day, living irregular lives, and still enjoy good health; it is their good health which enables them to do

so, and is the cause of their keeping up, rather than the effects of the course pursued; some persons lead most extraordinary lives, eating and drinking of every thing, eatable or drinkable, that comes in their way, often to great excess and without reference to time or season, disregardful alike of hours, either for meals, pleasure, or repose; but these have constitutions of iron, which last for a while, but the time comes when they cannot do as they used; nature calls out at last, and they are compelled to confine themselves more to sobriety and rule.

"Dinner is considered the chief meal amongst civilized people in modern times; it was usually taken about the middle of the day, and continues to be so in agricultural districts and among the lower classes : among the higher, however, it is now usual to take this meal in the evening, and it has become one of the characteristics of a genteel family that they dine at six or seven o'clock. In London, where appearances go so far, where etiquette is the gauge of good breeding, and where fashion rules triumphant, the upper ranks seem anxious to outstrip each other in the lateness of their dining hour. Hence it is very common, in the mansions of the great, for the dinner not to be served until after nine o'clock. This custom is the effect of necessity with a portion of the higher orders resident in the metropolis, and of imitation with the remainder; business occupies the members of the government, for instance, until late in the evening, and pleasures are devised for the fashionables to enable them to get over the tedium of the day.

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This lateness, this turning night into day, is decidedly prejudicial to health. It is the cause of indisposition to thousands in London; it robs youth of its bloom, manhood of its vigour, and old age of most of the few remaining enjoyments of life. It is the result solely of mismanagement on the part of one party, and of folly on the other. Late rising in the morning, and procrastination of the business of the day, are the mismanagement which leads to this state of things.

"Late rising has become a confirmed habit of the upper classes in London it is not, like late dining, an essential mark of respectability to lie in bed till the middle of the day; but it is, nevertheless, the custom at present for members of parliament and people of fashion to breakfast at noon, and commence the business of the day after the sun has completed half his diurnal course. This is a most pernicious habit, both as regards health and the despatch of business. Its effects on the young are most strongly marked, it is the cause of the emaciated form and haggard look, of the sallow cheek and glassy eye, of the inward weakness and incapacity for business, and often even for pleasure, and yet fashion keeps its slaves by silken reins within this harassing track. It is this which renders many persons incapable of residing in London, and compels them to fly to peaceful retirement, with its simple habits and unsophisticated rules."

By the household book of the Percy family, it appears that, in the fifteenth century, the Earl of Northumberland and his household rose at six, dined at ten, and supped at four, the gates being all shut at nine. In queen Elizabeth's time, the hours of meals were much the same. Fashion, however, is too despotic to yield to any lessons on this and other subjects, such as those of clothing and