Lingua. What, art thou there, Mendacio? pretty rascal; For Visus thinks himself-a ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Seing the mischief made by drink among them, their purveyor remarks :— Appetite. They want common sense amongst them. There's such a hurly-burly; Auditis is stark deaf, and wonders why men speak so softly that he cannot hear them: Visus hath drunk himself stark blind, and therefore imagineth himself to be Polyphemus: Tactus is raging mad, and cannot be otherwise persuaded but he is Hercules furens. There's such conceits amongst them. Again and again his astonishment rises, and he exclaims in wonder : Appetite. What a strange temper are the senses in! Two goodly surnames have they purchased. But since my fortunes cannot stretch so high, I'll rest contented with this wise estate. We have another description of the effects of drink on the senses given in these terms : Crapula. The noble senses, peers of microcosm, Will eft soon fall to ruin perpetual, Unless your ready helping hand re-cure them. And there fell mad or drunk, I know not whether: Sleep kindly thereafter visits them—even the heavy, restless sleep of inebriety, 'surfeit, and distemperature.' Their strange dreams form a portion of the fun of the play, for they are full, as drunkard's dreams, we suppose, are, of 'rake hell conceits.' Space warns us that we must draw our citations to a close. These, numerous as they are, are not nearly all that could be brought before our readers. We have in this case studiously gathered our extracts from the out of the way corners and by-paths of dramatic literature. The broad highway on which are the fields of exquisite thought and lessonteaching wisdom belonging to Shakespeare and Jonson, Beaumont and Fletcher, Massinger and Ford, we have not entered into; for they are better known than those from which we have selected, and are more readily accessible. Nor are their words and thoughts upon drink and the drink-traffic less earnest and affecting than those of these secondary, offthe-road dramatists. They speak with equal power to the same purpose, and this is all the more important to be noted because they spoke right out from the feelings of their own experience, and with no direct intent of being temperance advocates. We have now to make a last quotation; but this shall be to show that these men were not all ignorant of the way of safety. In a play called 'Microcosums,' by Thomas Nabbes, who, like Brewer, thought to make metaphysics interesting By breathing life and action into it, we have a character, Physander, who has exhausted all the delights of those servants of sensuality, the senses, and feels the vanity of all such pleasures, seeking a pathway to a newer life. Bellamina, his true wife, encouraging his good intents, confidently assures him :— : Thou shalt be cur'd by Temperance; From a rock, That weeps a running crystal, she doth fill Her shell-cup, and drinks sparingly. Rewards will only crown The end of a well-prosecuted good. Philosophy, religious solitude, And labour wait on temperance. In these Desire is bounded; they instruct the mind's And body's actions. "Tis lascivious ease That gives the first beginning to all ills; The thoughts being busied on good objects, sin Having tried the prescribed course, Physander finds that he has chosen the paths of pleasantness and peace, and says Bellamina. Temperance, to thee I owe my after life; Thou that command'st o'er pleasures, hating some, Physander. That is reward To virtue, and to vice its punishment. To what end, then, have we prosecuted this painful search through the pages of the amusers of our ancestors? and wherefore have we laid before our readers these passages from our elder dramatists? For these among other ends;-that men may see from the lives of these authors, whose superfused activity gave life even to their thoughts, that neither learning nor talent can of themselves supply moral control, or so discipline the heart as to enable it to avoid or overcome the seductions of the senses; that from the wide induction of our old literature here made, it may be found proved, that drink has in all times been a foe to human elevation, a producer of woe, a degrader of man, and a destroyer of social and civil happiness; that by an exhibition of the effects of drink, as drawn by men who knew well its consequences and results, and showed them to a people observant of the facts of life, we might attract the attention of those who cannot see the loathsomeness of indulgence in themselves to this mirror of the drunkard's life; that from the perusal of these passages in the literature of the olden time, we may be warned against following fashions which may rise up in judgment against our age; and that from the horror inspired by the mere literary exhibition of the evils of the sin of drunkenness, we may be taught to abstain from the real exhibition of such intemperance, either by accident or habit, in our own persons; for here is another word still of the old dramatists on drink-a defence of our article from The Muse's Looking-glass,' by Thomas Randolph : The Spartans when they strove t' express the loathsomeness Some captive Helot, overcharged with wine, In each man's face he met. This made 'em see RELIGIOUS WORSHIP AND THE POOR. 1. Working Men and Religious Institutions. James Clark and Co., 13, Fleet-street. 2. Lectures on the Reasons and Excuses given by Intelligent Mechanics for not Going to Church. By the Rev. E. White. Elliot Stock, 62, Paternoster Row. 3. Surrey Chapel; its Services and Institutions. Press, Camden Road. THE Caxton HE phases of religious thought are very various, and perhaps nearly as diverse are the pretexts men have for abstaining from acts of public worship. This was shown at a Conference recently held at the London Coffee House, between a number of influential ministers and laymen, with some representatives of the working classes. To this peculiar gathering we would for a short space direct the attention of our readers. The basis of the discussion was defined as follows by the promoters of the meeting: It is not proposed to include within the scope of this Conference the expression of objections which may be felt to the truth of Christianity, or to consider the evidence of particular doctrines which may be incidentally referred to; but only to inquire what are the objections, political, theological, or social, entertained against existing religious organisations by those who do not profess antagonism to the Christian religion, and to ascertain how far such objections really account for the alleged alienation of working men from the Churches. With this limitation in the object of the Conference, the freest utterances will be invited from all parties, in the hope that mutual explanations may ultimately lead to a better understanding and practical improvements. The invitations to the Conference were sent by circular. Fourteen clergymen of different denominations, and twelve laymen, inclusive of several persons widely known in the temperance and philanthropic world, were the conveners. Mr. Edward Miall was chosen chairman of the Conference by common consent, and the event proved that a happier selection could not have been made. The parties to the debate were ranged on opposite sides of the capacious apartment, that the wearers of fustian might not feel themselves in danger of being overawed by the wearers of broadcloth. Among the more noteworthy individuals present were the Dean of Westminster, Canons Miller and Champneys, Revs. T. Binney, Newman Hall, Dr. Raleigh, W. Brock, Dr. Burns, and Dr. Edwards; T. Hughes, Esq., M.P., Hon. A. Kinnaird, M.P.; Messrs. Edmond Beales, J. M. Ludlow, W. H. Walsen, Henry Lee (Manchester), C. E. Mudie, and George Potter. It had been deemed desirable, if possible, to eliminate the professedly infidel element from the gathering. A glance, however, at the list of persons present shows plainly to the initiated that this portion of the programme was not carried out. A story is told by a temperance speaker of a professed atheist who was present. The unbeliever was at the opening of a temperance hall, and on one of the speakers invoking the blessing of Heaven, and the aid of ministers in the good work, he demurred to the remarks as inappropriate and uncalled for, affirming that the man who invented gas had been of more advantage to the world than all the parsons and religions put together. This interruption caused great commotion, until a speaker rose from the platform and stilled the tumult by urging upon all present to tolerate difference of opinion in such matters, 'as,' said he, there is no accounting for tastes; for instance, if the friend who has spoken were dying and required consolation, he, of course, would send for his minister; on the contrary, the gentleman who interrupted would, under similar circumstances, send for the gasfitter.' The It may be as well to state here that, while some exceedingly strong statements were occasionally made, so far as could be publicly discerned there was no desire on the part of the speakers to make the utterance needlessly offensive. chairman's dictum on this point was most pertinent :- The most unrestrained freedom of utterance is quite compatible, it may be well to remember, with gentleness of spirit, with a considerate regard to the feelings of others, with a cautious. abstinence from the imputation of unworthy motives, and with a generous, brotherly, charitable bearing. I am confident that they will best further the end of the Conference who "nothing extenuate" and who also "set down nought in malice." Plain speaking is not to be confounded with bitter speaking. If sometimes the surgeon must use the knife to lay bare the core of an ulcer, he will be careful at least not to turn the knife in the wound, or inflict more pain than is inseparable from probing the unsound place.' As a rule, this wholesome advice was rigidly adhered to. Some of the objections touched things ecclesiastical; as that the Church establishment was a monopoly to a certain extent, though perhaps no monopoly was intended; that there was a strong feeling against a State Church; that the great emoluments of bishops were objectionable, and 'the accursed system of selling livings;' that the rectors had fat livings, and the curates too often had starving stipends; that electing bishops, when they had been already chosen by the Prime Minister, was a mockery; that the advertising. |