Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1865-10-27

laborer employed in extra hard work of
any kind, will frequently consume as much
as two gallons of porter a day to his own
share. The intoxication produced by
beer, as frequently to be witnessed in Eng
land, has something very swinish about
it; but it is to be doubted whether the
effects produced by malt liquors on the
system, even when taken to excess, are
nearly so injurious as those occasioned by
ardent spirits.
1t is in the English 'gin palaces" not in
the ~ale-houses, that the squalor and misery
of intoxicatiOn are to be seen. The "ginp
doled out in these dens is compounded,
for the most part of oil of v%itriol, turpen-
tine, alum, sugar-of-lead, and such like
wholesome ingredients. The delirium
tremens induced by it is mostly of afeeble
character, and not to be compared to the
mania-a-potu that may be enjoyed upon
such delectahle fluids as one can obtain
for six cents a glass in the Sixth, Fourth
and most other Of our city wards. The
English gin-palace, on the whole, approx
imates more nearly to the American bar
than any other of the shrines consecrated
to the worship of Bacchus upon British
principles. But it is a bar for the lowest
ofthe low only, and misery, not geniality,
Is the prevailing element.
The individuals who are to be seen as
sembled at the table in an English tap
room, with mugs of ale before them and
long clay pipes in their mouths, are not
usually of a dyspeptic type. This may
be partly owing to the non-existence of
that habit already referred to by me-that
of drinking much ardent spirits before
meals. The sturdy Briton likes to have a
solid foundation for his tipple-he does.
For his bouts of drinking he usually re-
serves himself until evening, when the bus
tie of the day is over. Then he goes
about it seriously enough, it must be ad-
mitted. But the science of toxicologv
has not reached in England the sub
tie perfection to which it has here attained.
The liquors there are not adulterated with
in the One-sixteenth Of an inch of a mans
life. That is, undoubtedly, one secret of
the comparative impunity with which the
English tippler pursues his career stimu-
lated hilarity. The mellowness of the
good liquor shows out i'll time upon his
ripe nose and apple-bloomy cheeks but if
he has u skeleton i'll his closet 1t is not dys-
pepsia. Allmentary by instinct, food is
laid in by him as a barricde against the
effects of drink, and his wonderful assidu-
ity in sleeping it Off insures him still
further against injurious results.
Until within the memory Of the present
generation, drinking TO excess was by no
means considered an questionable thing
among the higher classes of English sOcie-
ty. The old style English ~fox-hunting !
squire, who used to polish off his couple of l
bottles of port every day after dinner,
is now, however, nearly an extinct type.
As a rule, the rotations Of these CHEEKY
old bucks wore confined to the evening
board. Exceptions to this were rare. The \
most remarkable L remember hearing was ]
that of the once famous Jack Mytton of
Hall. He was a polished gentle 1
man and scholar, and the biceps-muscle of
his arm was larger in circumference than I
that of jackson, the renowned pugilist.
By-and-by Mytton, of Halston, took to
tipping in the morning, and at last he was
to drink two bottles of port every
morning to steady his hand while shaving. 4
He died at Calais, of delirium tremens
produced by French brandy, to which he
himself driven as last. Nova
lays tipping is looked in good English So ST
as vulgar. Even jolly, crusty, cob
webby old port wine has had its day, and
,laret is now coming into favor. England
s teaching France to ride steeple-chases,
md France reciprocates by teaching Eng
and to drink like gentlemen.
There are but few Englishmen in
who nave not become naturalized, Il
more or less, to the American fashion of Il
They like to fall back on their
DID, World style of conviviality though, In
when they have a chance. The English &c
lie house is almost an institution here, and We
hey have they nave their free-and-easys u
nd clubs. 1 dined once by invitation
an English club-a club of exclusive
nd festive elements lourishing on Ameri-
an sell. The party, some fifteen in num- IN
consisted for the most part of old III
4ondoners who had been in this country
Or many years. Their traditions chung
them like ivy around so many fine
Id oaks. Roast beef, boiled legs of NUT
IN, foaming tankards of ale-such were
ne staples sfthe repast. Whisky punches GIL
and under its influence the ex-
Britons broke forth into the
of their native land.
The President of the club was a huge Gil
Id gentleman of seventy, whose muscu-
II system appears to be in equally good
reservation with his sonorous voice. The
,ngs sung around this hospitable board nj
ere the songs picked up by the singers
the London free-and-easy of fifty years
20. There was nothing of the washy
stamp about them. The r%ecita-
ons with which the exercises of the even
lg were varied might have been fresh,
when Theodore Hook was a boy. 5
o~nservatism reigned triumphant; and q
ct, with all this, the institutions of Amer u
were daily honored among the toasts of
lie night; and if "God Save the Queen s"
as given with a good will, SO also did
Hail, Columbia ring out sonorously
ng before the midnight hour.-N. 7.
v