Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1879-02-07

WHEN THE ENGLISH GOT THE HABIT OF GETTING
nRIrNk-TuE GRADUAL PRoGREss.

WHEN THE ENGLISH GOT THE HABIT OF GETTING
DRUNK-THE GRADUAL PROGRESS.
The vice of drunkenness is said to have
been OF rare occurrence in England prior to
the reign of Elizabeth. But when portion
of her troops went over to the Netherlands
TO assist William of Orange in defending the
liberties of his country against Phillip IL. OF
SPAIN they there acquired convlvial habits,
which, on their return, were speedily spread
over their own land. Camden states, in his
"History of Queen Elizabeth, that 1.-THE Eng
lisb. in their long wars with the Netherlands,
first learned to drown themselves with I'M
moderate drinking. and, by drinking others
health to impair their own. Of all the north
era nations, they had been before this most
| commended for their sobriety." The same
assertion had been made by Tom Nash IN his
pierce Penniless" which was written at the
yery time when inebriety had begun to de
grade and enslave the people. ''Supertiuity
in drink says the writer, us SIN that,
ever since we have mixed ourselves with the
low countries, is counted honorable ; but, be-
fore We knew their lingering wars, was held
in the highest degree of hatred that might be.
Then if We had seen man go wallowing in
the streets, or lain sleeping under the board.
We should have spit at him, and warned all
our friends out of his company.
| Disraei advances the opinion, IN his ar
ticle on drinking Customs in Europe, IN
the 'Curiosities OF Literature that all the
terms of drinking which once abounded in
England were of Dutch, Danish or German
origin. Thus the phrase half seas over he
| regards a. borrowed from the Dutch The
| term op--ee, or oversee was gwen to stupe-
fying beer introduced into England from the
low countries, and by an easy transforma-
tion and expansion, ran finally INTO the ek-
preston half-seas over, or nearly drunk.
| Rouse and carouse came from the Danes
rouse being the name of large cup in which
the health was drunk, and coTouSe the act of
drinking healths by a company.
1t was q favorite notion with writers on
drunkenness, in the time OF Elizabeth, that
a man in the different stages ofintoxication
exhibited the vicious qualities of different
| animals and in this notion Mr.. Disraeli
fancies that the expression peculiar to the
| English drunk as a beast" or "beastly
drunk, had its origin. Among the writers
cited in illustration of his idea, sketch of
different classes of drunksrds is quoted from
| Nash. which Is of sufficient interest TO merit
repeating The first is dpe-dT7ulk; and he
leaps. and sings and hollows, and danceth
for the heavens. The second is ly0n-drlfk
and he filings the pots about the house,
| breaks the glass windows with his dagger
and is apt to quarrel with any man that
speaks TO him. The third is strine-drlulk:
he is heavy, lumpish and sleepy and cries for
| a little more drink ana n few more clothes
| The fourth is Shefp-drlulk; wise IN his own
conceit when he cannot bring forth n right
word The fifth is mdtdlH-dr,nht; when a
| fellow will weep for kindness in the midst of
| his drink and kiss Won. The sixth
is uartiH-dr,pk; when a man is drunk and
| drinks himself sober ere he stir. The seven
enth is goat-dI7DAt: when in his drunkenness
he hath no mind but on lechery. The eighth
is t0r-dI7uik; when he is crafty drunk, as
many of the Dutchmen may be, which will
never bargain but when they are drunk. All
these species and more have seen practiced
| in one company at one sitting, when have
been permitted to remain sober amongst
them only to note their several humors"
At the time of the restoration, excesses of
every sort were at their height. 'Duelling
snd raking, says Green, became the marks
of fine gentlemen and grave divines wink
ed at the follies of honest fellows, who
fought gambled, swore, drank and ended
day OF debauchery by night in the gutter
Beer or ale was the beverage ofthe people,
being as NIacaulay states, not only as beer
now is, but all that wine, tea and arden.
spirits now are. 1t was only at great houses,
or on great occasions, that foreign drink was
placed on the board
The introduction of coffee in the latter part
of the seventeenth century had visible eff
feet in diminishing the use of intoxicating
drinks according to Lecky, never quite so
general as between the time of Elizabeth and
the revolution. 1T was computed in 16SS,
remarks this author, that no less than r.
400, 900 barrels of still beer or ale were brew
ed in England in single year, though the
entire population probably little exceeded
), 900, 900.
In lG95, with a somewhat heavier excise, it
sank to IL, $50, 900 barrels but even then al
most a third part or The arabic iand oil The
,incda.-. isvoted TO barley" The Eng
lish manufacture of spirits was greatly ex-
tended by the prohibition in 1859 of the i'm
portation of foreign liquors. at was not
TILL about 1924" writes Lecky in his most
graphic history of drunkenness in England,
that the passion for gin-drinking appears to
have affected the masses of the population
and it spread with the rapidity and violence
OF an epidemic. Small as is the place which
this fact occupies in English history, it was
probably if we consider all the consequences
that have flowed from it, the most momen-
tous III that of the eighteenth century-in-
comparably more SO than any event in the
purely political or military annals of the
country. The fatal passion for drink WAS at
once and irreyocably planted in the nation.
The average of British spirits distilled,
which is said to have been only 527, 900 gal
Ions in l6Si aud 1000 900 i'll l7l4, had risen
IN l727 to 3G0l $50, and in l7j5 to 81. 1874, 900
gallons. Physicians declared that in excess
sive gin drinking new and terrible scourge
of mortality had been opened for the poor.
Retailers of gin were accustomed to
hang out printed boards, announcing that
their customers could be made drunk for a
penny, and dead drunk for two pence, and
should have straw for nothing and cellars
strewn with straw were accordingly provided,
into which those who had become insensible
were dragged, and where they remained till
they had sufficiently recovered to renew
their orgies.
The government finally interposed to
lessen the frightful prevalence OF the evil.
In 1876 measure tact ., Zee. H., c. % i'm
posing an enormous tax upon all saleable IL
quors, recited in the preamble that The
drinking Of spirltuous liquors, or strong wa
tiers, Is becoming very common, especially
among the people of lower and inferior rank
the constant and excessive use whereof
tends greatly to the destruction of their
healths. rendering them unfit for useful labor
and business, debauching their morals and
exciting them to perpetrate all manner of
vices. In consequence of this tax the con-
sumption Of liquors fell for brief space ; but
in l7i2 the production. again increasing,
amounted to 100000 gallons in 1873,
to return again to the narrative of Lecky,
''more than 1000 persons were convicted of
selling spiTituous liquors without license,
and the number of private gin-shops within
the bills of mortality WAS estimated at more
than 1000. At the same time crime and
immortality of every description were rapidly
increasing. The London physicians stated
in 1870 that there were in or about the me
tropois no less than 10, COO cases of illness,
most of them beyond the reach OF medicine,
directly attributable to GIN
liy active and efficient legislation the evil
was gradually subdued and 1t is observed
by Lecky that among the favorable results
ensuing was the decrease of dropsy, which
had risen IN London to a wholly unprece-
dented point between l7ls and l75l. but now
Immediately diminished, and the elimination
was ascrihed by physicians, to the marked