Cheap Repository.

# THE GIN-SHOP;
*Or, a Peep into a Prison.*

LOOK through the land from North
to South,
And look from East to West;
And fee what is to Englishmen,
Of Life the deadlieft Pelt.

It is not Want, tho' that is bad,
Nor War, tho' that is worfe;
But Britons brave endure, alas!
A self-inflicted Curfe.

Go where you will throughout the Realm
You'll find the reigning Sin,
In Cities, Villages and Towns;
—The Monfier's name is GIN.

The Prince of darknefs never fent
To Man a deadlier foe;
"My name is Legion," it may say,
The fource of every woe.

Nor does the fiend alone deprive
The labourer of his wealth;
That is not all, it murders too
His honest name and health.

We pay the times are grievous hard,
And hard they are, 'tis true;
But, Drunkards, to your wives and babes
They're harder made by you.

The Drunkard's Tax is felf-impos'd,
Like every other fin;
The taxes all together lay,
No weight to great as GIN.

The State compels no man to drink,
Compels no man to game;
'Tis GIN and gambling fink him down
To rags, and want, and flame.

The kindeft husband, chang'd by GIN,
Is for a tyrant known;
The tendereft heart that Nature made,
Becomes a heart of flone.

In many a houſe the harmleſs babes
Are poorly cloth'd and fed;
Because the craving GIN-SHOP takes
The children's daily bread.

Come, neighbour, take a walk with me,
Thro' many a London Street;
And fee the caufe of pennry,
In hundreds we fhaſt meet.

We fhaſt not need to travel far—
Behold that great man's door;
He well difeerns that idle crew,
From the deferving poor.

He will relieve with liberal hand
The child of honest Thrift;
But where long fcores at GIN-SHOP'S ſtand
He will with-hold his gift.

Behold that thivering female there,
Who plies her woeful trade!
'Tis ten to one you'll find that GIN,
That hopeleſs wretch has made.

Look down thefe ftops, and view below
Yon cellar under ground;
There every want, and every woe,
And every Sin, is found.

Thofe little wretches trembling there,
With hunger and with cold,
Were by their parents love of GIN,
To Sin and Mifery fold.

Bleſſe the ſhoſe friends* to human kind,
Who take theſe wretches up,
Ere they have drunk the bitter dregs
Of their ſad parents cup.

Look thro'-that prifon's iron bars,
Look thro' that difmal grate;
And learn what dire misfortunes brought
To terrible a fate,

The Debtor and the Felon too,
Tho' differing much in fin,
Too oft youll find were thither brought
By all-deftroying GIN.

Yet Heaven forbid I ſhou'd confound
Calamity with guilt!
Or name the Debior's leſer fault,
With blood of Brother ſpilt.

*The Philanthropic Society.

To prifon dire misfortune oft
The quitlęſs debtor brings;
Yet oft'ner far it will be found
From GIN the mifery springs.

See the pale Manufact'rer there,
How lank'and lean he lies!
How haggard is his fickely cheek!
How dim his hollow eyes!

He plied the loom with good fucceſs,
His wages ſtil were high;

Twice what the Village lab'rer gains,
His matter did ſupply.

No book-debts kept him from his caſh,
All paid as foon as due;
His wages on the Saturday
To fail he never knew.

How amply had his gains ſuffic'd,
On Wife and children ſpent !
But all muſt for his plaſures go;
Alt to the GIN-SHOP went.

See that Apprentice, young in years,
But hackney'd long in fin;
What made him rob his matter's Till ?
Alas ! 'twas love of GIN.

That ferving Man—I knew him once,
So jauny, ſpruce, and ſmarte !
Why did he ſteal, then pawn the plate ?
'Twas GIN enſnar'd his heart.

But hark ! what difmal found is that ?
'Tis Saint Sepulchre's Bell !
It tolls, alas ! for human guilt,
Some Malefactor's knell.

O ! woeful found, O ! what cou'd caufe,
Such Puffiſhment and Sin ?
Hark! hear his words, he owns the caufe—
BAD COMPANY, and GIN.

And when the future Lot is fix'd,
Of darkneſs, fire and chains,
How can the Drunkard hope to 'ſcape
Thofe everlaſting pains?

For if the Murd'rer's doom'd to woe,
As holy writ declares,
The Drunkard with SELV-Murderers
That dreadful Portion ſhares.

Z.

[Enter'd at Stationers Hall.]

Sold by S. HAZARD, (PRINTER to the CHEAP REPOSITORY for Moral and Religious Tracts) at BATH;

By J. MARSHALL, PRINTER to the

CHEAP REPOSITORIES, No. 17, Queen-Street, Cheap-Side, and No. 4, Aldermary Church-Yard; and
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