But however highly this Tribe of People may think of themselves, a drunken Man is a greater Monster than any that is to be found among all the Creatures which God has made; as indeed there is no Character which appears more despicable and deformed, in the Eyes of all reasonable Persons, than that of a Drunkard. Bonosus, one of our own Countrymen, who was addicted to this Vice, having set up for a Share in the Roman Empire, and being defeated in a great Battle, hang’d himself.  When he was seen by the Army in this melancholy Situation, notwithstanding he had behaved himself very bravely, the common Jest was, That the Thing they saw hanging upon the Tree before them, was not a Man but a Bottle.  This Vice has very fatal Efects on the Mind, the Body, and Fortune of the Person who is devoted to it.

In regard to the Mind, it first of all discovers every Flaw in it.  The sober Man, by the Strength of Reason, may keep under and subdue every Vice or Folly to which he is most inclined; but Wine makes every latent Seed sprout up in the Soul, and shew it self.  It gives Fury to the Passions, and Force to those Objects which are apt to produce them.  When a young Fellow complained to an old Philosopher that his Wife was not handsome, Put less Water in your Wine, says the Philosopher, and you’ll quickly make her so.  Wine heightens Indifference into Love, Love into Jealousy, and Jealousy into Madness.  It often turns the Good-natured Man into an Ideot, and the Cholerick into an Assassin.  It gives Bitterness to Resentment, it makes Vanity insupportable, and displays every little Spot of the Soul in its utmost Deformity.  Nor does this Vice only betray the hidden Faults of a Man, and shew them in the most odious Colours, but often occasions Faults to which he is not naturally subject.  There is more of Turn than of Truth in a Saying of Seneca, That Drunkenness does not produce but discover Faults.  Common Experience teaches us the contrary.  Wine throws a Man out of himself, and infuses Qualities into the Mind, which she is a Stranger to in her sober Moments.  The Person you converse with, after the third Bottle, is not the same Man who at first sat down at Table with you.  Upon this Maxim is founded one of the prettiest Sayings I ever met with, which is ascribed to Publius Syrus, Qui ebrium ludificat ladit absentem; He who jests upon a Man that is Drunk, injures the Absent.

Thus does Drunkenness act in direct Contradiction to Reason, whose Business it is to clear the Mind of every Vice which is crept into it, and to guard it against all the Approaches of any that endeavours to make its Entrance.  But besides these ill Effects which this Vice produces in the Person who is actually under its Dominion, it has also a bad Influence on the Mind even in its sober Moments, as it insensibly weakens the Understanding, impairs the Memory, and makes those Faults habitual which are produced by frequent Excesses.

I should now proceed to shew the ill Effects which this Vice has on the Bodies and Fortunes of Men; but these I shall reserve for the Subject of some future Paper.