PREFACE.

In perusing the Minutes of Evidence reported by the Select Committee of the House of Commons, appointed in the year 1834 to make an inquiry into drunkenness, we have frequently been impressed with the idea, that were the valuable and lengthy information they comprise, well digested and condensed into a portable form, much good would result to the cause of temperance from its general circulation. So deep, indeed, was this impression, that we were upon the point of making the attempt, when it occurred to us, that by extracting some of its principal features, and combining them with others which we have met with from time to time in the various temperance periodicals of the day, a still more serviceable work might be issued to the public.

Having thought of this, we next set thought in action, and the following pages, however imperfect they may be, are the product of our labour. They will be found to consist, in a great measure, of cullings from the passing facts of the last two, three, or four years, that have been recorded by the chroniclers and journalists of the

temperance movement. These, with the liberal use made of the facts contained in the Parliamentary Report, and of others we have been able to collect, will serve us well for illustrating the causes, effects, and extent of intemperance; and having made it our study to select the most appropriate, and combine them in the best and most agreeable manner, we indulge the hope, that thus disinterred from the tumuli of dry, and now uninteresting, matter with which they were published, and rescued from the perishable nature of a magazine, they will render this humble attempt of our silent advocacy profitable to one of the greatest questions of moral reform that has been discussed since the creation of man.

PREFACE.

In perusing the Minutes of Evidence reported by the Select Committee of the House of Commons, appointed in the year 1834 to make an inquiry into drunkenness, we have frequently been impressed with the idea, that were the valuable and lengthy information they comprise, well digested and condensed into a portable form, much good would result to the cause of temperance from its general circulation. So deep, indeed, was this impression, that we were upon the point of making the attempt, when it occurred to us, that by extracting some of its principal features, and combining them with others which we have met with from time to time in the various temperance periodicals of the day, a still more serviceable work might be issued to the public.

Having thought of this, we next set thought in action, and the following pages, however imperfect they may be, are the product of our labour. They will be found to consist, in a great measure, of cullings from the passing facts of the last two, three, or four years, that have been recorded by the chroniclers and journalists of the temperance movement. These, with the liberal use made of the facts contained in the Parliamentary Report, and of others we have been able to collect, will serve us well for illustrating the causes, effects, and extent of intemperance; and having made it our study

to select the most appropriate, and combine them in the best and most agreeable manner, we indulge the hope, that thus disinterred from the tumuli of dry, and now uninteresting, matter with which they were published, and rescued from the perishable nature of a magazine, they will render this humble attempt of our silent advocacy profitable to one of the greatest questions of moral reform that has been discussed since the creation of man.

In treating of the Wines of the Ancients, we have received such facilities from that valuable collection, "The Standard Temperance Library," that we feel bound to pay its compiler, Dr. Lees, this tribute of acknowledgment: and although we have greatly enriched our pages from its stores, it seems to be scarcely in the least impoverished, but, like the mines of Potosi, to remain rich and inexhaustible.