ABSTRACT
There are two sorts of intemperate persons: some are flushed with liquor, or, it may be, drowned in riot, but it is not often; others exceed more frequently, but the symptoms are not so visible and gross. The first plead their general sobriety; the last challenge people to mention a single instance of brutal excess. They are both deceived, they are both slaves of appetite; the difference between them must be sought for in their palates, in the measure of their prudence, in the cast of their associates, in any thing rather than in their principles. Excessive drinking is imprudent. It brings dimness and decay over the faculties of the soul; it has made the rich poor, and the condition of the poor intolerable; it robs a man of his real friends, and gathers round him designing knaves and empty fools; it destroys the taste for innocent and solid pleasure; it arms reflection with a sting.
