actuated, so far as regarded his personal accommodation and felicity.

After looking over the minutes of evidence upon this paltry prosecution, we were eager to know what could possibly be the result; and our heart was gladdened to discover that the impression which such a tissue of littleness had made upon this honourable Court, was in perfect unison with our own ideas of rectitude: they adjudged that the prisoner should be only privately admonished by the Colonel of his regiment: but when the whole of the proceedings were laid before his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, for his approval and confirmation, he saw through the whole affair so clearly, and acted upon that conviction so justly, that he immediately commanded that the very circumstance of the admonition should be remitted; which is tantamount to the most honourable triumph for Lieutenant Scott, to whose moderation and firmness every subaltern in the army should hold himself indebted, as the power in commanding officers to inforce obedience to orders that are in their nature frivolous or vexatious, is now done away for ever in the British Army.

So many cases of this teazing tendency, have been promulgated within the last few years in the military reports, that we are truly happy they have now received their judicial coup de grace for ever, from that source from whence all honour flows: as the condition of any officer would be miserable indeed, if it were in the power of every local commander,

"Dress'd in a little brief authority,"

To issue such orders as may comprehend so much of folly in their

spirit, that to obey them were to be debased in your own esteem; and not to obey them might render you liable to all the inconveniences and penalties of a Court Martial.Oh! it is eminently consolatory to a generous mind to know how. powerfully and efficaciously this just decree of the Prince Regent will operate to check those envious and malicious emotions, which but too frequently rage in the bosoms of small-hearted men in office, when they have superior beings to deal with, who have been subjected to their controul by accident or fortune. W.

gentlemen are arbiters of life and death. They have over us, jus vitæ 'et necis. We must therefore believe them. Ergo, let us heartily carouse. Every one knows that Hippocrates, the prince of physicians, prescribes getting drunk once a month, as a thing very necessary to the conservation of health; for, according to him, in the words of a certain French lady

"When from the bottle, flush'd with wine, we rise,

The brisk effluvia brighten in our eyes; This sweet and useful warmth still makes

us think,

That cups of potable rich gold we drink, Which baffles time, and triumphs over years,

Drives away grief, and sad perplexing

cares;

Does all, and yet in fables sweet disguise, O dire mishap! its only essence lies."

Avicenna and Rasis, most excellent physicians of Arabia, say, that it is a thing very salutary and wholesome to get drunk sometimes.

Monsieur Hofman confirms what has been just now said in relation to Avicenna, and adds thereto the testimony of another physician."Avicenna," says he, "ahsoJutely approves getting drunk once or twice every month, and alledges for it physical reasons."-Dioscorides says, "That drunkenness is not always hurtful, but that very often it is necessary for the conser vation of health."-Homer says, That Nestor, who lived so long, tossed off huge bocals of wine*.'

Monsieur Hofman believes also, that wine is an excellent preservative against distempers, and of an admirable use in their cure. In like manner, several divines believe,

that there is no manner of harm in getting drunk, when it is done for health's sake, and not for pleasure. In this class one may reckon Pere Taverne, a Jesuit. These are his words: "Drunkenness," says he, "is a mortal sin, if one falls into it for pleasure only; but if one gets drunk for any honest end, as for example, by direction of one's physician in order to recover health, there is no manner of harm in it at all."

But, however, not to digress too much from our subject, to preserve their health the Africans drink a great deal of wine; and this they do to help the digestion of the vast quantity of fruits they eat.

Montaigne tells us, that he heard Silvius, an excellent physician of Paris, say, "That to keep up the powers of the stomach, that they faint not, it would be very proper to rouze them up once a month by this wholesome excess. And if we believe Regnier, a young physician does not see so far as an old drunkard. We also say with the French poet Boileau

If Bourdaloue,+ somewhat severe,
Warns us to dread voluptuous sweets,
Good honest father Escobar,+
To fuddle for one's health permits.

And, by the bye, if the number of physicians, who used to get drunk, proves any thing, I could insert a good round catalogue, amongst whom I do not find any English doctors, for they are the most abstemious persons in the world; however, being unwilling to trouble my gentle reader with so long a bead-roll, I shall instance

only

only two very illustrious topers of the faculty. The first is no less a man than the great Paracelsus, who used to get drunk very often; and the other is the famous master Dr. Francis Rabelais, who took a singular pleasure to moisten his clay; or to make use of one of his own expressions, Humer le piot.

I could, after these, mention Patin, who tells us, That when he gave his public entertainment for his decanat, or deanship, at which thirty-six of his colleagues assisted, he never saw in all his life so nich toping. From all which, however, one may very reasonably infer, that so many able persons would never have drunk so much, had they not thought it was no ways prejudicial to their health. /

To conclude, let any one allege this verse as a maxim, that

It does no harm to take a glass or two,
But in great numbers mighty ills accrue.

And I shall do myself the honour to answer him with another verse, that sometimes

The only health to people hale and sound Is to have many a tippling health go

round.

And that this is true, witness the great Hippocrates, who says

That what to health conduceth best,
Is fuddling once a month at least.

CHAP. IV. THAT OLD PEOPLE OUGHT TO GET DRUNK SOMETIMES.

cal moisture. Hence came the proverb, which says, "That wine is the milk of old men." Tirellus, in his history, declares the same thing, when he says, "That wine

is the nutriment of natural heat." Conformably to this truth that old man acted, of whom Seneca makes mention, who, being pressed to drink wine cooled in snow, said, "That his age made him cold enough, and that he did not desire to be more cold than he was."Than which, certainly no answer could be more just and true.

Besides, the infirmities of an advanced age require some consolation and diversion. Let us see what Montaigne says, who was not much given to tippling; for he plainly says, that his gout and complexion were greater enemies to drunkenness than his discourse. His words are these-" The inconveniencies attending old age, which stand in need of some support and refreshment, might with reason produce in me a desire of this faculty, since it is as it were the last pleasure that the course of years steals from us. The natural heat, say the boon companions, begins first at the feet, this is the case of infancy; thence it ascends to the middle region, where it continues a long while, and there produces in my mind the only true pleasures of the corporal life; at last exhaling itself like a vapour, it moves upwards, till it comes to the throat, and there it makes its last

age,

The body languid grows, and ev'ry joint Its proper juice exhal'd, all feeble droops.

And is not the reason plain? because it moistens their dry temperament, and nourishes their radi

Athenæus, after Theophrastus, says, That wine drives away those irksome inquietudes to which old people are unhappily subject. And to conclude, the divine Plato as

snres us, that "Wine is a medicine as well for the body as the mind, the dryness of old people

have

have great occasion for this kind of moistening, and their severe genius of the brisk gaiety inspired by wine, without which they would not be able to perform their part in the concert, and consequently would be no longer useful members in the commonwealth, which is no other ways supported and preserved than by harmony."

CHAP. VII.-THAT WINE ACQUIRES FRIENDS, AND RECONCILES ENEMIES.

Friendship is a good so precious and valuable, and at the same time so very rare, that one cannot take too much care in order to procure it. The most efficacious means to do this is feasting. It is by eating and drinking together that conversation becomes more easy and familiar; and, to use the words of Monsieur de la Mothe le vayer, "We hold, that table communion unites people's very souls, and causes the strictest friendships."And, in reality, can any thing be more agreeable and engaging, than to take a friendly bottle in pleasant and delightful company?

And therefore Cleomedes had great reason to say, "Take away the pleasures of the table, where we open ourselves so agreeably to each other, and you rob us of the sweetest cordial of human life." This was also the sentiment of Cicero, in his Book of Old Age; of Aristotle, in his Ethics; and Plutarch, in his Questions. Let who will, then, look on trencher friends to be false, and say with those of whom Ovid makes mention

"In happy times, while riches round you

flow,

A thousand friends their obligations own,

Daily experience teaches us, that one of the best means to push one's fortune, is often to regale with those who are in credit; for, to one that may have ruined himself by so doing, ten have made their fortunes. We may therefore say of entertainments, that— These unite friends, and strictly keep them

So.

But what is more, wine does the office of a mediator between enemies. Of which truth I shall instance two illustrious examples : M. Crassus reconciled himself to Cicero at a feast; Asdrubal and Scipio did the same on the like occasion. And one may see, in a description which a very learned person has given of Switzerland, that when the inhabitants of that country quarrel with one another, and come to blows, they are immediately reconciled, by returning to their cups, and no harm ensues, but sitting up all night, and amica-" bly getting drunk together.

But to come nearer. The Bishop of Bitonto, one of the fathers of the Council of Trent, and a famous preacher, frequently in his sermons, exhorting the Germans to unity, and to return to the Church, made use of this topic of friendly drinking, conjuring them thereto as undoubtedly, by the strongest, and most efficacious argument he could make use of, by remembering how merry and sociable heretofore they had been in their cups.

(In our next Number we shall give the Author's "Rules to be observed in getting drunk.")

IRISH FOX CHASE.

blow,

And darksome clouds appear, you're left

alone."

o'clock, the celebrated foxhounds of Samuel Hawkes, Esq.

in

in the county of Cork, were thrown off at the extensive covers of Connorville, where a wild fox was seen to go off full three hours before; however, neither length of time, or the coldness of the day, had any effect; in a few minutes that staunch old dog Worker had picked it off a furze bush, and after one cheer from his judicious master, acknowledged the well-known scent, and soon the steady pack dispersed over the thorny brake, “Examining, with curious nose, each likely haunt."

Every hound quickly joined in the melodious strain, and with incredible steadiness dragged him to the underwood of Castletown, where the nocturnal depredator broke at full" entapes" before his anxious pursuers.

"Hark, what loud shouts Re-echo through the groves; he breaks Loud cheers proclaim his flight, 'tis tri

away,

umph all and joy.”

-Taking a westerly direction, he soon reached the craggy cliffs of Monygrave, where the dastardly villain escaped from the devouring jaws of death, by conching, (that nimble-footed dog Jerker being within a length of his brush), and retracing his former footsteps, be tried the earths of Caupeen, having gained considerably by the traverse,

and from thence took a northern course to Carrick Bue-leaving Shanahashel, Rinahcaharah, and Slevowen far behind, and boldly facing the rising grounds of Inchagraitha, and continuing over the bill, he reached Castle-masters, where he crossed the river Lee, and finding himself hard pressed, he again took the soil at the bottom of Inchegelah Lakes.

"In vain the stream

"And now

In vain the earth he tries, the doors are barr'd

Impregnable, nor is the covert safe;
He pants for purer air."

Still depending on the swiftness of his feet, he ventured once more into the open country, standing directly for Clashbriddane, across the farms of Gurthnalour, Johnstown, Haremount, Costhduve, and Drinawarrig, till at length, wearied by the exertions of the day, and completely exhausted, he was descried by the few horsemen who were able to continue the pursuit, and

cheering the high-mettled babes, they, with peals of echoing vengeance, soon outstripped their debis exhausted carcase, after a run voted prey, and fairly dismembered of twenty-two miles, without a single check or fault, which was performed in the short space of one hour and twenty minutes, and

only three horsemen had the ecstatic felicity of witnessing the glori ous termination of the chase.

BURTON-HUNT RACES.

THE Burton - Hunt Races, on

Monday, the 13th, and Tuesday, the 14th instant, attracted much company, and afforded considerable sport, which would, however, have been greater if Ironsides

ditch,

is more of a racer than a hunter, but,