proves, by little and little, that all human frailty gains upon its victims. A little wine, or a little of any other pleasant alcoholic mixture, may but rarely injure us. But that little, by repetition, becomes Intemperance: Intemperance produces idleness Idleness begets confusion of affairs: This confusion multiplies debts, disappointments and law-suits: And these lead directly, if not to fraud and embezzlement, to penury, privation and the deepest distress. Here is indeed a grand climax, or rather anti-climax, of human frailty, weakness and wickedness; and all for the want of a little fortitude and firmness to refuse the first offer of a little side-board politeness or hospitality In short, a little sleep in the morning

-a little strong coffee for breakfast—a little lemon or whiskey punch at noon-a little wine and bitters before dinner-a little more wine, and a little rest or sleep after dinner-a little visiting and a little more strong drink in the evening-and finally, a little warm gin or brandy toddy to wind up with on retiring to bed: All these do indeed soon wind up effectually, the industrious, or rather what ought to be the industrious concerns of the farmer, the mechanic, the merchant, and the professional character; leaving them all alike the victims, not of a little, but of a great deal of wretchedness and misery. They have lost their health and their strengththeir moral and intellectual as well as physical powers have gone to decay-the contempt of society overwhelms them-hope forsakes them

the horrors of despair seize upon them—and surrounded, at least in imagination, if not in reality, by the furies of hell, they are hurried to an untimely grave! We bescech the farmers and mechanics of our country, of all others, to avoid these little beginnings, which lead to such great evils and such miserable ends. Instead of indulging the freaks of appetite, and hankering after luxuries which never fail to destroy the sober and salutary habits essential to their prosperity and happiness in life; let them cling to those habits as a ship wrecked mariner would cling to the last plank or fragment of his ill-fated bark.

It was said of the illustrious Edmund Burke, in the very meridian of his splendor and fame, that he made his meals of the simplest food; and that he frequently invited such men as Pitt, Fox, and other shining characters of the day, to dine with him upon a boiled leg of mutton and turnips, seasoned only by a bottle or two of mild claret, which is not so intoxicating as our best bottled cider. It was, indeed, "the feast of reason, and the flow of soul," and not the indulgence of sensuality, that was sought for by these illustrious champions of England's fame and glory. Such was likewise the temperance and frugality of our Franklin, and our Pickering, whose immortality is built upon the same basis as that of the Burkes and the Pitts of old England. From such examples let us learn to despise and to banish luxury and dissipation from our fire

sides, our festive boards, and our social circles: And let our farmers and mechanics, I repeat it, of all others, be the first to pursue, and the last to forsake, this pleasant and delightful path of domestic virtue and temperance. They are the main pillars of their country, the surest bulwarks of her defence in war, the most stable props of her prosperity in peace. Let them, as they value this character, continue to deserve it. Let them never sicken at that honest toil which God has decreed for them, as the purest source of human subsistence. Let them rather rejoice, that they have always labor enough on hand to keep Satan from catching them idle, and drawing them into his foul and destructive

snare.

Well indeed may it be asked, can there be wanting, to animate the zeal of American farmers, mechanics, merchants, statesmen or divines, in the cause of temperance, brighter examples, than those of BURKE, the British Cicero, dining upon a mutton-chop and a glass of mild claret: GRAY, the richest, and one of the most talented merchants of the United States, modes ly bearing home the fish or the butcher's meat he had purchased in market: PICKERING, the American Aristides, clearing and cultivating with his own hand, the wilds of the Susquehannah! And FRANKLIN, the father of electricity, and like Pickering, one of the political saviors of his country, feasting on bread and water in a London printing-office! What illustrious exam

ples, I repeat it, for modern patriots, and modern philosophers, whether in law, physic, or divinity; whether in the mercantile, the mechanical, or the agricultural walks of life. As to the last mentioned course of life, I have often thought it strange, that those who pursue it, should not, as it regards temperance, derive a salutary lesson from the example even of the brute animals which they raise, and by which they are almost always surrounded: For what farmer ever saw a drunken hog, or a drunken ox? Man is indeed the only animal that gets drunk, or uses strong drink; and this is perhaps one of the strongest proofs of his perversion of the works of God. The inferior animals live upon food of every description that suits them, in its natural state: But man, who boasts of being the noblest of the animal creation, is not contented with eating the delicious and nourishing grape; but must foolishly mix up the juice of it with the poison of alcohol, to stupify his mind and corrode and enervate his body; and so of some other fruits of the earth, which are wholesome, if eaten when ripe, but become unwholesome when converted into ardent spirits. The peach is a delicious and a wholesome fruit; but peach brandy is a poisonous fluid; and so of the apple, which, though it may harmless in the shape of cider, is certainly destructive in the form of whiskey. All the fruits of the earth, destined for the use of man, are good in themselves. But man perverts them,

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which the brutes never do. We see indeed, some apparently silly animals, but no drunken ones. The hog that wallows in mire, has still this advantage over the unfortunate and miserable drunkard, that he can rise out of it, and wash himself off whenever he pleases; whereas the human biped, who falls in a fit of intoxication into a mud hole, must wallow there till he gets sober, unless some friendly hand come to his aid. And if he be not smothered to death, may thank the mercy of God, and not his own prudence or virtue. It is not correct, therefore, to say that a man is beastly drunk, or drunk as a beast, since every animal but man is a sober animal; and strictly speaking a member of the pure and wholesome water society.

I will not vouch for the truth of it; but I believe that man is the only animal that can be induced to get twice drunk. If a monkey or a baboon, be once made drunk by stratagem, it will never voluntarily taste the same draught again; and although these animals when kept as pets, will steal all sorts of wholesome food, they are never caught stealing a rum bottle, or running their noses into the bung-hole of a brandy cask.

I have often thought how fortunate it is for some farmers-the number I hope is but small -that their horses and cattle do not drink as much whiskey or rum as they do themselves, otherwise we might behold many a serio-comic or tragi-comic adventure: For when the rider