will not drink too
much."

Amongst the reeling judges of the Restoration, however, there moved one
venerable lawyer, who, in an age when moralists hesitated to call
drunkenness a vice, was remarkable for sobriety. In his youth, whilst he
was indulging with natural ardor in youthful pleasures, Chief Justice
Hale was so struck with horror at seeing an intimate friend drop
senseless, and apparently lifeless, at a student's drinking-bout, that
he made a sudden but enduring resolution to conquer his ebrious
propensities, and withdraw himself from the dangerous allurements of
ungodly company. Falling upon his knees he prayed the Almighty to
rescue his friend from the jaws of death, and also to strengthen him to
keep his newly-formed resolution. He rose an altered man. But in an age
when the barbarous usage of toast-drinking was in full force, he felt
that he could not be an habitually sober man if he mingled in society,
and obeyed a rule which required the man of delicate and excitable
nerves to drink as much, bumper for bumper, as the man whose sluggish
system could receive a quart of spirits at a sitting and yet scarcely
experience a change of sensation. At that time it was customary with
prudent men to protect themselves against a pernicious and tyrannous
custom, by taking a vow to abstain from toast-drinking, or even from
drinking wine at all, for a certain stated period. Readers do not need
to be reminded how often young Pepys was under a vow not to drink; and
the device by which the jovial admiralty clerk strengthened an infirm
will and defended himself against temptation was frequently employed by
right-minded young men of his date. In some cases, instead of _vowing_
not to drink, they _bound_ themselves not to drink within a certain
period; two persons, that is to say, agreeing that they would abstain
from wine and spirits for a certain period, and each _binding_ himself
in case he broke the compact to pay over a certain sum of money to his
partner in the bond. Young Hale saw that to effect a complete
reformation of his life it was needful for him to abjure the practice of
drinking healths. He therefore vowed _never again_ to drink a health;
and he kept his vow. Never again did he brim his bumper and drain it at
the command of a toast-master, although his abstinence exposed him to
much annoyance; and in his old age he thus urged his grandchildren to
follow his example--"I will not have you begin or pledge any health,