FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   >>  
on the Mind of Youth._ The letter of the _Times'_ correspondent referred to contained an account of one of the most singular cases of depravity ever brought before a criminal court; but it is unnecessary to bring any of its details under the reader's attention, for nearly every other number of our journals has of late contained some instances of atrocities before unthought of, and, it might have seemed, impossible to humanity. The connection of these with the modern love of excitement in the sensational novel and drama may not be generally understood, but it is direct and constant; all furious pursuit of pleasure ending in actual desire of horror and delight in death. I entered into some fuller particulars on this subject in a lecture given in the spring at the Royal Institution. [Any part of the Lecture referred to likely to be of permanent interest will be printed, somewhere, in this series.] APPENDIX IV. Page 76.--_Drunkenness as the Cause of Crime._ The following portions of Mr. Dixon's letter referred to, will be found interesting:-- "DEAR SIR,-- "Your last letter, I think, will arouse the attention of thinkers more than any of the series, it being on topics they in general feel more interested in than the others, especially as in these you do not assail their pockets so much as in the former ones. Since you seem interested with the notes or rough sketches on gin, G * * * of Dublin was the man I alluded to as making his money by drink, and then giving the results of such traffic to repair the Cathedral of Dublin. It was thousands of pounds. I call such charity robbing Peter to pay Paul! Immense fortunes are made in the _Liquor Traffic_, and I will tell you why; it is all paid for in cash, at least such as the poor people buy; they get credit for clothes, butchers' meat, groceries, etc., while they give the gin-palace keeper _cash_; they never begrudge the price of a glass of gin or beer, they never haggle over _its_ price, never once think of doing that; but in the purchase of almost every other article they haggle and begrudge its price. To give you an idea of its profits--there are houses here whose average weekly takings in cash at their bars is 50_l._, 60_l._, 70_l._, 80_l._, 90l_._, to 150_l._, per week. Nearly all the men of intelligence in it, say it is the curse of the working classes. Men whose earnings are, say 20_s._ to 30_s._ per week, spend on the average 3_s._ to 6_s._ per
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   >>  



Top keywords:

referred

 

letter

 

series

 
Dublin
 
haggle
 

average

 

begrudge

 
interested
 

contained

 

attention


Immense

 

fortunes

 

Liquor

 
Traffic
 

butchers

 

groceries

 

clothes

 
credit
 

people

 
depravity

giving

 
results
 

alluded

 

making

 
brought
 

traffic

 

charity

 

robbing

 

pounds

 

repair


Cathedral

 

thousands

 

palace

 

Nearly

 
correspondent
 

intelligence

 
earnings
 
working
 
classes
 

takings


account

 

criminal

 

keeper

 
singular
 

houses

 

weekly

 

profits

 
purchase
 

article

 
entered