ture. They exported great
quantities of corn, for supplying the armies in other parts of the empire.
They had linen and woollen manufactures; as their mines of lead and tin
were inexhaustible. And further we know, that Britain, in consequence of
her supposed resources, was sometimes reduced to such distress, by the
demands of government, as to be obliged to borrow money at an exorbitant
interest. In this trade, the best citizens of Rome were not ashamed to
engage; and, though prohibited by law, Seneca, whose philosophy, it seems,
was not incompatible with the love of money, lent the Britons at one time
above three hundred and twenty thousand pounds."

P.T.W.

* * * * *

HINTS ON DRINKING.

_Abridged from Mr. Richards's Treatise on Nervous Disorders._

Without any intention of advocating the doctrine, or of commending the
reputed practice of the Pythagoreans, ancient or modern, I must be
allowed to reprobate the abuse of fermented liquors. Although wine was
invented, and its use allowed "to make glad the heart of man," and
although a moderate and prudent indulgence in it can never excite
reprobation, or cause mischief, still the sin of drunkenness is an
extensive and a filthy evil. Not only does it demoralize, debase, and
finally destroy its unhappy victim, but it renders him incapable of
performing the ordinary duties of his station; constituting him an object
of disgust to others, and of pitiable misery to himself. It is well to
talk of the Bacchanalian orgies of talented men, and to call them
hilarity and glee. The flashes of wit "that were wont to set the table in
a roar;" the brilliancy of genius, that casts a charm even over folly and
vice; the rank and fame of the individual, no doubt, increased the
fascination of his failings; but however bright and wonderful may be the
coruscations of his talent, while under the influence of wine, his frame
is debilitated, tottering, and imbecile, when the stimulus of the
potation has subsided.

But I do not proscribe indiscriminately all stimulus. Those whose
occupations are laborious, and who are much exposed to our variable
climate, require an absolute stimulus, over and above what they eat.
Dr. Franklin advocated a contrary doctrine, and inculcated the fact, that
a twopenny loaf was much better for a man than a quart of beer; and he
adduces the horse and other beasts of burthen as examples of the
inefficacy of the use of fermented li