The quakers will bid you from drink to abstain; And Solomon's lady; Will all take a sup in their turn. The Germans do say they can drink the most; The French and Italians also do boast. Hibernia's the country (for all their noise), For generous drinking, and hearty boys: Then each jovial fellow Will drink till he's mellow, And take off his glass in his turn. THE DRUNKARD'S EPITAPH. Beneath this stone Biberio's dust is laid, Who drank his passing cup and reel'd to bed; Life paid the present shot; but oh! the fears, Having taken a cursory and hasty view of wines, fermented, and spiritous liquors, and noticed their respective qualities, good and bad, we trust none of our readers will either emulate or rival Biberio, whose drinking fame, and future hope, is here recorded in his epitaph. SECTION XXIX. WATER, AND WATER-DRINKERS. Ir now behoves us, as impartial caterers to the board of health, to say something in praise of the crystal spring. Water then, is a liquid body, one of the four elements, and the chief ingredient in all animal fluids, and solids: even bones, dead and dried twenty-five years have, by distillation, yielded half their weight in water. This admirable fluid is, in fact, the grand support of the material nature-that which enables her to bring forth all her vegetable offspring, and to nurse up all her animated inhabitants; being, in short, to the terraqueous globe, what the vital fluid is to the human body; or, as the poet very elegantly sings, -The crystal element The chief ingredient in Heaven's various works; Grows firm in oak, and fugitive in wine; The vehicle, the source of nutriment And life, to all that vegetate, or live. DR. ARMSTRONG'S POEM ON HEALTH. It is asserted, in consequence of experiments made by an eminent philosopher,* that an acre of ground, * See Watson's Chemical Essays, vol. iii. p. 52—56. even after having been parched by the heat of the sun in summer, dispersed into the air above 1,600 gallons of water in the space of twelve of the hottest hours of the day. From the plenteous stock of water which all bodies afford, Arbuthnot infers that it is the proper drink for every animal. As a food, it is unquestionably one of the most universal drinks in the world; and, if we may credit many of our latest, and most judicious physicians, one of the best too, on account of its potent digestive qualities. As a beverage, that water which is purest, lightest, most transparent, colourless, void of taste and smell, is deemed the best. It has been proved by many instances, that water alone is capable of sustaining human life a long time. As a medicine it is found, internally, a powerful febrifuge, and excellent against colds, coughs, scurvy, &c. Externally, as an ablution, its effects are no less considerable.* Tournefort mentions a Venetian consul, who resided at Smyrna, that lived to the age of 118 years, and Among the many admirable regulations that render the metropolis of England superior to that of any other country, that strongly mark the wisdom of our ancestors, and evince the attention they paid to the convenience, and cleanliness, and the health of the inhabitants, was the introduction of water by means of pipes. This beneficial plan was first adopted, in a partial manner, in the reign of Henry III. about the year 1237; and in 1613, in the time of James I. the New River was completed; when a general distribution of this necessary liquid immediately ensued. never drank any thing but water; which is said to be the universal and only liquor of the New Zealanders, who enjoy the most perfect and uninterrupted health, entirely untainted with disease; not a single person having been seen by Captain Cook that had any bodily complaint; nor, among the numbers that presented themselves to that renowned navigator in a state of nudity, was there an individual perceived who had even the slightest eruption upon the skin, or the least mark which indicated that any had formerly existed. It may also here be noticed, as an inducement to drink water, that two of the most athletic characters of antiquity, and a modern hero, whose intrepidity was long the admiration of all Europe, were among the practical advocates of this wholesome element. That water is not an incentive to vice, like many of the liquors previously mentioned, and, that its votaries are exempt from the disgrace of ebriety, has been observed by Shakspeare, "Honest water," says the immortal bard," is too weak to be a sinner; it ne'er left man i' the mire :"-Whereas " a strong drink," as Solomon says, "is raging; and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise." However, taking an intermediate view of the water and spirit system, there may be faults on both sides, by an over-rigid adherence to one or the other. A little of both-or rather, a little spirit, and a good deal of water, we should be inclined to give the preerence to. Certainly, to be over abstemious with the |