From Tea the writer digresses to spirituous liquors, about which he will have no controversy with the Literary Magazine; we shall therefore insert almost his whole letter, and add to it one testimony, that the mischiefs arising on every side from this' compendious mode of drunkenness, are enormous and insupportable; equally to be found among the great and the mean; filling palaces with disquiet and distraction; harder to be borne as it cannot be mentioned; and overwhelming multitudes with incurable diseases and unpitied poverty.

"Though Tea and Gin have spread their baneful "influence over this island and his Majesty's other

dominions, yet you may be well assured, that the "Governors of the Foundling Hospital will exert “their utmost skill and vigilance, to prevent the "children under their care from being poisoned, "or enervated by one or the other. This, however, "is not the case of workhouses: it is well known, "to the shame of those who are charged with the "care of them, that gin has been too often per"mitted to enter their gates; and the debauched appetites of the people who inhabit these houses, "has been urged as a reason for it.

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"Desperate diseases require desperate remedies: "if laws are rigidly executed against murderers "in the highway, those who provide a draught of

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gin, which we see is murderous, ought not to be "countenanced. I am now informed, that in cer"tain hospitals, where the number of the sick used "to be about 5,600 in 14 years,

From 1704 to 1718, they increased to 8,189; "From 1718 to 1734, still augmented to 12,710; "And from 1734 to 1749, multiplied to 38,174.

"What a dreadful spectre does this exhibit! nor "must we wonder, when satisfactory evidence was "given before the great council of the nation, that "near eight millions of gallons of distilled spirits, "at the standard it is commonly reduced to for "drinking, was actually consumed annually in "drams! the shocking difference in the numbers "of the sick, and we may presume of the dead also, "was supposed to keep pace with gin: and the "most ingenious and unprejudiced physicians as"cribed it to this cause. What is to be done under "these melancholy, circumstances? shall we still "countenance the distillery, for the sake of the "revenue; out of tenderness to the few who will "suffer by its being abolished; for fear of the mad"ness of the people; or that foreigners will run "it

it in upon us? There can be no evil so great as "that we now suffer, except the making the same "consumption, and paying for it to foreigners in money, which I hope never will be the case.

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"As to the revenue, it certainly may be replaced "by taxes upon the necessaries of life, even upon "the bread we eat, or in other words, upon the land, which is the great source of supply to the

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publick and to individuals. Nor can I persuade "myself, but that the people may be weaned from "the habit of poisoning themselves. The difficulty "of smuggling a bulky liquid, joined to the severity which ought to be exercised towards smug

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glers, whose illegal commerce is of so infernal "a nature, must in time produce the effect desired. "Spirituous liquors being abolished, instead of "having the most undisciplined and abandoned

poor, we might soon boast a race of men, tempe"rate, religious, and industrious even to a proverb. "We should soon see the ponderous burden of the "poor's rate decrease, and the beauty and strength "of the land rejuvenate. Schools, workhouses, "and hospitals, might then be sufficient to clear "our streets of distress and misery, which never "will be the case whilst the love of poison prevails, " and the means of ruin is sold in above one thou"sand houses in the city of London, two thousand "two hundred in Westminster, and one thousand "nine hundred and thirty in Holborn and St. Giles's.

"But if other uses still demand liquid fire, I "would really propose, that it should be sold

only in quart bottles, sealed up with the King's "seal, with a very high duty, and none sold with"out being mixed with a strong emetick.

Many become objects of charity by their in86 temperance, and this excludes others who are "such by the unavoidable accidents of life, or who "cannot by any means support themselves. Hence "it appears, that the introducing new habits of life "is the most substantial charity; and that the regulation of charity-schools, hospitals, and workhouses, not the augmentation of their number, 66 can make them answer the wise ends for which they were instituted.

“The children of beggars should be also taken “from them, and bred up to labour, as children of "the publick. Thus the distressed might be re"lieved, at a sixth part of the present expence ; "the idle be compelled to work or starve; and the "mad be sent to Bedlam. We should not see

“human nature disgraced by the aged, the maim"ed, the sickly, and young children begging their "bread; nor would compassion be abused by those "who have reduced it to an art to catch the unwary. Nothing is wanting but common sense "and honesty in the execution of laws.

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"To prevent such abuse in the streets, seems more practicable than to abolish bad habits within "doors, where greater numbers perish. We see in many familiar instances the fatal effects of example. The careless spending of time among "servants, who are charged with the care of in"fants, is often fatal; the nurse frequently de"stroys the child! the poor infant being left neg"lected, expires whilst she is sipping her Tea! "This may appear to you as rank prejudice, or jest;

but I am assured, from the most indubitable evi“dence, that many very extraordinary cases of this "kind have really happened among those whose "duty does not permit of such kind of habits.”

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"It is partly from such causes, that nurses of "the children of the publick often forget themselves, and become impatient when infants cry: "the next step to this, is using extraordinary " means to quiet them. I have already mentioned "the term killing nurse, as known in some workhouses: Venice treacle, poppy water, and God'frey's cordial, have been the kind instruments of lulling the child to his everlasting rest. If these

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pious women could send up an ejaculation when "the child expired, all was well, and no questions "asked by the superiours. An ingenious friend of

mine informs me, that this has been so often the

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"case, in some workhouses, that Venice treacle "has acquired the appellation of the Lord have mercy upon me, in allusion to the nurses hack"neyed expression of pretended grief when infants expire! Farewell!”

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I know not upon what observation Mr. Hanway founds his confidence in the Governours of the Foundling Hospital, men of whom I have not any knowledge, but whom I intreat to consider a little the minds as well as bodies of the children. I am inclined to believe Irreligion equally pernicious with Gin and Tea, and therefore think it not unseasonable to mention, that when a few months ago I wandered through the Hospital, I found not a child that seemed to have heard of his creed, or the commandments. To breed up children in this manner, is to rescue them from an early grave, that they may find employment for the gibbet ; from dying in innocence, that they may perish by their crimes.

Having considered the effects of Tea upon the health of the drinker, which, I think, he has aggravated in the vehemence of his zeal, and which, after soliciting them by this watery luxury, year after year, I have not yet felt; he proceeds to examine how it may be shewn to affect our interest; and first calculates the national loss by the time spent in drinking Tea. I have no desire to appear captious, and shall therefore readily admit, that Tea is a liquor not proper for the lower classes of the people, as it supplies no strength to labour, or relief to disease, but gratifies the taste without nourishing the body. It is a barren superfluity, to