Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB
[blocks in formation]

JAMES HILL and George Ancliffe were lately indicted at the Old Bailey for the wilful murder of Henry Tyers, a child of five years old, by administering to him a large quantity of gin in a second count they were indicted for manslaughter, and Hill was found guilty. It does not appear that these men had any intention of killing the child; but some people are not aware of the destructive nature of gin. It caused instant death in this instance; and it is at this mo ment killing, as by a slow poison, many thousands of people in England. The miserable appearance of gin-drinkers is a proof of the poisonous nature of the liquid which they are in the habit of pouring down their throats. When once this destructive habit is formed, it is the most difficult thing possible to leave it off. So it is indeed with all sort of drinking; though beer, fairly brewed, has nothing in it of the ruinous quality which belongs to spirits. It is true, that if too much even of beer be taken, it will injure the health and many labourers have moreover got into such a habit of swallowing large quantities of it, that even if their health is not ruined, their pocket is, and they are led into a thousand distresses and troubles by it; they are never in a state to listen to any thing right and reasonable, and are unfit company for any body but such wretches as themselves. Is this a state for a reasonable being to be in? Is it a fit state for a Christian? In many country places, indeed, the habit of gin-drinking is hardly known; but beer-drinking is so common, that in some villages half the families of the poor are ruined by it. What would any body think of a gentleman, whose cellar expenses amounted to half his income? It is plain enough that he would presently be ruined. And if this were the general habit of the gentlemen of England, the houses of the lords and the squires of the county would soon be a heap of ruins. And the 3

reason why we see so many ruinous cottages, with broken windows, and torn thatch, and tumble-down fences, is because the Cottager puts half his income down his throat, in the shape of beer. And is he any stronger for it, or any better able to go through his work? Not a bit. There never was so ruinous a mistake got into the minds of any set of people, as that which possesses some of our English labourers at this time, the notion that the more beer they drink, the stronger and heartier they shall be. Let them look at any one of their sober neighbours, and they will find that he can do as much work as they can, and with much more cheerfulness and pleasure too; and his cottage is whole and comfortable for him to come to at night, and he has every thing at home that he can reasonably want. What is the reason that his house is well furnished, and himself and his family well fed, and well clothed? Why because he does not throw away his money in drinking; and he has it therefore to lay out in what is of real use, and adds to his real comfort. There are many such Cottagers; and there would be many more, if they studied their own interest, and their own happiness. There are times indeed when things go on badly for labourers, and where work is scarce; but I am speaking of two sorts of labourers in full work, who may he supposed to earn the same money: the sober one may in truth be said to have double the income of the other; he has at the week's end just twice as much in his pocket. I am not speaking now of the wickedness, the sin, of drunkenness, the crime of destroying the understanding and the reason, the baseness of bringing misery on a wife and family; but I am only speaking of the folly of it: and nobody can help wondering that a man should so set himself against his own comfort, and take such pains to make himself and all about him miserable.

When a man has once got the habit of beer-drinking to excess, he is led to crave after gin-drinking;

Adoration of God.

17

this is more common in London and its neighbourhood than in the country; it is not confined to men, it will hardly be believed by some of our sober cottage readers, that there are women who have contracted this habit; these are indeed the most wretched of their kind. If any one could see at one view all the miseries connected with this vice, he would behold such a scene of horror as no imagination can paint, and no words describe. Let any one read the horrible accounts in the daily papers of the riots, the quarrels, the miseries, the murders, which are often brought before the courts of justice, and he will see the sort of persons among whom these dreadful things occur. They are the drunkards, the frequenters of ale-houses, the gin-drinkers.

Let every young man endeavour to check the very first inclination to drinking! Let him arm himself with every motive that Reason and Religion can supply! Let him bring forth all his courage, and forbearance, and resolution, if he would wish to keep out of the reach of a temptation which, if indulged, is the sure road to poverty, and wretchedness, and sorrow, in this world, and to everlasting misery in the next.

[ocr errors]

ADORATION OF GOD.

THOU God of awful Majesty,
Whose throne is fix'd beyond the sky;
How gladly I Thy works survey!
What scenes of glory they display!

In order rang'd around Thy seat,
Myriads of angels at Thy feet,

With crowns cast down, their homage pay,
And saints, releas'd from cumb'rous clay.

To Thee my cheerful songs I'll raise,
To whom belongs my constant praise:
O may I all my pow'rs employ!
Be full of reverence, love, and joy!

Blest work in this dark dreary vale,
Where daily fears and griefs assail,
By which the soul prepares to join
In endless worship all divine.

From Harrison's Miscellanies.

MANGEL WURZEL.

THE following extracts are taken from a pamphlet, with which a correspondent has favoured us, published in the year 1823, by Mr. Thomas Newby, of Cambridge.

"Many kinds of beet are known to have been used for the preparation of sugar. We owe to Germany the discovery of that useful kind of beet called' Mangel Wurzel, which is used in many parts of that country for the purpose of having sugar extracted from it. The roots are pressed, and the saccharine liquor boiled down to the consistence of a syrup, and of course undergoes a variety of operations. When the French could not get sugar from the West Indies, they distilled the juice of the Mangel Wurzel, and produced a very large supply. It is used in England chiefly as the food of cattle."

Sir Martin Mordaunt says, "I find the leaves excellent food for my cows, when thrown on grass land, and I give them the roots between the finishing of turnips and the beginning of grass. If I have straw to keep them tolerably clean, I throw them to the cattle in the farm-yard, if not, on my poorest grass land; and they prefer them to the freshest grass, and shrink in their milk when they cease to have them. I have covered up a wheelbarrow full of Mangel Wurzel with a cart-load of Swedish turnips, and my cows have turned over the turnips to get at the Mangel Wurzel; and swine will leave a corn-stack to get at them."

R. C. Harvey, Esq. says, "I have grown Mangel Wurzel upon light, strong, wet, and good mixed soil;

[blocks in formation]

the last is the best; and next to that is the light land, if you have a tolerable depth of soil. It is beyond a doubt superior to any other kind of root known in this country. Bullocks, sheep, or pigs, will leave every other root for it, (except for the first three or four days). It is generally sown with the intent of being laid up till the spring of the year; but the quantity I generally grow would take up too much time and room to house and stack the whole of it; and as I summer-feed from sixty to seventy bullocks, I want those for Smithfield in February. I therefore eat my Mangel Wurzel first, giving the tops to the sheep and cows, which are generally two or three days before they eat it freely. My Scots, fed in that way: last year, did the most of any I ever saw. I consider the bullocks do quite as well at Mangel Wurzel as at oil cake. I have been, and still am, a considerable grower of Swedish turnips, but could never grow more than two-thirds of the weight of them, which the Mangel Wurzel would give per acre."

Another considerable grower says, "It saves all the expense of oil cake to those who wish to fatten their cattle; Mr. Stevenson, of Hatfield, having fed forty head of bullocks, sheep, &c. upon it for several years past, and it only wants to be generally known to be universally cultivated."

In the fens of Cambridgeshire, it has met with great approbation; and on many farms in the Isle of Ely, the produce has been abundant beyond example. It affords an excellent substitute to feed with when other food is scarce, or considered too dear to buy. A cultivator in the fens writes thus to Mr. Newby, "I thank you for recommending the Mangel Wurzel to me; I intend never to be without it; it saved me the expense of buying peas, beans, or barley last summer to feed some store hogs; in fact I must have parted with them had it not been for the Mangel Wurzel. But thanks to you and Mangel Wurzel my hogs did well, and paid me for keeping them.

« AnteriorContinuar »