Committee, appointed in 1834, to enquire into the causes, extent, and consequences of drunkenness, gave it as his opinion, that "by the last grant of providence to man, his life is 120 years; and that, where disease, arising from other causes, does not shorten it, the reason why so few attain to that age, is to be found in the excessive stimulation to which the mass of the community are continually subject." Some are thus over stimulated by causes which operate immediately upon the mind; as in the case of many eminent statesmen; who, in the very prime of life, have been sacrificed on the altar, of what Dr. Farre very properly designates "the British forcing system." Others are over stimulated by the habitual use of intoxicating liquors; and, as far as life and health are concerned, the result appears to be similar, whether the love of approbation, or the love of distilled and fermented drinks, be the cause of undue excitement. Generally speaking, the same individuals, who are often subject to a high degree of mental excitement, are addicted to the free use of intoxicating drinks; in which they have a strong temptation to indulge, in consequence of their experiencing that peculiar kind of depression, which necessarily succeeds a state of unnatural activity.

Men of genius, and particularly such as have been called to engage much in public life, have too often been as notorious for their love of strong drinks, as they have been distinguished for their talents.

Dr. Farre remarks, that both Pitt and Fox fell, prematurely, from their having recourse to these drinks, as "a forcing power to sustain their sinking circulation ;"—and a writer, in Frazer's magazine, has recently observed, that "Sir Richard Steele spent

half his time in a tavern"-that "Sheridan, latterly, without wine was a driveller "-that " Byron drank brandy and water by bucketsful"—and that “two of the finest actors, that ever graced the British stage, could scarcely be kept sober enough to perform their parts." Of all these talented, but disgracefully intemperate characters, it may be truly said, that they did not live out half their days.

Whether the opinion of Dr. Farre, as to 120 years being the last grant of Providence to man, be absolutely correct or not, it is certain, that, at a period long since the deluge, the life of man, among the pastoral tribes, whose history has been handed down to us, was much more extended than we find it to be at present, in all those states of society which are more artificial and refined. Abraham lived to the age of 175 years. Of his sons Isaac and Ishmael, the former died at the age of 180, and the latter of 137. Jacob lived to the age of 147, and his son Joseph, although subject to all the excitements arising from the peculiarly trying circumstances in which he was placed, reached the age of 110 years. Several ages after the time of Joseph, we find Moses living to be 120 years old; while the inspired historian relates concerning him, that "his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated." Joshua who succeeded him in the government of the Israelites, died at the age of 100 years; and Eli, at a much later period, reached 98 years; and then died, not of old age, nor of disease, but was killed by a fall from his seat, on hearing that the Philistines had triumphed over the Israelites, had slain his sons Hophni and Phineas, and taken the ark of God.

In the 90th Psalm, which is ascribed to Moses, it is indeed stated, that "the days of our years are threescore years and ten, and if by reason of strength they be four-score years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow." Now, if Moses were, really, the author of this Psalm, which there seems no sufficient reason for doubting, it would appear, on a hasty consideration of the subject, that the standard of human life, in his time, was the same as it appears to be at present. As, however, his own life, as well as the lives of the most eminent of his brethren, was far more extended than even four-score years, and, as he seems to be complaining, in the foregoing verses, of the people being cut off through the displeasure of God, it is reasonable to conclude, that he is not alluding to the period during which, men, under favourable circumstances, were capable of living, but to the fact, that owing to the judgments of the Almighty, which befel the Israelites in the wilderness, but few of them enjoyed a more lengthened existence than that of 70 or 80 years. "For we are consumed," he says, "by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled." They did not die, as we say, a natural death, but were cut off, for their sin and unbelief, by judicial dispensations. Since the commencement of the christian era, there have been many instances recorded of extreme longevity. St. John the evangelist is generally believed to have lived to above 100 years, though in a state of hardship and privation.

It is said that "St. Anthony lived to the age of 105, on mere bread and water, adding only a few herbs at last; James the hermit to 104; Arsenius, the * Dr. Cheyne.

tutor of the Emperor Arcadius, to 120; St. Epiphanus to 115; St. Jerome to about 100; Simon Stylites to 109; Romualdus to 120; and that Lewis Cornaro, a Venetian nobleman, after he had used all other remedies in vain, so that his life was despaired of, at the age of 40, lived, by the mere force of temperance alone, to 100 years."

Our own countryman, Thomas Parr, reached the age of 152; and had he not been induced to depart from his usual simple, and temperate diet, it was believed by those of the medical profession who knew him, and who examined him after his death, that he might have lived several years longer.

*Instances of extreme longevity are still often occurring; and they are sufficiently numerous to prove, that there is no law, to which the bodies of men are now subjected, by the Creator, rendering it inevitable that they should die at so early a period as that which usually bounds their present existence.

It is mentioned in Kippis's life of Captain Cook, that when that great navigator first visited the New Zealanders, he was astonished at the perfect, and uninterrupted health they were found to enjoy. "In all the visits which were paid to their towns, a single person was not observed who appeared to have any complaint; and the number of very old men, in full possession of all their faculties, was very remarkable. As far as could be observed, water was the universal, and only liquor of the New Zealanders at that period."

*In the Patriot of the 12th October, 1837, are notices of the deaths of four individuals, then recently deceased; of whom one was in his 92nd year, another in his 95th, another in his 100th, and the other in his 114th.

Now, if the undue excitement of the intellectual and physical powers of man, has a tendency to destroy life sooner than it would terminate, were the activity of those powers regulated by the laws to which they ought to be subject, it is strictly consonant with reason to expect, that such as indulge in the use of intoxicating liquors, will neither enjoy health, nor a protracted existence.

In innumerable instances, the habitual use of inebriating drinks has been found highly prejudicial to health, even when they have not led to absolute intoxication; and the observations of the writer have convinced him, that many, who could never be charged with the sin of drunkenness, have gone prematurely to their graves, through diseases occasioned by what was deemed but moderate drinking; and, consequently, that the drunkard must be viewed as one, who, voluntarily, destroys that life, which was given him, for the most valuable of purposes, by a wise and beneficent Creator.

On the most moderate calculation, there is reason to believe, that more than forty thousands perish, annually, in Britain alone, through the one vice of intemperance and of these, a number too great to be contemplated without the most mournful feelings, are known to sink into an inglorious tomb, long before they have ripened into manhood; and many, it is to be feared, when, but for their early introduction to the tap-room, and the gin-shop, they might have been sporting with all the heedless merriment, and restless ardour of childhood.

When hostile armies have engaged in deadly combat, and our imaginations have pictured the field of