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