DIGITISED MANUSCRIPTS

( 24 ) last fifty years is exemplified in the diminution of Intemperance. Those who now give way to this vice and their number is, unfortunately, still con- siderable are misled either by the force of a habit that has been transmitted for many generations, or by ignorance as to its effects on mind and body, and its injury to their material surroundings. Up to a recent date Intemperance was not only not considered a vice, but was looked upon as a sign of manliness and vigour. The highest vied with the lowest in the cultivation of excessive drinking. Lord Chancellor Jeffries was no less famous for his intem- perance than for his other vices ; in faet, when about to proceed on circuit, Charles IH. once warned him : ‘It is a hot summer; pray do not drink too much.’ 3ut Jeffries did drink, and the innocent suffered. At a later date (1686), Jeffries and a party of Cabinet Ministers, including Lord Rochester, the King’s unele, all got riotously drunk. They stripped to their shirts, and intended to climb a sign-post in a public thoroughfare to drink the King’s health on the top a freak which they were prevented from accomplishing by an accident. As I shall not have occasion to refer to Jeffries again, I may men- tion that the retribution which ultimately overtook him was brought about by his love for drink. After the fall of James II., Jeffries fled to save himself from an inquiry into his judicial crimes. But,