DIGITISED MANUSCRIPTS

(aie) city, some five-and-twenty years ago, there were undergraduates’ clubs, the qualification for member- ship of which consisted in being able to drink a whole bottle of claret without taking the bottle from the lips ; and others, in which you were required never to drink less than three bottles of claret at dinner. That these drinking customs at the University were of ancient origin can be seen from an extract from one of Lord Chesterfield’s letters to his son, written in 1720: ‘When I first went to Cambridge,’ he says, ‘I drank and smoked—though I hated both practices—because I thought it genteel, and made me look like a man.’ It may be apparent from these illustrations, which extend over a considerable period, that the fashion of intemperance was not out of accord with a high state of civilisation. But since public opinion arose to mark out its faults and condemn them it cannot be denied that the inebriated man, whatever be his position, is looked upon with contempt and disgust. No better proof could be desired of the decrease of drunkenness in this country than is afforded by the loss to the Exchequer through the diminution in the quantity of spirits on which duty is paid. On the other hand, how much is yet to be achieved in the field of temperance is shown by the existence of the network of Temperance organizations