ral, let us proceed to the use of the third and last cardinal virtue, though not the least in your esteem or mine; I mean that of drinking. Of the three cardinal virtues that I wish the fair sex in general to understand better than they now do, and to practise with more advantage and satisfaction, drinking is by far the most to be commended for many reasons, but particularly for that which I am going to mention; for it is said, on the best authority, that it is what passes out of the mouth of a man that defileth him, and not what passeth therein. This the clergy in former days have acknowledged, as appears from that authentic work, Voltaire's History of Charles the Twelfth. "Un homme digne de foi m' assuré qu'il avoit assisté à une These publique, ou il s'agissoit de savoir, si l'usage du tabac à fumer etoit permis et

de s'enivrer d'eau-de-vie, mais non de fumer, parce que la très sainte ecriture dit que cè qui sort de la bouche de l'homme le souille, et que ce qui y entre ne la souille point."

The two other cardinal virtues may be deemed sinful by certain rigid zealots, but this cannot. Your habits in this particular, ye lovely Cyprians, are already so perfect that it is unnecessary for me to recommend it to you; for, to do you justice, the generality of you are comfortably devoted to your bottle: nor are the modest women, many of them, far behind you in their devotions to Bacchus; though, it must be acknowledged, this cardinal virtue amongst them is not in such general practice. As for myself, I confess, nothing is so charming, nothing so delightful, as a woman in a state of exhilarating in

ebriation. You are so sweet, so soft, so charming, and, above all, so tender, when half-seas over! This delightful passion exhilarates the spirits, dispels the deepest melancholy, and drowns all care: it is, therefore, proper you should be taught how to indulge it in a manner most conducive both to your constitution and your finances. I therefore strongly recommend you to give the preference, beyond all other liquors, to gin; which is drink fit for a king. Both the king of the gipsies and the king of the beggars, at their royal coronation feasts, and on other festival occasions, treat with no other liqour, and command the use of it to their subjects.

When I was married to the lovely Egyptia of Norwood, I had the honour of drinking many a glass at the wander

ing monarch's hospitable board. It is even believed by several philosophers of the present age, that the nectar formerly drank by the inhabitants of Olympus was nought but gin.

There are three sovereign reasons why you should give the preference to this admirable fluid. First, you are not forbidden by holy writ to drink it; for, the priests in former ages having avowed that it did not defile the body even to get drunk with brandy, provided it only went in at the mouth, and did not come out of it; gin, being a spirit by far more salubrious, must be more highly sanctioned. Secondly, it is by far the cheapest of all liquors; for humble port now-a-days is at the exorbitant price of three shillings and sixpence a bottle; while, at the christening of little Joey, you may treat

a whole company, and send them merry away, with three shillings and six pennyworth of gin, when with the same expence you can only give them one bottle of wine. Besides, ye lovely Cyprians, in your line of life, it is most salutary and conducive to your health, from its diuretic qualities *,

'Truth has been very properly termed a gem of inestimable value; it is, indeed, the brightest ornament of man and woman. Learn then, ye lovely Cyprians, to place a due value on it; though I already know ye are exemplary economists of that eminent quality. But, great as my tender regards and predilection are for you, I

* A physician of respectability, in this town, is of opinion, that, were it not for the general use of gin amongst the common women, one half of them would die rotten.