91. SOBRIETY. By _sobriety_ I do not mean merely an absence of _drinking to a state of intoxication_; for, if that be _hateful_ in a man, what must it be in a woman! There is a Latin proverb, which says, that wine, that is to say, intoxication, _brings forth truth_. Whatever it may do in this way, in men, in women it is sure, unless prevented by age or by salutary ugliness, to produce a moderate, and a _very moderate_, portion of chastity. There never was a drunken woman, a woman who loved strong drink, who was chaste, if the opportunity of being the contrary presented itself to her. There are cases where _health_ requires wine, and even small portions of more ardent liquor; but (reserving what I have further to say on this point, till I come to the conduct of the husband) _young_ unmarried women can seldom stand in need of these stimulants; and, at any rate, only in cases of well-known definite ailments. Wine! '_only_ a _glass or two_ of wine at dinner, or so'! As soon as have married a girl whom I had thought liable to be persuaded to drink, habitually, '_only_ a glass or two of wine at dinner, or so;' as soon as have _married_ such a girl, I would have taken a strumpet from the streets. And it has not required _age_ to give me this way of thinking: it has always been rooted in my mind from the moment that I began to think the girls prettier than posts. There are few things so disgusting as a guzzling woman. A gormandizing one is bad enough; but, one who tips off the liquor with an appetite, and exclaims '_good! good!_' by a smack of her lips, is fit for nothing but a brothel. There may be cases, amongst the _hard_-labouring women, such as _reapers_, for instance, especially when they have children at the breast; there may be cases, where very _hard-working_ women may stand in need of a little _good_ beer; beer, which, if taken in immoderate quantities, would produce intoxication. But, while I only allow the _possibility_ of the existence of such cases, I deny the necessity of any strong drink at all in every other case. Yet, in this metropolis, it is the general custom for tradesmen, journeymen, and even labourers, to have regularly on their tables the big brewers' poison, twice in every day, and at the rate of not less than a pot to a person, women, as well as men, as the allowance for the day. A pot of poison a day, at fivepence the pot, amounts to _seven pounds and two shillings_ in the year! Man and wife suck down, in this way, _fourteen pounds four shillings_ a year! Is it any wonder that they are clad in rags, that they are skin and bone, and that their children are covered with filth?