But had there been
no laws of drinking, or no toasts, we cannot see any reason why the same
persons should not have returned sober to their respective homes.
It is recorded of the great Sir Matthew Hale, who is deservedly placed
among the great men of our country, that in his early youth he had been
in company, where the party had drunk to such excess, that one of them
fell down apparently dead. Quitting the room, he implored forgiveness of
the Almighty for this excessive intemperance in himself and his
companions, and made a vow, that he would never drink another health
while he lived. This vow he kept to his dying day. It is hardly
necessary for me to remark that he would never have come to such a
resolution, if he had not believed, either that the drinking of toasts
had produced the excesses of that day, or that the custom led so
naturally to intoxication, that it became his duty to suppress it.
The Quakers having rejected the use of toasts upon the principles
assigned, are sometimes placed in a difficult situation, in which there
is an occasion for the trial of their courage, in consequence of mixing
with others, by whom the custom is still followed.
In companies, to which they are invited in regular families, they are
seldom put to any disagreeable dilemma in this respect.
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