An expose of the causes of intemperate drinking, and the means by which it may be obviated / by Thomas Herttell, of the city of New-York ; published by order of the New-York Society for the Promotion of Internal Improvement.
- Thomas Herttell
- Date:
- 1819
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: An expose of the causes of intemperate drinking, and the means by which it may be obviated / by Thomas Herttell, of the city of New-York ; published by order of the New-York Society for the Promotion of Internal Improvement. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)
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![qucnces, intemperance in the wealthy is far more re prehensible than in the poorer class. The customs of the rich, constitute the laws of fashion, and none are more implicitly observed. Their power seems often paramount to the laws of morality. Had the habit of using ardent drink originated with, it would, as 1 have before remarked, have been limited to the lower class ; because the rich do not imitate the practices of the poor, and therefore cannot be contaminated with their vices: whereas the latter do, to the extent of their means, follow the fashions of the former, and hence are vitiated by their evil examples. 44 The disposition, says a celebrated author, to admire the rich and powerful, and to despise, at least neglect, persons of poor and mean condition, is the al- most universal cause of the corruption of our moral sentiments. The vices and follies of the power]id and rich, seem less despised than the poverty and weakness of the innocent.'''' And he might in truth have added, that the vices of the poor, even where they result from the examples of the rich, are held in contempt, while the same vices in the wealthy, are tolerated, excused, or pass unnoticed in the disguise of a milder name. The examples of the rich give a currency to vice, which, under the imposing influence of fashion, passes thro' every grade of society, uncensured and unrestrain- ed, till stripped naked of the influence of wealth and education, it exhibits itself in the lower class; where recognized by its native deformity, it takes its true name and character, and receives that merited ani- madversion, which, unfortunately for the cause of mo- rality, it escapes in the higher walks of life. If the lower class welcome their friends by treating them,,](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21128340_0017.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
