" But it is not lawful to
intoxicate yourself with frequent cups of ale or wine, nor to make
others intoxicated, nor does the Holy Scripture say it is. The
Holy Scripture no more says that it is lawful to intoxicate
yourself or others, than it says that it is unlawful to take a cup
of ale or wine yourself, or to give one to others. Noah is not
commended in the Scripture for making himself drunken on the wine
he brewed. Nor is it said that the Saviour, when he supplied the
guests with first-rate wine at the marriage-feast, told them to
make themselves drunk upon it. He is said to have supplied them
with first-rate wine, but He doubtless left the quantity which each
should drink to each party's reason and discretion. When you set a
good dinner before your guests, you do not expect that they should
gorge themselves with the victuals you set before them. Wine may
be abused, and so may a leg of mutton.
Second. It is lawful for any one to use his fists in his own
defence, or in the defence of others, provided they can't help
themselves; but it is not lawful to use them for purposes of
tyranny or brutality. If you are attacked by a ruffian, as the
elderly individual in Lavengro is in the inn-yard, it is quite
lawful, if you can, to give him as good a thrashing as the elderly
individual gave the brutal coachman; and if you see a helpless
woman--perhaps your own sister--set upon by a drunken lord, a
drunken coachman, or a drunken coalheaver, or a brute of any
description, either drunk or sober, it is not only lawful but
laudable, to give them, if you can, a good drubbing; but it is not
lawful because you have a strong pair of fists, and know how to use
them, to go swaggering through a fair, jostling against unoffending
individuals; should you do so, you would be served quite right if
you were to get a drubbing, more particularly if you were served
out by some one less strong, but more skilful than yourself--even
as the coachman was served out by a pupil of the immortal
Broughton--sixty years old, it is true, but possessed of
Broughton's guard and chop.
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