Virtue and Truth, driv’n to despair, Its rage compels to fly; But cherishes, with hellish care, Theft, Murder, Perjury. Damn’d cup! that on the vitals preys, That liquid fire contains, Which madness to the heart conveys, And rolls it through the veins. The general design of the Plate _Beer Street_ is to expose the deadly habit of gin-drinking, and to teach that if man must drink strong liquors, beer is far the best to indulge in. Edward Young, courtier, poet, rector, a general genius, satirised tea and wine as abused by the women of his day. After bemoaning the hecatomb sacrificed upon the altar of _tea_, he exclaims:-- But this inhuman triumph shall decline, And thy revolting Naiads call for wine; Spirits no longer shall serve under thee, But reign in thy own cup, exploded Tea! Citronia’s nose declares thy ruin nigh; And who dares give Citronia’s nose the lie? The ladies long at men of drink exclaimed, And what impaired both health and virtue blamed. At length, to rescue man, the generous lass Stole from her consort the pernicious glass, As glorious as the British Queen renown’d Who suck’d the poison from her husband’s wound. Another champion of temperance was John Armstrong, who wrote in 1744 _The Art of Preserving Health_. But he was no ascetic, for he writes:-- When you smooth The brows of care, indulge your festive vein In cups by well-informed experience found The least your bane, and only with your friends. The effects of a surfeit of drink he has most ably drawn:--