Of the taverns we have already spoken, and without adopting to the fullest extent the statement which has been made by various historians, that even noble ladies were in the habit of largely patronising such places, we need not hesitate to believe that they were more extensively used by the upper classes than they are at present. But they were then, as now, the ruin of those who visited them:— “There enter the prude and the reprobate boy, The mother of grief and the daughter of joy, The serving-maid slim and the serving-man stout— They quickly steal in, and they slowly reel out. ... Surcharged with the venom, some walk forth erect, Apparently baffling its deadly effect; But, sooner or later, the reckoning arrives, And ninety-nine perish for one who survives.”[285] Nor was Scotland a whit better. Here is a picture of the High Street of Edinburgh during the last century:— “Next to the neighbouring tavern all retired, And draughts of wine their various thoughts inspired; O’er draughts of wine the beau would moan his love, O’er draughts of wine the cit his bargain drove; O’er draughts of wine the writer penned his will, And legal wisdom counselled—o’er a gill.”[286] Of Ireland we can only add, that from an early period both clergy and laity drank inordinately. They with ourselves began to imbibe spirits, we are told, whilst some other nations were still content with less potent liquors:— “The Russ drinks quass, Dutch Lubeck beer, And that is strong and mighty; The Briton[287] he metheghlin quaffs, The Irish aqua vitæ; The French affect the Orleans grape, The Spaniard tastes his sherry; The English none of these can ’scape, But he with all makes merry.”[288] Of the Irish clergy in the twelfth century we have already spoken, and Archbishop Plunkett says of them in his day:[289]— “Whilst visiting six dioceses of this province, I applied myself especially to root out the cursed vice of drunkenness, which is the parent and nurse of all scandals and contentions. I commanded also, under penalty of privation of benefite, that no priest should frequent public-houses or drink whisky, &c. Indeed, I have derived great fruit from this order, and as it is of little use to teach without practising, I myself never drink at meals(!).... Give me an Irish priest without this vice, and he is assuredly a saint.”