struction? Hideous
monster, behold him! No longer great nor terrible, he flies, or rather
totters, from before his serene opponent--he shudders--he stutters and
hiccups in his howlings--his limbs are tremulous--his hands shake as
if with palsy--his eye is lustreless and bloodshot, and his ghastly
countenance the exponent of death. He flies, but not unaccompanied;
along with him are crime, poverty, hunger, idleness, his music the groan
of the murderer, the clanking of the madman's chain, filled up by the
report of the suicide's pistol, and the horrible yell of despair! And
now he and his evil spirits are gone, the moral atmosphere is bright and
unclouded, and the Angel of Temperance, Industry, and Peace goes abroad
throughout the land, fulfilling his beneficent mission, and diffusing
his own virtues into the hearts of a regenerated people!

Leaving allegory, however, to the poets, it is impossible that, treating
of the subject which we have selected, we could, without seeming to
undervalue it, neglect to say a few words upon the most extraordinary
moral phenomenon, which, apart from the miraculous, the world ever saw;
we allude to the wonderful Temperance Movement, as it is called, which,
under the guiding hand of the Almighty, owes its visible power and
progress to the zeal and incredible exertions of one pious and humble
man--the Very Rev. Theobald Matthew, of Cork. When we consider the
general, the proverbial character, which our countrymen have, during
centuries, borne for love of drink, and their undeniable habits of
intemperance, we cannot but feel that the change which has taken place
is, indeed, surprising, to say the least of it. But, in addition to
this, when we also consider the natural temperament of the Irishman--his
social disposition--his wit, his humor, and his affection--all of which
are lit up by liquor--when we just reflect upon the exhilaration of
spirits produced by it--when we think upon the poverty, the distress,
and the misery which too generally constitute his wretched lot, and
which it will enable him, for a moment, to forget--and when we remember
that all his bargains were made over it--that he courted his sweetheart
over it--got married over it--wept for his dead over it--and generally
fought his enemy of another faction, or the Orangeman of another creed,
when under its influence:--when we pause over all these considerations,
we can see how many temptations our countrymen had to overcome in
r