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138
DRINKS.
".
.
.
Left with
her
last
glass
alone.
Thus
loud
laments
her
lot,
the
squeaking
crone
:
Farewell,
my
life
and
beauty,
thou
art
sped.
Faithful
companion
of
my
board
and
bed.
My
earthly
term
fain
with
thee
would
I
live,
Who
to
my
sorrowing
heart
can'st
solace
give.
Bereft of
gin,
alas
!
am
I
for
aye
The
Act
is
passed.
'Tis
all
in
vain
to
pray.
Go
where
the
Fates
may
call,
and
know
that
I
Living,
with
thee
would
live,
and
dying,
die
!
Hogarth's
Gin
Lane
was
advertised
in
1751,
with
a
note
that,
as
its
subject
was
calculated
to
reform
some
reigning
vices
peculiar
to
the
lower
class
of
people,
in
hopes
to
render
them
of
more
extensive
use,
the
author
had
published
them
in
the
cheapest
manner
possible.
"The
cheapest
manner
possible"
was
one
shilling
which
in
those
days
was
a
fairly
good
price
for
a
print.
The
following
lame
and
defamatory
verse
was
com-
posed
for
the
occasion
by
the
Rev.
James
Townley
:
"
Gin
Lane.
Gin,
cursed
fiend,
with
fury
fraught,
Makes
human
race
a
prey
;
It
enters
by
a
deadly
drought,
And
steals
our
life
away.
Virtue
and
Truth,
driven
to
despair,
Its
rage
compels
to
fly
;
But
cherishesj
with
hellish
care,
Theft,
murder,
perjury.
Damned
cup,
that
on
the
vitals
preys,
That
liquid
fire
contains
;
Which
madness
to
the
heart
conveys,
And
rolls
it
through
the
veins."
Hogarth
tells
us
that
in
Gin
Lane
evtry
circumstance
of
the
horrid
effects
of
gin
drinking
is
brought
to
view