THE SWALLOW.

 
Superstitious Customs and Beliefs. 
For one that is or will be dronken. Take swallowes and burne them, and make a powder of them; and give the dronken man thereof to drinke, and he shall never be dronken hereafter. 
 
 

AS DRUNK AS DAVID’S SOW.

 
“The treasury of knowledge and library reference“
AS DRUNK AS DAVID’S SOW 1 A common saying, which took its rise from the following cir- cumstance : David Lloyd, a Welshman, who kept an alehouse at Hereford, had a living sow with six legs, which was greatly resorted to by the curious [...]

APRIL FOOL.

 

“The treasury of knowledge and library reference“
APRIL FOOL! It has been very often inquired, whence this custom was derived. The Editor believes it to be a custom of great antiquity. The ancients had many rites and ceremonies in honour of their gods. The Romans kept their Saturnalia in honour of [...]

SMOKING AND TAKING SNUFF.

SMOKING AND TAKING SNUFF.

Tobacco is said to have been first brought into England by
Captain R Greenfield and Sir Francis Drake about the year 1586,
during the reign of Elizabeth. Alehouses are at present licensed
to deal in tobacco, but it was not so from the beginning ; for so
great an incentive was it thought to drunkenness, [...]

OPIUM: EXTRACTS FROM A DISCOURSE 1840

 
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2551442
The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser. Saturday 22 February 1840.

To smoke opium,
and not to look after the comfort of your parents, is to play the part of an undutiful child. TO smoke opium and to give no heed to the instruction of your son, is not fulfilling your duty as a father; to smokeopium and care not though your wife suffer cold [...]

SHERLOCK HOMES

DRUG USE IN THE 19TH CENTURY
“Sherlock Holmes took his bottle from the corner of the mantelpiece, and his hypodermic syringe from its neat morocco case. With his long, white, nervous fingers he adjusted the delicate needle and rolled back his left shirtcuff. For some little time his eyes rested thoughtfully upon the sinewy forearm and [...]

Alcohol in Australia

Alcohol in Australia: the intertwining 
of social and personal histories
an interview with Milton Lewis

EXTRACT: 
Anglo-Celtic baggage
 It’s clear that heavy drinking was an established cultural norm transported to Australia along with other Anglo-Celtic cultural baggage. At the time of colonisation of Australia, it was the norm in Europe to drink heavily. It was the time of the gin [...]

A WASTED LIFE BY MELINDA KENDALL

A WASTED LIFE A wasted life! This sad refrain Comes surging through my ears again; There’s no escape from thee, though fiend; Thou art borne to me on every wind – A wasted life! A wasted life! By day or night, no peace for me; Still, still before me I can see The fragments of [...]