I shall make no comment upon these words, only insert one already made, which I take from M. Duchat in his Remarks on Rabelais[4]. On these words of Saint Augustin, says he, mentioned in the second part of the Decretals, caus. 32, q. 2, c. 9, the commentator says, “And this is an argument for the Normans, English, and Poles, that they may drink largely, that the soul may not live in the dry. Et est argumentum pro Normannis, Anglicis, et Polonis, ut possint fortiter bibere, ne anima habitet in sicco. To which Peter Chatelain, a Flemish physician, made this pleasant addition, It is very probable, that the commentator was an entire stranger to the nature of the Flemings. Verisimile est glossatorem ignorasse naturam Belgarum.”
And, perhaps, this argument from St. Augustine’s words, is as just as one of a merry fellow I knew, who would prove, from St. Paul’s going to the Three Taverns[5], That he loved a hearty bottle.
Amongst the Bishops, I cannot instance a more illustrious example of a great drinker than that of Pontus de Thiard. We are told[6], “That this gentleman, after having repented of the sins of his youth, came to be bishop of Chalons sur Soane; but, however, he did not renounce the power of drinking heartily, which seemed then inseparable from the quality of a good poet. He had a stomach big enough to empty the largest cellar; and the best wines of Burgundy were too gross for the subtility of the fire which devoured him. Every night, at going to bed, besides the ordinary doses of the day, in which he would not suffer the least drop of water, he used to drink a bottle before he slept. He enjoyed a strong, robust, and vigorous health; to the age of fourscore.
[1.] Thuan. p. 447.
[2.] Perron, p. 387.
[3.] Petit Nepænth, p. 137.
[4.] Liv. i. ch. 5.
[5.] Acts, cap. xxviii. v. 15.
[6.] Rep. des Lett. Febr. 1687, art. 7.