...dissipation, now so rare among respectable classes of the community, " engrossed," says Chambers, " the leisure hours of all professional men, scarcely...profession, indeed, formed an exception to this rule." Such gatherings and roysterings formed, in the eighteenth century, a marked feature of life in the...

...dissipation, now so rare among respectable classes of the community, " engrossed," says Chambers, " the leisure hours of all professional men, scarcely...profession, indeed, formed an exception to this rule." Such gatherings and roysterings formed, in the eighteenth century, a marked feature of life in the...

...age of tavern frequenting. The late Dr. Robert Chambers, in his "Traditions of Edinburgh," says, " Tavern dissipation, now so rare amongst the respectable...hours of all professional men, scarcely excepting the most stern and dignified. No rank, class, or profession formed an exception to the rule. When Robert...

...instance a marked feature. Chambers asserts—and he proves his assertion—that tavern dissipation formerly prevailed in Edinburgh to an incredible extent,...hours of all professional men, scarcely excepting the most stem and dignified (no rank or class or profession indeed formed an exception), and that typical...

...toasts to be raised. But the booze wasn't restricted to dinner. Drinking, according to one account, ‘engrossed the leisure hours of all professional...scarcely excepting even the most stern and dignified'. People would drink over business deals and legal matters, even preparing for a day's work on the bench....

...toasts to be raised. But the booze wasn't restricted to dinner. Drinking, according to one account, 'engrossed the leisure hours of all professional men,...scarcely excepting even the most stern and dignified'. People would drink over business deals and legal matters, even preparing for a day's work on the bench....