They hailed him.
'Hollo, Peak! Come and help us to get sober before bedtime!' They were not exactly studious youths, but neither did they belong to the class that Godwin despised, and he had a comrade-like feeling for them.

In a few minutes his demeanour was wholly changed.

A glass of hot whisky acted promptly upon his nervous system, enabled him to forget vexations, and attuned him to kindred sprightliness.

He entered merrily into the talk of a time of life which is independent of morality--talk distinct from that of the blackguard, but equally so from that of the reflective man.

His first glass had several successors.