He became and continued a drunkard, not through weakness, but through will.

When his friends remonstrated with him, he told them to mind their own business, and to let him mind his.

If he saw any reason for not getting drunk he would give it up.

Meanwhile he liked getting drunk, and he meant to get drunk as often as possible.
He went about it deliberately, and did it thoroughly.

For nearly ten years, so it was reported, he never went to bed sober.