Drunk as a lord

He gave her a good hidin' an' went to th' Blue Lion an' got as drunk as a lord.

"Good many of them drunk as lords," said DuBois of the established merriment of the guests.

Then vodka was brought out; the hero of the day would get drunk as a lord and always walked all over the prison, reeling and staggering, trying to show to everyone that he was drunk, that he was “jolly” and so deserving of general respect. Everywhere among the Russian people a certain sympathy is felt for a drunken man; in prison he was positively treated with respect.

"How he managed to light it, God knows, for he was as drunk as a lord.