in the day. The hour for dinner was ten in the morning; and for supper, four in the afternoon. Afterwards, the former meal was termed the breakfast; a lunch was introduced at noon; and the supper was taken at six. The meals of the moderns are more frequent; but the food is less solid, and the quantity much less. The more wealthy among our forefathers were almost continually feasting.

It is improper to eat any thing a short time before a meal; because the stomach immediately commences the operation of digestion, which is checked by the additional food. The appetite of delicate persons is by this means frequently spoiled. In the winter, a healthy person feels himself chilly after eating: this arises from the closing of the pylorus, or lower orifice of the stomach, when heat is withdrawn from the other parts of the body, for the purpose of assisting digestion. If, instead of this chilliness, there be a heat or flush, it may be considered as an indication of a disordered system.

The breakfast is the best time for gratifying the appetite without risk; because, then, the stomach is generally empty, and a feeling of hunger is a sign of health; but the food should be rather light. Cold or hot meats need not be eaten, except by hard-working persons. Tea, as a beverage, is better for the summer, and coffee for the winter; both these, if they be strong, should be softened with milk and sugar. They should never be drunk more than blood-warm, which is about ninety-five degrees. The dinner should consist of

animal food, with young and fresh vegetables. Table beer, or a glass of light wine, may be allowed to a person who has been accustomed to it; but cold water is better. The tea should be very light, and formed chiefly of fluids. The supper may be composed, in part, of animal food, for those who use much exercise, and have a quick digestion; but for others it should be very spare. If the supper be light, the sleep will be more tranquil; and there will be a greater inclination to rise early.

Medicine should be avoided, if possible: for this is an artificial stimulus. In ordinary health, a person may regulate himself, and counteract any tendency to irregularity by the nature and quantity of his food, exercise, and clothing. A disposition towards dyspepsy or costiveness may be counteracted by a cooler diet, by a larger proportion of animal food, by less exercise, and less clothing ; by early rising, and a total abstinence from ardent spirits. An inclination of the opposite kind may be checked by a lighter diet, by temperance in eating and drinking, by warmer clothing, particularly about the feet, by additional exercise. If the system incline towards plethorism, abstinence, early rising, and much exercise, must be used. If the body be low, from labour and scanty living, less exertion must be taken, and a more generous diet must be adopted. Fuller says of Sir Edward Coke, "For three things he said he would give God solemn thanks ;" and one of the three was, ،، that he never gave his body to physick." Lord Bacon advises a man to use medicine sometimes, lest he

become too much unaccustomed to it; but the only effect would be, that when he became ill he would need a less quantity. A person, above all things, should strictly avoid quackery. A particular sort of pill is introduced and warranted to cure all diseases. Now, as some disorders are the opposite of others, the nostrum must be harmless and useless; or, if it cure some persons, it must kill others. These pretending and ignorant vagabonds, in the language of Butler, —

"stored with deletory med'cines,

Which whosoever took is dead since,”

have haunted the world, and carried captive silly people, from the earliest times to the present day. An ancient law among the Egyptians placed the risk of the patient, for the first three days, on the shoulders of the physician. This system would tend to check quackery. In some parts of the East, the medical attendants of the royal household are paid only as long as the sovereign remains healthy. Peter the Great adopted the same method. Before the science of physic became improved in Babylonia, every sick person was carried into some public place, and all who passed stopped and gave an opinion on his malady. How much more are we favoured in the present day! It is true, that by luxury and carelessness we have occasioned many disorders; but then, when we are sick, and nature is incapable of regaining her influence over the body, we may have recourse to the accumulated experience of many centuries.

CHAP. III.

THE PRESERVATION OF HEALTH.

CLOTHING.

THE practice of wearing clothing was introduced into the garden of Eden when our first parents had broken the laws of God, and cut in sunder the silken cords of innocence which had prevented them from ranging into forbidden ground, and distinguishing by experience the difference between good and evil. It did not arise then from natural but from moral causes. For the corporeal part had been adapted to the situation and the climate in which it had been placed; but when the moral principle became disordered, new dispositions arose. The custom of wearing clothing has been, however, continued through necessity; for the alteration which probably took place in the revolution of the earth-the disagreement between the equator and the ecliptic, must have introduced a variety of temperature. In the time of Adam, the polar regions were, perhaps, as they are now, covered with perpetual ice; while the equatorial parts of the globe were cheered by a continual summer. There were no storms, chilling winds, nor impetuous rains; but calmness and beauty every where prevailed. The hills were covered with foliage; the valleys were adorned with verdure. The tall tree shot its graceful form towards

the heavens; or trees, bending with delicious fruit, afforded at once a luxuriant meal and a shelter from the noon-day sun. The tides of the ocean majestically rolled on the shore. There was no anger or malevolence in the bosom of the deep; but it was clear and peaceful as the heavens which were reflected in it. Rivulets murmured among peaceful groves, and mountain streams gushed out and glittered in realms of innocence. The day was not lengthened to a degree of tiresomeness; nor was creation shrouded in the sable vestment of night throughout a dreary winter: but the sun arose with equal brightness, and set with equal glory. These days, however, of beauty, innocence, and bliss-like the imagination of a dream, are passed away.

Mankind are now exposed to the winter's cold and the summer's heat. They must clothe themselves for the one, and endeavour to ward off the other. Fashion and caprice have, however, too frequently regulated these matters, and occasioned the clothing of human beings to be sometimes too warm, and at other times too cold. Civilisation tends to luxury, and luxury rather increases than diminishes our wants and our helplessness. In most countries, the quantity of clothing has been increased with the progress of the inhabitants in the sciences and the arts; frequently, perhaps, without reason. The early Grecians were clad in the skins of beasts; and the progenitors of the Roman nation were adorned by no costlier clothing. The ancient Briton was scarcely supplied with any thing but his flowing curls: