rect myself by a scheme of rules, which I had · collected from his obfervations. The learned ⚫ world are very well acquainted with that gen'tleman's invention; who, for the better carrying on of his experiments, contrived a certain • Mathematical CHAIR, which was fo artificially hung upon fprings, that it would weigh any thing as well as a pair of scales. By this 'means he discovered how many ounces of his food paffed by perfpiration, what quantity of it was turned into nourishment, and how much went away by the other channels and • diftributions of nature. Having provided myfelf with this chair, I ufed to ftudy, eat, drink, and fleep in it; info'much that I may be faid, for these last three years, to have lived in a pair of fcales. I compute myself, when I am in full heath, to be precifely two hundred weight, falling short of it about a pound after a day's faft, and exceeding it as much after a very full meal; fo that it is my continual employment, to trim the balance between thefe two volatile pounds in my 'conftitution. In my ordinary meals I fetch 'myself up to two hundred weight and half a pound; and if after having dined I find myfelf fall fhort of it, I drink juft fo much fmall beer, or eat fuch a quantity of bread, as is fufficient to make me weight. In my greatest exceffes < inoculation for the finall-pox, as, is faid in a note on TATLER, N° 55; but having bought the book, he foon after difcovered, that the Paper De Variolarum infitione, annexed to the edition of Sanctorius above-mentioned, was written originally by Dr. Keill, 'I do not tranfgrefs more than the other half 'pound; which, for my health's fake, I do the 'firft Monday in every month. As foon as I 'find myself duly poifed after dinner, I walk 'till I have perfpired five ounces and four scruples; and when I difcover, by my chair, that I 'am fo far reduced, I fall to my books, and study away three ounces more. As for the remain'ing parts of the pound, I keep no account of 'them. I do not dine and fup by the clock, but by my chair; for when that informs me my pound of food is exhausted, I conclude my'felf to be hungry, and lay in another with all diligence. In my days of abstinence I lose a pound and an half, and on folemn fafts am two pound lighter than on other days in the year. 'I allow myself, one night with another, a quarter of a pound of fleep, within a few grains * more or lefs; and if upon my rifing I find that 'I have not confumed my whole quantity, I * take out the reft in my chair. Upon an exact 'calculation of what I expended and received the 'laft year, which I always register in a book, I 'find the medium to be two hundred weight, fo that I cannot discover that I am impaired one ounce in my health during a whole twelveAnd yet Sir, notwithstanding this my great care to ballast myself equally every day, and to keep my body in its proper poife, fo it is, that I find myself in a fick and languishing condition. My complexion is grown very fallow, my pulfe low, and my body hydropical. Let me therefore beg you Sir, to conVOL. I. 'fider ' month. L • fider me as your patient, and to give me more ' certain rules to walk by than those I have already observed, and you will very much oblige Your humble fervant.' This letter puts me in mind of an Italian epitaph written on the monument of a Valetudinarian; Stavo ben, ma per ftar meglio, fto qui: which it is impoffible to tranflate*. The fear of death often proves mortal, and fets people on methods to fave their lives, which infallibly destroy them. This is a reflection made by fome hiftorians, upon obferving that there are many more thoufands killed in a flight, than in a battle; and may be applied to thofe multitudes of imaginary fick perfons that break their conftitutions by phyfic, and throw themselves into the arms of death, by endeavouring to escape it. This method is not only dangerous, but below the practice of a reasonable creature. To confult the prefervation of life, as the only end of it, to make our health our business, to engage in no action that is not part of a regimen, or courfe of phyfic, are purposes fo abject, fo mean, fo unworthy human nature, that a generous foul would rather die than fubmit to them. Befides, that a continual anxiety for life vitiates all the relishes of it, and cafts a gloom over the whole face of nature; as it is impoffible we should take *It may be fo; but the following tranflation feems neceffary to give an English reader fome idea of the Italian epitaph: "I was well, but by trying to be better, I am here." delight delight in any thing that we are every moment afraid of lofing. I do not mean, by what I have here said, that I think any one to blame for taking due care of their health. On the contrary, as chearfulness of mind, and capacity for business, are in a great measure the effects of a well-tempered conftitution, a man cannot be at too much pains to cultivate and preferve it. But this care, which we are prompted to, not only by common sense, but by duty and inftinct, should never engage us in groundless fears, melancholy apprehenfions, and imaginary diftempers, which are natural to every man who is more anxious to live, than how to live. In fhort, the preservation of life fhould be only a fecondary concern, and the direction of it our principal. If we have this frame of mind, we fhall take the best means to preferve life, without being over-folicitous about the event; and fhall arrive at that point of felicity which Martial has mentioned as the perfection of happiness, of neither fearing nor wishing for death. In anfwer to the gentleman, who tempers his health by ounces and by fcruples, and instead of complying with those natural folicitations of hunger and thirft, drowsiness or love of exercise, governs himself by the prefcriptions of his chair, I fhall tell him a fhort fable. Jupiter, fays the mythologist, to reward the piety of a certain countryman, promised to give him whatever he would afk. The countryman defired that he might have the management of the weather in his own eftate. He obtained his request, and immediately diftributed rain, fnow, and funshine among his several fields, as he thought the nature of the foil required. At the end of the year, when he expected to fee a more than ordinary crop, his harvest fell infinitely short of that of his neighbours. Upon which (says the fable) he defired Jupiter to take the weather again into his own hands, or that otherwise he fhould utterly ruin himself. C*. N° 26. Friday, March 30, 1711. Pallida mors æquo pulfat pede pauperum tabernas Vita fumma brevis fpem nos vetat inchoare longam, Et domus exilis Plutonia. HOR. I Od. iv. 13. With equal foot, rich friend, impartial fate W CREECH. HEN I am in a ferious humour, I very often walk by myself in WestminsterAbbey; where the gloominefs of the place, and By ADDISON, dated it is fuppofed from Chelfea. See final Note to N° 7. the |