what he finds hurt of, is the best physic to preserve health; but it is a safer conclusion to say, 'This agreeth not well with me, therefore I will not continue it;' than this, 'I find no offence of this, therefore I may use it:' for strength of nature in youth passeth over many excesses which are owing 3 a man till his age. Discern of the coming on of years, and think not to do the same thing still; for age will not be defied. Beware of sudden

change in any great point of diet, and, if necessity enforce it, fit the rest to it; 5 for it is a secret both in nature and state, that it is safer to change many things than one. Examine thy customs of diet, sleep, exercise, apparel, and the like; and try, in anything thou shalt judge hurtful, to discontinue it by little and little; but so, as if thou dost find any inconvenience by the change, thou come back to it again: for it is hard to distinguish that which is generally held good and wholesome, from that which is good particularly, and fit for thine own body. To be free minded and cheerfully disposed at hours of meat, and of sleep, and of exercise, is one of the best precepts of long lasting.8 As for the passions and studies of the mind, avoid envy, anxious fears, anger fretting inwards, subtle and knotty inquisitions, joys, and exhilarations in excess, sadness not communicated. Entertain hopes, mirth rather than joy, variety of delights rather than surfeit of them; wonder and admiration, and therefore novelties; studies that fill the mind with splendid and illustrious objects; as histories, fables, and contemplations of nature. If you fly physic in health altogether, it will be too strange for your body when you shall need it; if you make it too familiar, it will work no extraordinary effect when sickness cometh. I commend rather some diet, for certain seasons, than frequent use of physic, except it be grown into a custom; for those diets alter the body more, and trouble it less. Despise no new accident in your body, but ask opinion of it.10 In sickness, respect 1i health principally; and in health, action for those that put their bodies to endure in health, may, in most sicknesses which are not very sharp,

be cured only with diet and tendering. 12 Celsus 13 could never have spoken it as a physician, had he not been a wise man withal, when he giveth it for one of the great precepts of health and lasting, that a man do vary and interchange contraries, but with an inclination to the more benign extreme: use fasting and full eating, but rather full eating; watching and sleep, but rather sleep; sitting and exercise, but rather exercise, and the like: so shall nature be cherished, and yet taught masteries.14 Physicians are some of them so pleasing and conformable to the humour of the patient, as they press not the true cure of the disease; and some other are so regular in proceeding according to art for the disease, as they respect not sufficiently the condition of the patient. Take one of a middle temper; or, if it may not be found in one man, combine two of either sort; and forget not to call as well the best acquainted with your body, as the best reputed of for his faculty.

NOTES ON ESSAY Xxx.

1. Regiment'-which is the same word as regimen, means, in a general sense, ruling, regulation; and here, in its hygienic use, it denotes specially the imposition of a systematic course of living with a view to preserving health.

2. 'of'-from; ‘of a child' (i.e. from childhood)—Mark ix, 21. 'One that I brought up of a puppy'- -Two Gentlemen of Verona.

'The captain of the Helots, with a blow whose violence grew of fury, not of strength, nor of strength proceeding of fury, struck Palladius upon the side of the head-SIDNEY.

3. 'owing'-due to, as an undischarged debt. So we say, 'He is badly off, but a great deal of money is owing to him;' 'Do not forget what is owing to authority.'

The form is owing' is really passive voice, like building for is being built; printing for is being printed, etc.

4. Bear in mind that old age draws on, and you cannot expect always (still) to take with impunity indulgences that seem

harmless now.'

5. fit the rest to it'-change other habits accordingly.

6. 'state'-politics.

7. 'generally'-by people generally; as a general rule.

particularly 'in thy own particular case. "What is good for most people may not be good for yourself."

8. of long lasting'-for prolonging life.

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9.

fretting'-lit. eating away little by little.

'Like as it were a moth fretting a garment'-Ps. xxxix, 11.

'This majestical roof, fretted with golden fire'-Hamlet, II, ii.

He means that outbursts of anger are soon over; but angry feelings, when cherished and brooded on, tend to gradually wear away the physical health.

10. 'Do not think lightly of any striking change you may observe in yourself, but procure medical advice respecting it.'

II. 'respect'-look forward to; anticipate.

12.

13.

་

'Palladius adviseth the front of his house should so respect the south'-BRowne.

tendering'-careful treatment; nursing.

'Celsus.' He was a Roman physician, living in the first century of the Christian era; his eight books on medicine are still extant, and not without authority in most of the medical schools of Europe.

14. taught masteries'-led to acquire strength, which will fortify you against disease.

ANALYSIS OF ESSAY XXX.

Rules for the preservation of health:

1. The best medicine is to observe what harms you, and to discontinue it.

2. Change very gradually your habits of diet, exercise, apparel, etc.

3. Cultivate cheerfulness, and avoid passions that either excite or irritate.

4. Use medicine, but sparingly (trusting rather to diet), and seek medical advice when necessary.

5. Use variety of habit, but do not renounce 'benign' things. 6. Choose for your physician one who is skilled in his art, and acquainted with your constitution.

XXXI.-OF SUSPICION. (1625.)

SUSPICIONS amongst thoughts are like bats amongst birds, they ever fly by twilight: certainly they are to be repressed, or at the least well guarded;1 for they cloud the mind, they lose friends, and they check2 with business, whereby business cannot go on currently and constantly:

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they dispose kings to tyranny, husbands to jealousy, wise men to irresolution and melancholy: they are defects, not in the heart, but in the brain; for they take place in the stoutest natures, as in the example of Henry the Seventh of England; there was not a more suspicious man nor a more stout: and in such a composition they do small hurt; for commonly they are not admitted, but with examination, whether they be likely or no ; but in fearful natures they gain ground too fast.

There is nothing makes a man suspect much, more than to know little; and therefore men should remedy suspicion by procuring to know more, and not to keep their suspicions in smother. What would men have? Do they think those they employ and deal with are saints? Do they not think they will have their own ends, and be truer to themselves than to them? Therefore there is no better way to moderate suspicions, than to account upon such suspicions as true, and yet to bridle them as false: for so far a man ought to make use of suspicions, as to provide, as if that should be true that he suspects, yet it may do him no hurt. Suspicions that the mind of itself gathers are but buzzes; but suspicions that are artificially nourished and put into men's heads by the tales and whisperings of others, have stings. Certainly, the best mean, to clear the way in this same wood of suspicions, is frankly to communicate them with the party that he suspects; for thereby he shall be sure to know more of the truth of them than he did before; and withal shall make that party more circumspect, not to give further cause of suspicion. But this would not be done to men of base natures; for they, if they find themselves once suspected, will never be true. The Italian says, 'Sospetto licentia fede;' as if suspicion did give a passport to faith; but it ought rather to kindle it to discharge itself.

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NOTES ON ESSAY XXXI.

1. 'guarded'-carefully kept within proper limits.

2.

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Suspicions

should never rule you; you should keep the mastery over them.

'check'-interfere, thwart. (See note 15, Essay X.)

3. currently'-smoothly and continuously, like a running stream. 4. 'stoutest '-bravest. Bravery or courage (Latin cor= the heart) was supposed to be seated in the heart; hence Bacon says that suspicions are not defects in the heart-i.e. in the courage.

5. They are not entertained before they have been examined, in order to ascertain whether there is reasonable ground for them

or not.

6. So far to reckon the suspicions true as to make preparations for the worst; and yet so to disregard them as to hope for the best. 7. 'he'-used indefinitely: we should now, in this case, use the indefinite personal pronoun one.

8. would not'-should not, ought not.

9. Suspicion is the passport to faith.' Here 'passport' means dismissal, discharge. So in Shakespeare, Henry V, IV, iii, 36, the word is used of a cowardly soldier sent back home:

'Let him depart: his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his hand.'

ANALYSIS OF ESSAY XXXI.

I. The evil effect of suspicion: viz. it interferes with business, not only in timid persons but also brave-e.g. Henry VII.

II. The remedy for suspicions:

1. Full inquiry as to their grounds.

2. Though hoping they are false, to remember that they may be true, and to prepare accordingly.

3. To avoid artificially nourishing them.

4. To allow them frankly, except 'to men of base natures.'