ses of this system of publication, therefore, need not much exceed 18007. a year, or 2000/. including the salary of a clerk for keeping the registry.

Upon this plan it is submitted, that a really "effective Hue and Cry" may be raised, and that such an instrument of detection, together with a regular and vigilant Day, as well as Night patrole, summary powers for checking the beginnings of crimes, a simplified code and prompt administration of laws, and an abolition of agreeable punishments and prison associations, would soon render the trade of dishonesty so precarious, disagreeable, and dangerous, as to be deemed no longer worth following.

COMPENDIUM

OF

A SOBER LIFE,

SHOWING THE SUREST METHOD OF CORRECTING AN
INFIRM CONSTITUTION.

CHAPTER II.

My Treatise on a sober life has begun to answer my desire, in being of service to many persons born with a weak constitution, who, every time they commit the least excess, find themselves greatly indisposed, a thing which, it must be allowed, does not happen to robust people. Several of these persons of weak constitutions, on seeing the foregoing Treatise, have betaken themselves to a regular course of life, convinced by experience of its utility. In like manner, I should be glad to be of service to those who are born with a good constitution, and presuming upon it lead a disorderly life; whence it comes to pass, that on their at- " taining the age of sixty, or thereabouts, they are attacked with various pains and diseases; some with the gout, some with the sciatica, and others with pains in the stomach, and the like, to which they would not be subject were they to embrace a sober life; and as most of them die before they attain their eightieth year, they would live to a hundred, the term allowed to man by God and nature. And it is but reasonable to believe, that the intention of this our mother is, that we should all attain that term, in order that we might all taste the sweets of every state of life. But as our birth is subject to the revolution of the heavens, these have great influence over it, especially in rendering our constitutions robust or infirm ; a thing which nature cannot ward against; for if she could, we should all bring a good constitution with us into the world. But then she hopes, that a man, as endowed with reason and understanding, may of himself compensate, by dint of art, the want of that which the heavens have denied him; and by means of

a sober life, contrive to mend his infirm constitution, live to a great age, and always enjoy good health.

For man, it is not to be doubted, may by art exempt himself in part from the influence of the heavens; it being the common opinion that the heavens give an inclination, but do not impel us; for which reason the learned say, that a wise man rules the stars. I was born with a very choleric disposition, insomuch, that there was no living with me; but I took notice of it, and considered, that a person swayed by his passion, must, at certain times, be no better than a madman; I mean at those times when he suffers his passions to predominate, because he then renounces his reason and understanding. I therefore resolved to make my choleric disposition give way to reason; so that now, though born choleric, I never suffer anger entirely to subdue me.

The man who is naturally of a bad constitution may, in like manner, by dint of reason and a sober life, live to a great age and in good health, as I have done, who had naturally the worst, so that it was impossible I should live above forty years; whereas I now find myself sound and hearty at the age of eighty-six; and were it not for the long and violent fits of illness which I experienced in my youth, to such a degree that the physicians gave me over, and which robbed me of my radical moisture, a loss absolutely irreparable, I might expect to attain the above-mentioned term of one hundred. But I know, for good reasons, that it is impossible; and therefore do not think of it. It is enough for me that I have lived forty-six years beyond the term I had a right to expect; and that, during this long respite, all my senses have continued perfect; and even my teeth, my voice, my memory, and my heart. But what is still more, my brain is more itself now than ever it was; nor do any of these powers abate as I advance in years; and this because, as I grow older, I lessen the quantity of my solid food.

This retrenchment is necessary, nor can it be avoided, since it is impossible for a man to live for ever; and as he draws near his end, he is reduced so low as to be no longer able to take any nourishment, unless it be to swallow, and that with difficulty, the yolk of an egg in the four-and-twenty hours, and thus end by mere dissolution, without any pain or sickness, as I expect will be my case. This is a blessing of great importance; yet may be expected by all those who shall lead a sober life, of whatever degree or condition, whether high, or middling, or low; for we are all of the same species, and composed of the same four elements. And since a long and healthy life ought to be greatly coveted by every man, as I shall presently show, I conclude, that every man is bound in duty to exert himself to attain longevity, and that he cannot promise himself such a blessing without temperance and sobriety.