dinner, indulge in it; but do not let it exceed _half an hour;_ if you do,
you will be dull and uncomfortable afterwards, instead of brisk and
lively.

In sleeping, as in eating and drinking, we must consult our habits and
feelings, which are excellent monitors. What says the poet?--

"Preach not to me your musty rules,
Ye drones, that mused in idle cell,
The heart is wiser than the schools,
The senses always reason well."

One particular recommendation I would propose in concluding this subject,
from the observance of which much benefit has been derived--it is to sleep
in a room as large and as airy as possible, and in a bed but little
encumbered with curtains. The lungs must respire during sleep, as well as
at any other time; and it is of great consequence that the air should be
as pure as possible. In summer curtains should not be used at all, and in
winter we should do well without them. In summer every wise man, who can
afford it, will sleep out of town--at any of the villages which are
removed sufficiently from the smoke and impurities of this overgrown
metropolis.

* * * * *




THE NOVELIST.