THE REV. JAMES MARTINEAU, D. D.


Having kept no record of my dietary and health, I can give you no
more exact report than my memory supplies. Of tobacco, I have nothing
to say, except that my intense dislike of it has restricted my
travelling to a minimum, and kept me from all public places where I
am liable to encounter its sickening effects. My first prolonged
experience of abstinence from wine and malt liquor ran through about
seven years, dating, I think, from 1842. The change was not great in
itself, and I always thought it favourable in its effects. At no time
of my life did I sustain a heavier pressure of work and of anxiety.
But in the spring of 1849, when I was living with my family in
Germany, I fell into a low state of health, indicated by fluttering
circulation in going upstairs, or up-hill; and, under medical advice,
I adopted the habit of taking, daily, I suppose about half-a-pint
bottle of _Vin ordinam._ I recovered completely, and adhered for
several years to the allowance (or its equivalent) which had been
prescribed to me. Under this regimen, however, I became, after a
time, subject to occasional slight attacks of gout, and to some
disturbance of digestion and of sleep. In spite of medical advice, I
determined to revert to the abstinence in which I had never lost
faith. For a time of, I suppose, from twelve to fifteen years, I have
persisted in this rule; not, indeed, being under any vow, but
practically not taking more than half-a-dozen glasses of wine per
annum. During this time, I have escaped, apparently, all tendency to