112 The Life of William, Duke of Newcastle 



13. Of his Habit 



He accoutres his person according to the fashion, if it be 

 one that is not troublesome and uneasy for men of heroic 

 exercises and actions. He is neat and cleanly ; which makes 

 him to be somewhat long in dressing, though not so long as 

 many effeminate persons are. He shifts ordinarily once a 

 day, and every time when he uses exercise, or his temper is 

 more hot than ordinary. 



14. Of his Diet 



In his diet he is so sparing and temperate, that he never 

 eats nor drinks beyond his set proportion, so as to satisfy 

 only his natural appetite. He makes but one meal a day, 

 at which he drinks two good glasses of small-beer, one about 

 the beginning, the other at the end thereof, and a little glass 

 of sack in the middle of his dinner ; which glass of sack he 

 also uses in the morning for his breakfast, with a morsel of 

 bread. His supper consists of an egg, and a draught of small- 

 beer. And by this temperance he rinds himself very health- 

 ful, and may yet live many years, he being now of the age of 

 seventy-three, which I pray God from my soul to grant him. 



15. His Recreation and Exercise 



His prime pastime and recreation hath always been the 

 exercise of manage and weapons ; which heroic arts he used 

 to practise every day ; but I observing that when he had 

 overheated himself, he would be apt to take cold, prevailed 

 so far, that at last he left the frequent use of the manage, 

 using nevertheless still the exercise of weapons ; and though 

 he doth not ride himself so frequently as he hath done, yet he 

 takes delight in seeing his horses of manage rid by his escuyers 1 , 

 whom he instructs in that art for his own pleasure 2 . But 



I observed that admirable experience and judgment surmounting all the old, and that 

 vigorousness of wit, and smartness of expression, exceeding all the young, I ever saw ; 

 and not only in sharp and apt replies, but, which is much more difficult, by giving easy 

 and unforced occasions, the most admirable way of beginning one, and all this adapted 

 to men of all circumstances and conditions.' 



1 Escuyer, groom ; ecuyer, Fr., the English esquire. 



2 Jonson dedicates the following epigram to Newcastle {Underwoods, Ixxii.) : 



When first, my Lord, I saw you back your horse, 

 Provoke his mettle, and command his force 

 To all the uses of the field and race, 

 Methought I read the ancient art of Thrace, 

 And saw a Centaur past those tales of Greece, 

 So seemed your horse and you both of a piece ! 



