PRESERVATION OF HEALTH. 



Something inferior will invariably be preferred, if 

 it only be new. Now, the duties by which men in 

 general earn their subsistence are in all cases of 

 such a nature as only to call into exercise a part 

 of their mental and bodily system. Something is 

 required at once to soothe and compensate us 

 for the drudgery of our current labours, and to 

 bring into exercise those parts of our muscular 

 frame and intellect which professional duty has 

 left unoccupied. To begin with a humble illustra- 

 tion : how delightful to a tailor, after long exercis- 

 ing his fingers and arms alone at his business, to 

 enter into some athletic sport upon the village- 

 green, by which his limbs also will be exercised ! 

 After a lawyer has fagged for a day at a brief, how 

 delightful to be able, by the reading of a new novel 

 or play, to call up another set of the intellectual 

 powers ! In these changes from grave to light 

 occupation, there is at once repose given to the 

 tasked faculty, and the gratification of employment 

 given to others which have been pining for want 

 of something to do. 



Amongst amusements, reading takes a most 

 distinguished place ; for there is none which may 

 be more readily or more innocently indulged in, 

 and fortunately, in our own country, it is one which 

 may now be enjoyed by all. 



Next to reading stands music, a means of 

 enjoyment of which only a few, comparatively, in 

 our country take advantage, but which might 

 easily be made much more extensively available, 

 and probably will be so in the course of a few 

 years. Connected intimately with music is dancing, 

 which is not only a cheerful amusement, but a 

 positive and direct means of bodily exercise. A 

 family musical or dancing scene, like a family 

 reading scene, is a thing beautiful to look upon. 

 There is a prejudice against both in some minds, 

 on account of their being liable to abuse ; but the 

 abuses of both arise very much from their not 

 being extensively or freely indulged in. Were 

 music the general accomplishment which it might 

 easily be made, it would not only be indulged in 

 on all occasions with simplicity and innocence, 

 but it would supplant coarser and more clandes- 

 tine amusements. Dancing is the nightly amuse- 

 ment of the French peasantry, and it has never 

 been pretended that these people are less virtuous 

 than the corresponding class in our own country. 

 Theatrical representations it might be more diffi- 

 cult to place on such a footing as to secure the 

 unhesitating approbation of the good; but certainly 

 if this were done, they might prove highly service- 

 able in furnishing amusement. 



In the class of amusements we must reckon 

 meetings or promenades in ornamental grounds, 

 excursions into the country, and little tours, all of 

 which are highly commendable in those who are 

 able to indulge in them. The entertainment of 

 little parties of friends, and the going out to 

 entertainments given by them in return, are other 

 means of amusement common in society, and 

 which may be moderately indulged in with much 

 advantage. In short, whatever gives a pleasant 

 variation to the monotony of life, without leading 

 the mind away from duty or corrupting the man- 

 ners, ought to be indulged in as freely as circum- 

 stances will permit. The mind returns from such 

 diversions with renewed tone and power, and 

 neither the time nor the expense is lost in the long- 

 run. It is the more necessary to impress these 



maxims, as many well-meaning persons, alarmed 

 perhaps at the occasional abuse of such enjoy- 

 ments, repudiate them nearly altogether, and 

 thereby lower the tone of their health, both as 

 respects the body and the mind. It is particularly 

 distressing to see such persons exercising a control 

 over the young, and denying to their unfortunate 

 protege's an element of life not much less pressingly 

 necessary than the air they breathe. (See INDOOR 

 AMUSEMENTS.) 



Enjoyments are of many kinds. Some are 

 sensual, as the taking of agreeable food ; others 

 are intellectual, as agreeable music, reading, &c. ; 

 others are moral, as the exercise of philanthropy, 

 the religious feelings, &c. ; and some are sympa- 

 thetic, and consist in the exercise of the affections, 

 and the reflection of that gratification which we 

 have endeavoured to impart to others. We may 

 consider as such all things over and above the 

 plainest unrelished fare, and the supply of water, 

 air, and a barely sufficient temperature. These 

 are usually considered as strictly the necessaries of 

 life, the others being the comforts or luxuries. 

 The distinction is not quite correct. The first 

 class are certainly immediately necessary to the 

 support of life ; that is to say, they are hourly, 

 daily necessary. But more or less of what are 

 called the comforts of life are also necessary, if we 

 would preserve health. The only difference is, 

 that the want of them would not tell in so short a 

 time as the want of the so-called necessaries. If 

 a human being be shut up in a cell, and allowed 

 only a sufficiency of unrelished and unvaried food, 

 with air and water, the want of all the enjoyments 

 of life, sensual, intellectual, moral, and sympathetic, 

 will, in a certain time, make him utterly miser- 

 able ; the health of body and mind will give way ; 

 and if the experiment be sufficiently protracted, he 

 will perish. The ignorance which prevails on this 

 point led to the trial of what is called the silent 

 system in prisons, which has been abandoned 

 as utterly irreconcilable with humanity. It 

 were well if more knowledge prevailed on the 

 subject, for, from erroneous ideas of what is neces- 

 sary for healthy life, many deprive themselves or 

 others of things which, when we take the element 

 of time into account, are as essential to health as 

 the supply of the air we breathe. There is, in 

 some enthusiastic minds, a spirit of asceticism 

 and self-mortification which would give up all 

 the enjoyments of life together. Such persons 

 rarely fail to reduce their own health, if they do 

 not also exercise some unhappy control to the 

 same effect over their fellow-creatures. While 

 self-denial for moral purposes is always admirable, 

 and over-indulgence of every kind saps the vigour 

 and fortitude of the human character, it should be 

 ever kept in view that there is great danger in 

 reducing the allowance of comforts and indul- 

 gences too low. Very rigid views of what is 

 necessary for the support of life usually prevail, 

 wherever the affluent have to dictate a style of 

 living for the poor. The tendency there is, to 

 reduce allowances as nearly as possible to what 

 may be called the immediate necessaries; for it 

 does not seem just or right that paupers, adults or 

 children, should enjoy any species of gratification. 

 But these are short-sighted views. The health 

 of these unfortunate persons requires something 

 more, and this something would be granted by 

 an enlightened humanity. We have a strong 



