194 LETTERS TO BROTHER JOHN. 



more properly, stupor; or else he is restless and 

 watchful ; and has his short snatches of sleep per- 

 turbed by frightful dreams and the hideous night- 

 mare. After slight exertion he feels dispropor- 

 tionate fatigue ; and after a slight meal he feels as 

 though he had eaten too much. There is a constant 

 sense of want and sinking, or faintness, about the 

 region of the stomach, which frequently induces 

 him to take a glass of wine or spirit ; and the sud- 

 den, but delusive, and temporary relief which he 

 experiences from this is, I believe, one of the most 

 frequent incentives to habitual dram-drinking. 

 This is another of the fatal effects often resulting 

 from too implicit a reliance on experience. He is 

 almost ashamed to consult a medical man, for he 

 scarcely knows of what to complain: he accuses 

 himself of laziness he drenches himself with physic: 

 he is sometimes inclined to believe that it is all 

 fancy ; and he determines to fight against it, and to 

 eat and drink like other people, and think no more 

 about it. It is generally in the evening, when he 

 feels a great deal better, that he takes this doughty 

 resolution: but it will not do. The morning 

 comes, and with it the feverish tongue, the lethar- 

 gic drowsiness, the weary limb, the languid spirit, 

 and lassitude and listlessness, which make his life 



