34-2 HiSTOiiv or 



merely to favour the consumption of fish, and thus to multiply 

 thu number of mariners ; and also to spare the stock of sheep, 

 which might be more beneficial in another way. In this manner 

 the injunction defeated its own force ; and this most salutary 

 law become no longer binding, when it was supposed to come 

 purely from man. How far it may be enjoined in the Scriptures 

 I will not take upon me to say ; but this may be asserted, that 

 if the utmost benefit to the individual, and the most extensive 

 advantage to society, serve to mark any institution as of Heaven 

 this of abstinence may be reckoned among the foremost. 



' Were we to give an history of the various benefits that have 

 arisen from this command, and how conducive it has been to 

 long life, the instances would fatigue with their multiplicity* 

 It is surprising to what a great age the primitive Christians of the 

 East, who retired from persecution in the deserts of Arabia, 

 continued to live, in all the bloom of health, and yet all the ri, 

 gours of abstemious discipline. Their common allowance, as we 

 are told, for four and twenty hours, was twelve ounces of bread, 

 and nothing but water. On this shnple beverage, St Anthony 

 is said to have lived a hundred and five years : James, the her- 

 mit, a hundred and four ; Arsenius, tutor to the emperor Ar- 

 cadius, a hundred and twenty ; St Epiphanius, a hundred 

 and fifteen ; Simeon, a hundred and twelve ; and Rorabald, a 

 hundred and twenty. In this manner did these holy temperate 

 men live to an extreme old age, kept cheerful by strong hopes, 

 and healthful by moderate labour. 



Abstinence, which is thus voluntaiy, may be much more easily 

 supported than constrained hunger. Man is said to live without 

 food for seven days ; which is the usual limit assigned him ; and 

 perhaps, in a state of constraint, this is the longest time he can 

 survive the want of it. But in cases of voluntary abstinence, ot 

 sickness, or sleeping, he has been known to live much longer. 



In the records of the Tower, there is an account of a Scotch- 

 man imprisoned for felony, who for the space of six weeks took 

 not the least sustenance, being exactly watched during the whole 

 time ; and for this he received the king's pardon.* 



• It is a pity Goldsmith was not more explicit on this extraordinary and 

 incredible rase. We do not recollect of ever having^ .seen it adverted to else- 

 where, and we are inclined to suppose it a frratuitoiis illustration of the old 

 English creed regarding the huuger-euduring capaLiilities of the .Scotcli. It 



