56 THE MANSE GARDEN. 



singing to the bird. A man used to this renovating 

 process cannot become sluggish, and is a stranger to 

 the sloth that eats into the bone. He keeps disease 

 at a distance ; and duties, which to the sluggard are 

 a load, are light and easy to him. Whatever he has 

 in hand he has also in heart : his movements are 

 impetuous ; so that it is dangerous, from the velocity 

 with which he is carried, to meet him at the turn of 

 a corner; and when the bodily energies are for a 

 time suspended, but not exhausted, and there is a 

 return to study, he enjoys, in the exercise of the 

 thinking faculties, an actual revelry in the flowing of 

 thoughts, which amount to more, in a brief space, 

 than the most laborious efforts could produce, by the 

 longest application, in a more languid state of the 

 system. 



To possess this efficiency and promote its continu- 

 ance, it is necessary not only to alternate, as above 

 stated, the muscular and the mental activity, which 

 by a mutual reaction improve each other, but it is 

 necessary alike for both to avoid either lassitude or 

 too long rest. Do not continue in study till mental 

 application be overstretched, or till the circulation of 

 the material fluids has become clogged and stagnant ; 

 and do not labour with hands or feet till weariness 

 come upon the body, whilst the mind has been too 

 long inactive. The moment that the thinking powers 

 begin to flag, hasten to your garden ; and as soon as 

 weariness affects the body, return to your books. 

 Let rest and fatigue be your tropics, and you will 

 travel with unabated vigour over the undulating line 

 of your ecliptic. But let quiescence be too long- 

 indulged, or lassitude too long sustained, and the 



