when, the strength being broken, the fibres have lost their tone, and the fluids are too thin. Eggs boiled in such a manner as to be supped are also very good for them; for these, being inspissated by boiling, mix with the harder aliments. Well-baked bread and decoctions of bread are also of service to them. Milk is wholesome, provided it does not grow acid in the stomach. Chocolate deserves to be recommended; for with its soft flour and penetrating oil, and a sort of gentle bitter irritating taste, it soon repairs and restores the strength: do not, however, use it to excess; it is a very nutritious aliment, and increases plethora in those of a plethoric disposition; it is fat, and by too great lubrication renders the stomach and intestines incapable of being stimulated, so that neither does the stomach grow hungry, nor are the excrements voided: it moreover grows acid, and causes a gnawing of the stomach. Various dishes, which may be made out of these by a judicious and prudent mixture, are very wholesome; but it is better to use only simple food, either raw or boiled. _Accipe nunc, victus tenuis quæ quantaque secum,_ _Afferat. Imprimis valeas bene nam variæ res,_ _Ut noceant homini, credas, memor illius escæ,_ _Quæ simplex olim tibi sederit, at simul assis_ _Miscueris elixa, simul conchylia turdis,_ _Dulcia se in bilem vertent, stomachoque tumultum_ _Lenta feret pituita._ _————Now mark what blessings flow_ _From frugal meals: and first they can bestow_ _That prime of blessings, health; for you’ll confess_ _That various meats the stomach must oppress,_ _If you reflect how light, how well you were,_ _When plain and simple was the chearful fare;_ _But roast and boil’d when you promiscuous eat,_ _When fowl and shell-fish in confusion meet,_ _Sweets, turn’d to choler, with cold phlegm engage,_ _And in the stomach civil warfare wage._ FRANCIS’S Horace, lib. 2. sat. 2. Relaxed fibres, quite benumbed by a sedentary life, sometimes require a gentle stimulus; therefore a mild seasoning is not to be disapproved of, as salt, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg; and such agreeable aromaticks of our own country as every man cultivates in his garden, thyme, sweet-marjoram, fennil, chervil, and others of the like nature: but those are to be avoided which stimulate with a sharp salt or oil, that nature can scarcely overcome. I hate garlick as much as HORACE himself; nor do I better like pepper and mustard, which are pernicious for their parching oils: but I advise you, however, not to make an immoderate use of the milder sort of seasonings, but use them as remedies, and not for a constancy; for their frequent irritation increases frictions, wastes the fibres, and shortens life.