Education -- Early works to 1800; England -- Social life and customs -- Early works to 1800; Etiquette; Home economics -- Early works to 1800; Table
[Fol. E.i.] Whole men of what age or complexion so euer they be of,
shulde take theyr naturall rest and slepe in the nyght: and to eschewe
merydyall sleep. But and nede shall compell a man to slepe [a] after his
meate: let hym make a pause, and than let hym stande & lene and [b]
slepe agaynst a cupborde, or els let hym sytte upryght in a chayre and
slepe. Slepynge after a full stomacke doth ingendre dyuers infyrmyties,
it doth hurte the splene, it relaxeth the synewes, it doth ingendre the
dropses and the gowte, and doth make a man looke euyll colored. [Fol.
E.i.b.] Beware of veneryous actes before the fyrste slepe, and specyally
beware of suche thynges after dyner or after a full stomacke, for it
doth ingendre the crampe and the gowte and other displeasures. [c] To
bedwarde be you mery, or haue mery company ahoute you, so that to
bedwarde no angre, nor heuynes, sorowe, nor pensyfulnes, do trouble or
dysquyet you. [d] To bedwarde, and also in the mornynge, vse to haue a
fyre in your chambre, to wast and consume the euyl vapowres within the
chambre, for the breath of man may putryfye the ayre within the
cha{m}bre: I do advertyse you not to stande nor to sytte by the fyre,
[e] but stande or syt a good way of from the fyre, takynge the flauour
of it, for fyre doth aryfie and doth drye vp a mannes blode, and doth
make sterke the synewes and ioyntes of man. [f] In the nyght let the
wyndowes of your howse, specyallye of your cha{m}bre, be closed. Whan
you [Fol. E.ii.] be in your bedde,[1] [f] lye a lytle whyle on your
lefte syde, and slepe on your ryght syde. And whan you do wake of your
fyrste slepe, make water yf you feel your bladder charged, & than slepe
on the lefte side; and looke as ofte as you do wake, so oft turne your
selfe in the bedde from one syde to theother. [g] To slepe grouellynge
vpon the stomacke and bely is not good, oneles the stomacke be slowe and
tarde of dygestion; but better it is to laye your hande, or your
bedfelowes hande, ouer your stomacke, than to lye grouellynge. [h] To
slepe on the backe vpryght[2] is vtterly to be abhorred[1]: whan that
you do slepe, let not your necke, nother your sholders, nother your
ha{n}ds, nor feete, nor no other place of your bodye, lye bare
vndiscouered. Slepe not with an emptye stomacke, nor slepe not after
that you haue eaten meate one howre or two after. In your bed lye with
your head somwhat hyghe, leaste that the [* Fol. E. ii.b.] meate whiche
is in your stomacke, thorowe eructuacions or some other cause, ascende
to the oryfe (_sic_) of the stomacke. [i] Letyour nyght cap be of
scarlet: and this I do aduertyse you, to cause to be made a good thycke
quylte of cotton, or els of [k] pure flockes or of cleane wolle, and let
the couerynge of it be of whyte fustyan, and laye it on the fetherbed
that you do lye on; and in your bed lye not to hote nor to colde, but in
a temporaunce. Olde auncyent Doctors of physicke sayth .viii. howres of
slepe in so{m}mer, and ix.
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