"Every one is the best judge of the food which is most agreeable to his own Stomach,--it is next to impossible, to judge what is best for another;--the Constitutions of men are as different from each other as their complexions."--p. 36. "1st. Take care of the quality. "2dly. Of the quantity--so as to eat and drink nothing that offends the Stomach, nor any more than you can easily digest: your experience ought to be your guide in these two principles when you arrive at _Forty_: by that time you ought to know that you are in the midst of your life; thanks to the goodness of your Constitution which has carried you so far: but that when you are arrived to this period, you go down the hill apace--and it is necessary for you to change your course of life, especially with regard to the quantity and quality of your diet--because it is on that, the health and length of our days do radically depend. Lastly; if the former part of our lives has been altogether sensual--the latter ought to be rational and regular; order being necessary for the preservation of all things, especially the life of man.--Longevity cannot be attained without continence and sobriety[18]." "At _thirty_ Man suspects himself a Fool, Knows it at _forty_, and reforms his plan." By the small quantity of Food, and great proportion of his Meat to his Drink, this noble Venetian, at the age of _forty_, freed himself, by the advice of his Physicians, from several grievous disorders contracted by intemperance, and lived in health of body, and great cheerfulness of mind, to above an hundred.--Briefly, the secret of his Longevity seems to have been, a gradually increasing Temperance "in omnibus"--and probably, after a certain time of Life, abstinence from the "opus magnum." The source of physical and moral Health, Happiness, and Longevity,-- "Reason's whole pleasure, all the Joys of Sense Lie in three words, Health, peace, and competence. But Health consists in temperance alone; And Peace, oh Virtue! Peace is all thy own." POPE. _Intensive Life_, can only be purchased at the price of _Extensive_. If you force the Heart to gallop as fast during the second, as it does during the first stage of life--and make the steady fire of 42, to blaze as brightly as the flame of 21,--it will very soon be burnt out. Those who cannot be content to submit to that diminution of action ordained by nature, against which there is no appeal,--as it is the absolute covenant, by the most attentive and implicit observance of which we can only hope to hold our lease of life comfortably,--will soon bring to the diminished energy of the Second Stage of Life--the Paralysis of the Third. From 40 to 60, a witty French author tells us, is "_La belle saison[19] pour la Gourmandise_;"--for the artificial pleasures of the Palate, it may be, and the _Bon Vivant_ cultivates them as the means of prolonging the vigour of Youth--and procrastinating the approach of Age.