Besides, we cannot find any greater phenomenon, which, according to human conception, could have had a more immediate connexion with the English Sweating Sickness; and in this instance too, inquiry the most circumspect does not penetrate through the thick veil which envelopes the inscrutable causes of epidemics. SECT. 4.—HABITS OF THE ENGLISH. That next to the peculiar constitution which England imparts to her inhabitants, the predisposing causes of the Sweating Sickness lay in the habits of the English of those times, no one can possibly doubt. The limitation of the pestilence to England plainly indicates this. Not a single ship conveyed it to the French, or to the Dutch, who breathed a much moister atmosphere; and yet the intercourse between the English seaports and these immediately neighbouring nations was very frequent. Of intemperance, which most generally lays the foundation for disorders, both high and low were at this time accused. This vice of the English was proverbial in foreign countries[461]. Flesh meats highly seasoned with spices were indulged in to excess; noisy nocturnal carousings were become customary, and it was also the practice to drink strong wine[462] immediately after rising in the morning. Cyder, which in some parts, as for instance in Devonshire, is the common beverage[463], was, even in those times, considered by medical men as injurious, for it was observed that its use caused debility with paleness, and sapped the vigour of youth in both sexes[464]. Other similar facts respecting the mode of living at that time might perhaps be adduced, from which it would appear that, owing to the total want of refinement in diet, much that was improper was employed in English cookery, and that on this account the constitution was much injured. Horticulture, which the French had already brought to a state of great improvement[465], was still quite in its infancy in England. It is even said that Queen Catherine had pot-herbs brought from Holland for the preparation of salads, as they were not procurable in England[466]. Allowing that this account may not be strictly true, since it admits of other explanations, still it proves in itself what we would here enforce, and leaves us to draw conclusions from it beyond the mere fact of there being a scarcity of culinary vegetables. Much more important, however, as respects our subject, was the custom of wearing immoderately warm clothing, of which we have accounts worthy of credence. From youth upwards the head was covered with thick caps, in order to secure it from every chance of cold, and from the least draught of air; and as, by this injurious practice, the brain was subjected to a continual determination of blood, and a tenderness of the skin was induced, there was no disorder more frequent among the English in this century than catarrh[467], which was constantly reproduced by relaxing perspirations and heating medicines. If this