It is generally acknowledged to be one of the best books on the subject. Haller pronounced it to be “the best of all the works bearing upon the health of sedentary persons and invalids.” It went through several editions in the space of two years, and in 1726 was enlarged by the author and translated by his friend and pupil John Robertson M.A. into Latin, and three or four editions were quickly exhausted in France and Germany. In this book, while reducing flesh-meat to a _minimum_, and insisting upon the necessity of abstinence from grosser food and of the use of vegetables only, at the morning and evening meals, he had not advanced as yet so far as to preach the truth in its entirety. He arrived at it only by slow and gradual conviction. Expatiating on the follies and miseries of _bon-vivantism_, he proceeds to affirm that-- “All those who have lived long, and without much pain, have lived abstemiously, poor, and meagre. Cornaro prolonged his life and preserved his senses by almost starving in his latter days; and some others have done the like. They have, indeed, thereby, in some measure, weakened their natural strength and qualified the fire and flux of their spirits, but they have preserved their senses, weakened their pains, prolonged their days, and procured themselves a gentle and quiet passage into another state.... All the rest will be insufficient without this [a frugal diet]; and this alone, without these [medicines, &c.], will suffice to carry on life as long as by its natural flame it was made to last, and will make the passage easy and calm, as a taper goes out for want of fuel.” While the _Essay of Health_ added greatly to his reputation with all thinking people, it also exposed him (as was to be expected) to a storm of small wit, ridicule, and misrepresentation:-- “Some good-natured and ingenious retainers to the Profession,” he tells us, “on the publication of my book on _Long Life and Health_, proclaimed everywhere that I was turned mere enthusiast, advised people to turn monks, to run into deserts, and to live on roots, herbs, and wild fruits! in fine, that I was, at bottom, a mere leveller, and for destroying order, ranks, and property, everyone’s but my own. But that sneer had its day, and vanished into smoke. Others swore that I had eaten my book, recanted my _doctrine_ and _system_ (as they were pleased to term it), and was returned again to the devil, the world, and the flesh. This joke I have also stood. I have been slain again and again, both in prose and verse; but, I thank God, I am still alive and well.”