sunset and eat with it a small slice of Bread toasted with Butter--I never eat any thing more till Breakfast. I have not often had any complaint from indigestion, but when I have, abstinence from Breakfast or Dinner, or both, has usually removed it; indeed I have several times thrown off serious Complaints by Abstinence.--As to Clothing, it is what my Friends call thin; I never wear Flannel next my Skin tho' often advised to it, and am less liable to take cold, as it is called, than most people--a good warm double breasted Waist-Coat and a Cloth coat answers me for winter, and as the season grows warmer I gradually conform my Covering to it. As to the Passions, Sir, I need not tell you that when indulged, they injure the Health; that a calm, quiet self-possession, and a moderation in our Expectations and Pursuits, contribute much to our Health, as well as our happiness, and that Anxiety is injurious to both. I had a good Set of Teeth, but they failed me gradually, without Pain, so that by 80 I lost them all. Thus, Sir, you have, blundering and imperfect as it is, an answer to your Requests, with my best wishes that it may be of any service to the Purpose for which it was made--But must rely upon it that Nothing I have written be made public in my Name.[B] Wishing you long Life and many happy Days, I am Yours, &c. E.A. HOLYOKE. P.S. I forgot to speak of my repose. When I began the practice of Physick, I was so often call'd up soon after retiring to Rest, that I found it most convenient to sit to a late Hour, and thus acquired a Habit of sitting up late, which necessarily occasioned my lying in bed to a late Hour in the Morning--till 7 o'cl'k in Summer and 8 in Winter. My Business was fatiguing and called for ample repose, and I have always taken care to have a full proportion of Sleep, which I suppose has contributed to my longevity. _Recollections & Memorandums of Past Events._ The first thing that I entirely remember was the funeral of Aunt Oulton, which was on July 18, 1732. The first Aurora Borealis I ever saw, the Northern or rather Northeast Sky appeared suffused by a dark blood-red colored vapour, without any variety of different colored rays. I have never since seen the like. This was about the year 1734. Northern lights were then a novelty, and excited great wonder and terror among the vulgar.