Some few, and but very few, have pretended, that by leaving off wine and strong drink, and using only water, they found their bodies weakened: But this perhaps may proceed only from the same fancy which made the lady believe her doctor could not cure her, because he did not keep a coach. There may be some constitutions that water doth not agree with, even as cheese will not agree with some: Nay, I once met with an ancient woman, who affirmed, she could not, and never did eat bread. And there are so few in comparison to them who have found benefit by the use of water, to those who have not, that no wise man will refrain on their account, till, upon trial, he really finds it will not agree with him. One of the most ingenious watch-makers in London, very lately, from a long continued flux, was very much weakened, and entirely lost his appetite, so far that he could eat no food whatsoever: He had the advice of an able physician, his intimate acquaintance, who could not give him any relief: He, upon reading my book, came to ask me, whether I thought he might venture to drink water? I thereupon prevailed with him to drink half a pint of cold water going to bed, and half a pint in the morning: He, tho’ an immoderate drinker of wine before, was so far from being injured by it, that in a fortnight he began to eat, and in about a month recovered as good a date of health and countenance as he had before. It hath been objected by some few, that drinking of water maketh them costive: which well considered, is an argument that it strengthens the bowels; for all fluxes proceed from weak bowels, and are an enemy to the strength of the bodily members, no persons being in health, as Dr. Baynard affirms, but those who evacuate figured excrements, which weak bowels never do; so that firm excrements tend most to strength, provided there be an evacuation one in a day, which is enough for them who through temperance live wisely, and do not destroy themselves by gluttony. _SOME_ RULES FOR Preserving Health by Diet, _Collected from Physical Authors._ [Sidenote: _Diet will cure diseases._] In a little treatise, intituled, _Kitchen-physic_, written by Dr. Cook, the author declares, he can hardly be told of any disease which he cannot relieve or cure by a proper diet, p. 39. And in the same book we find his opinion to be this, that all tender sickly people, and all aged and decrepid persons, ought to eat often, and but a little at a time, because weak and wasted bodies are to be restored by little and little; and by moist and liquid food also, rather than by solid, because moist and liquid diet does nourish soonest, and digest easiest. [Sidenote: _Feeding much, bad for weak people._]