The Virginia Gazette

Extract of a Letter written Some Years ago, by the Rev. Mr. H[e], concerning Dr. Cheyne, and Temperance.

EXT. to that heavenly Peace of Mind, which is the Result of doing what is virtuous and religious, the greatest Blessing which this World affords, is Health, and Health's Attendant, Cheerfulness of Spirit; which (at least in fifty Persons out of fifty one) is alone obtained and preserved by Temperance. For my own Part, I am pretty clearly convinced, that all People are intended by Nature, even in this present Constitution of Things, to wear gently on towards an Hundred Years. Nor is this Portion of Life (a Parenthesis of Life, in Comparison to what the Antediluvians enjoyed) ever, if at all, manifestly shortened, but by some Unhappiness or ill Conduct, arising from our Ancestors, or ourselves. At Fourscore or Ninety, 'tis true, the finer Parts of the Blood are quite evaporated, the Veins themselves grow Callous, and the very Lamp of Life gradually expires. We die naturally of old Age.

Whoever has a Mind to see the ill Effects of high Eating and Drinking most evidently demonstrated, together with the unhappy Consequences which arise from want of due Exercise, must and ought to read those excellent Treatises of Dr. Cheyne on the Subject; which are written with a Spirit of Honesty, Humanity, and Sincerity, and have contributed more towards Sobriety and Temperance, than all the joint Reasonings of ancient and modern Philosophers.

In order to think rightly of the Doctor's Scheme, it must be observed in common Justice, that he considers healthy People as quite out of the Question, and writes purely to the Valetudinary and Studious, making them all rational Allowances, 'til such Symptoms appear as endanger not only present Happiness, but Life itself: However, he has ordered some Patients to quit a vegetable Diet, and has advised others not to enter into it at all. In common Complaints, he generally allows Wine and plain Eating in such Quantities as are consistent with common Care and Temperance.

He confines himself wholly to fix'd Chronicle Distempers; which are such as our Parents unhappily transmit to us, or such as we ourselves acquire by great Application to Study, or more generally by Idleness, and Excess of Eating and Drinking: As to Acute Distempers, he leaves them to the other learned Gentlemen of his Faculty: Yet I think the Cure of Chronicle Distempers abundantly more complex and difficult: For Acute Seizures are rather Violences some way or other offered to Nature, and strong Struggles to obtain Relief, than any Distemper properly so called.

The Result, in Short, is, what Methods are most proper to remove the Disorders that we have been treasuring up for many Years. Can they be removed in a Moment? Common Reason seems to oppose such an extravagant Scheme. -- From Time to Time, by a thousand little Irregularities, we have been weaving these Disorders into the very Texture of our Constitutions: And can every Drop of Blood be purified, every Atom of Flesh, as it were, new moulded, and every exquisite Fibre strengthened in the twinkling of an Eye? Such amazing Changes are contrary to the general Laws of Nature. They are not Cures, but Miracles.

Nay, perhaps, the supreme Being, out of his Infinite Wisdom in general, and Goodness to us in particular, has made the Steps of Recovery pretty near equal to the Steps of Carelessness, and Intemperance, whereby we first contracted the Disorders we Labour under; for, indeed, if Men, after numberless Irregularities, could any ways be cured immediately by some sort of medicinal Magick, such a State of Things would make the Temptations to Riotings and Excesses vastly more enticing and more delusive than they are at present.

For my own Part, I cannot help thinking that the Doctor's System is pretty near that sort of Medicine which Nature calls for and delights in. In the main (he has made every Man a Physician to himself by giving him Reason; and for fear People should now and then be somewhat inattentive to this still small Voice, she has formed Men so, as to feel immediately many strong Effects on their Healths and Spirits, both from Temperance and Intemperance; which is, in other Words, placing Life and Death before them, and saying with the Son of Sirach, stretch forth thine Hand unto whether thou wilt.

In ancient Times Drugs were so plain and few, that the same Person was both Physician and Apothecary. The Physic of the Ancients was chiefly Temperance and Exercise, which, to say Truth, are the Physic of Reason and Virtue.

The first Physicians by Debauch were made,
Excess began, and Sloth sustain'd the Trade;
By Chance our long-liv'd Fathers earn'd their Food.
Toil strung their Nerves, and purified their Blood;
But we, their Sons, a pamper'd Race of Men,
Are dwindled down to Threescore Years and Ten.
Better to hunt in Fields for Health unbought,
Than see the Doctor for a nauseous Draught.
The Wise for Cure on Exercise depend,
God never made his Work for Man to mend.
Dryden.

To conclude in the Words of another celebrated Poet (POPE.)
Be Temp'rate and be Happy for your Pains.