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that exercise is the grand panacea for the feeble, conclude that the more they take of it, the better. Hence they

rouse up from a state of inaction, and exert all their energies at once, until the frame becomes exhausted; and instead of the recovered health and strength which they had expected, they find themselves prostrated by actual disease. Whereas, had they commenced very moderately at first, and every day added a little to the quantity of their efforts, their system would gradually have gained strength and firmness; and ere long they might have performed wonders in their corporeal exertions. The grand point, then, seems to be, to begin moderately, and not to carry exercise so far as to produce extreme fatigue and exhaustion. And yet, do not cease your efforts, until you feel fatigue in a moderate degree.

Caution.

This same caution is necessary for the healthy, who have not been accustomed to much active exercise. Particularly dangerous is this sudden violence of effort in the spring, when the motion of the blood is accelerated by the genial warmth of the season; and when, consequently, too great exertion may produce effects suddenly fatal, or lay the foundation for distressing and incurable diseases. On this ground it was, that Galen, one of the most celebrated physicians of antiquity, inveighed against the Gymnasium: And if caution was requisite in this species of exercise, among the athletic Greeks and Romans, it is certainly not out of place, for the debilitated constitutions and sedentary habits of modern times. I do not condemn this species of exercise, so much celebrated in our day; but I say, that caution should be used in its early stages; should begin with its most simple and least violent movements, and proceed slowly through the prescribed course. In this way, the constitution may be gradually brought to endure with impunity, the most severe and protracted labors. This is shown by the great hardiness acquired by

and that a student

those classes in society, who are brought up from their earliest years, in habits of the most laborious industry. The student may sigh because the vigor, which he sees them exhibit, cannot be his but let him never attempt to compete with it, until he has gone through a similar preparatory discipline.

No excuse for the indolent.

Let not these remarks be misapplied to the justification of the indolent voluptuary, who begins to complain of debility and exhaustion, ere his exercise is well begun; and who would consider it intolerably cruel, to prolong his walk, or ride, till real fatigue came over him. I am only urging caution at the beginning of a new course of exercise for when the system begins to feel its bracing influence, it is all important that the quantum be increased, until the healthy medium, between laziness and excess, be attained. In particular, let no one, who has the direction of children, endeavour to curb their natural inclination for active and almost constant motion. Until the age of ten or twelve, they should be permitted to pursue their little sports as much as possible in the open air, scarcely interrupted by tasks of any kind; and their books, and other means of improvement should be made a part of their amusement. The ambition manifested by many parents, to exhibit their young children as prodigies of learning, and their consequent efforts to confine them to their books for an unreasonable length of time, is generally repaid by sickly boyhood, and bodily and mental imbecility in manhood. But let the child be allowed in its early years to follow the promptings of nature, as far as possible, in respect to exercise, and vigor of constitution, bodily and mental, will be the rich reward. I dwell on this subject, because here is the fruitful beginning of a large part of the feeble health, that now meets us at every corner. Very few mothers have any just ideas concerning the physical education of their children. So fearful are they, lest they should be exposed to the open air,

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or should lose their delicate complexions under a meridian sun, or become rude in their appearance by running abroad, or soil their nice clothes in the dirt; that they must be sedulously kept within doors, most of their time; and even there, be restrained from every active movement: and thus, erelong, they become as delicate and white as the porcelain ornaments around them: and almost as frail and void of mind. Alas, this is no caricature: the original is seen on every side it is seen in the nervous lady of eighteen, and in the pale faced pedant of the literary institution.

Quaint Rule as to exercise.

But my business at this time, is with those, who are acting for themselves, in respect to regimen. And in regard to the extent to which their exercise, while in tolerable health, should be carried, there is rather a quaint rule given by writers, which is not an useless one, viz. "that the lean should exercise ad ruborem, that is, till the body and spirits are gently heated; for that will help to fatten them: and the fat, ad sudorem, that is, till they perspire: for that will help to reduce them; and consequently extenuate the body."*

Quantity of Exercise necessary.

The third rule on this subject, requires, that LITERARY

AND SEDENTARY MEN SHOULD DEVOTE SEVERAL HOURS EACH DAY, TO EXERCISE IN THE OPEN AIR.

The quantity of exercise which it is proper for a man to take, is the most important part of the subject; and yet, it is not possible to be very definite in pointing out that quantity. However, we know that there is danger of erring by taking too little, rather than too much. And the shortest time, which will answer for the preservation of health, is two hours per day in the open air. It is far better to devote three hours to this object: observing the last rule, not

*Sure Methods, p. 100.

to exercise violently or excessively. Indeed, those individuals, who have derived the greatest advantages from exercise, have more commonly extended their out-door efforts, their walks, or their rides, or their gardening, or their herborizing, to four hours. This has enabled them to walk from 6 to 10 miles; or to ride from 10 to 12: but it is better to limit our exercise by time, rather than by the space gone over; because, by the latter rule, we shall be very apt to compress into one hour, in order to save time, those efforts, which should employ two or three.

These three or four hours for exercise, should not be taken at once; but rather at two or three times during the day; though it is better to have these times fixed, in order to avoid a temptation to omit them.

Students generally exercise much less than the rule requires.

I do not doubt that many who hear me, will be amazed that I make so large a demand upon their time for exercise; and will be conscious, that in times past, they have given only a small moiety of four hours daily, to this object. Nay, it is my belief, that if they were to make an honest confession on this subject, not a few would say, that a hasty movement, three times a day, from their studies to their boarding houses, has constituted the principal part of their exercise, since they commenced study. And they probably fancy, that in this way, they have gained a great deal of time for study, which others have lost in uncecessary exertion abroad: whereas, in fact, they have most unquestionably lost time abundantly. For if there be any fact clearly es. tablished, in relation to this matter, it is, that a man, who devotes four hours daily to exercise, will make more progress in study in one hour, than he could do in three, with only one hour's exercise. Without sufficient exercise, the movements of the animal machine are heavy and laboured, and the mind is clogged in the same proportion: and erelong, both become feeble and inefficient in their operations. The difference, indeed, between the movements of the

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mind with, and without exercise, is as great, as between the movements of a clock, clogged and groaning with friction and dirt, and one newly oiled and cleaned; with every pivot, wheel, and pin, in place. The true way, therefore, for a student to gain time for literary pursuits, is to devote, without grudging, these three or four hours per day, to giving strength, and freedom, and lightness of play, to the numberless wheels, and delicate cords, and levers, and springs, that make up his corporeal system. Aerugo animi―rubigo ingenii, says Seneca and Plato calls him a cripple, who, by neglecting this bodily discipline, cultivates his mind alone; suffering the delicate machinery of his system to rust and sink into decay, through sloth and inaction. He may seem to be rearing up a luxurious crop of the flowers and fruits of learning: but he may rest assured, that like the productions of the greenhouse, they will be wanting in just proportions, and in ripeness.

The rule urged.

Again would I repeat, to those who hear me, that to give these three or four hours per day to bodily exercise in the open air, is a point of the last importance to their health of body and mind. Consult the history of the most distinguished literary men that have lived; except, perhaps, that of some anomalous German literati; and you will find that such was their practice; and that they impute to it, their chief ability to accomplish so much as they have done. In vain is it to adhere rigidly to an abstemious diet, and to every other rule of regimen, if this be neglected; for the student has no security against disease and premature debility. Nor, indeed, ought he to expect any sympathy in his fallen state, if he will not listen to the voice of experience on this point. For however various may be the opinions of distinguished physicians and other writers, on other parts of this subject, here, so far as I know, they are unanimous, from Galen and Pythagoras downwards. To disregard their testimony, therefore, is a mark of most