LETTERS
To 
MARRIED WOMEN.
[Price 3s. 6d. bound.]  LETTERS 
TO 
MARRIED WOMEN. 
The FOURTH EDITION, 
Revised, and considerably enlarged. 
By HUGH SMITH, M. D.
LONDON. 
Printed for the Author; 
And sold by G. Kearsley, No. 46, Fleet Street. 
MDCCLXXXV.  ADVERTISEMENT.
IT would be ungrateful not to acknow- 
ledge the Candour with which the Pub- 
lic have been pleased to receive this little  
Volume, although it contains some Doc- 
trines repugnant to the present Opinions; 
The honorary Degree which a respectable 
University were pleased to confer upon the 
Author as a Token of their Approbation, 
demands likewise his Acknowledgment, 
and emboldens the Doctor to hope that his 
Observations are not entirely erroneous. 
With a View, then, to promote the Happi- 
ness and Comfort of his Fellow-Creatures, 
and to preserve helpless Infants from their 
present almost certain Destruction, Dr. 
Smith earnestly recommends the Perusal of 
these Letters to such Persons as are likely to 
have a young Family; to those whose 
Duty may require their Attendance in a 
sick Chamber; and likewise to Invalids. 
The Maxims insisted on throughout are 
Agreeable to the Laws of Nature; and the 
a2(iv) 
Author trusts that he has rendered them 
evident to common Sense: They are the 
Result of an assiduous Attention to the Du- 
ties of his Profession; and it may with 
Truth be added, that they have the further 
Sanction of successful Experience. 
It is only necessary to observe, that the 
Treatise, according to a Promise, made 
some Years ago in the Family Physician, is 
dedicated to the Ladies, under the Title of 
Letters to Married Women; And as a fa- 
miliar Style is aimed at, it is presumed that 
the Digressions will not only be thought al- 
lowable, but even a Relief to the Subject 
itself, naturally dry and unentertaining. 
If the Opinion with respect to those 
Marks which are incident to Children should 
be supposed chimerical, yet the Design, It 
is hoped, will prove a sufficient Apology. 
Perhaps it may induce some others to pur- 
sue the Enquiry, and thereby fully illustrate 
the Fact; in which Case the Author will 
give up his Opinion, as freely as he now 
delivers it to the Public. 
INTRODUCTION. 
IN considering my intended subjects, the 
familiar style of letter-writing appeared 
the most eligible; and particularly, when 
I reflected upon the absurdity of using 
terms of art, in an address to the ladies. 
The three first letters will not, I hope, be 
esteemed foreign to my purpose, as they 
seem to me altogether introductory to the 
design. I was induced to add the last let- 
ter, upon old age, in order to make the se- 
ries of letters complete; having now, in 
this collection, taken up man from the 
first period of his existence, and carried him 
through the various stages of life. 
It being much to our present purpose, 
and intimately connected with the follow- 
ing letters, I shall transcribe a part of the 
introduction to the eighth edition of the 
Family Physician, published about twelve 
months ago. 
a3vi INTRODUCTION. 
“ Experience in physic is the wisest path 
to tread; and considering what poor crazy 
constitutions too many of the human race 
unhappily sustain, and the various disorders 
which even the most robust are liable to, 
no one can be too particular in remarking 
such innocent remedies as may relieve slight 
indispositions, and consequently prevent 
terrible and fatal diseases. 
“ Good nursing is a point which has 
either been too much neglected, or 
mistaken; nevertheless it is of the first 
consequence towards the cure of diseases, 
and the preserving of delicate and feeble 
constitutions. It is equally so to render 
advanced age easy and comfortable; and 
to preserve helpless infants. To specula- 
tive minds it must be matter of astonish- 
ment to observe the fatality amongst chil- 
dren, which the following table of births 
and infant-burials, collected from the bills 
of mortality, presents for their serious 
consideration. vii. INTRODUCTION. 
Total number 
of births.
Burials under 
5 years of age. 
Burials under
2 years of age. 
In 1762 
15351 
10659 
8372 
1763 
15133
11163 
8200 
1764 
16801 
9699 
7673
1765 
16374 
9948 
8073 
1766 
16257 
10197 
8035 
1767 
15980 
9489 
7668 
1768 
16042 
10670 
8229 
1769 
16714 
10061 
8016 
1770 
17109 
10121 
7994 
1771 
17072
9447 
7617 
10)162833  
10)101454 
10)79877 
16283 
10145 
7987 
The average upon the last ten years. 
“ Thus we see that almost two thirds 
of the children born in this metropolis and 
its environs are intirely lost to society: 16283 
are, upon the average, the annual births; 
10145 the infant-burials; and, what 
deserves particular attention, 7987 are cut 
off before they are two years old, which 
is more than three fourths of those children 
who die under five years of age. How 
ardently therefore is it to be wished that 
such a fatality could be prevented!—it 
may be prevented. 
“ Is it not affecting, that so many be- 
ings, just entering into life, should be so viii INTRODUCTION. 
untimely cut off, to the detriment of society, 
and the affliction of their weeping mothers? 
It is, truly, a subject of commiseration, a 
scene which draws a silent tear from the 
eye of humanity, and pierces the wounded 
bosoms of afficted parents.—Above three 
fourths of these little innocents fall a sa- 
crifice under two years old. It is well 
known, that the thrush and watery gripes 
generally terminate their exigence in the 
early months; and, if they survive these 
maladies, the time of teething too fre- 
quently brings on a fatal catastrophe. 
“ Could we but conquer the prejudices 
of the times, and abolish unnatural and 
absurd practices; could we but restore that 
natural and simple method of rearing chil- 
dren, which the all-wife Giver of life has 
sufficiently pointed out; did we but con- 
fine them to that nutriment which He has 
prepared for their first state of existence; 
and consult that reason which He has 
bestowed upon us to conduct them for- 
wards—all would be well. But alas, in- 
ix INTRODUCTION. 
dolence and luxury forbid the task! Ne- 
vertheless, to the rational few the follow- 
ing remarks are submitted. 
“ The thrush and watery gripes are, in 
the author's opinion, artificial diseases, 
and both of them totally occasioned by 
improper food; such as all kinds of pap, 
whether made from flour, bread, or bis- 
cuit: they all cause too much fermentation 
in an infant’s stomach, and irritate their 
tender bowels beyond what Nature can 
support. This appears to him to be the 
evident cause of the before-mentioned 
complaints. 
“ When infants are past this period, 
the danger in cutting their teeth is justly 
to be feared. This difficulty proceeds al- 
together from a weakness of constitution, 
arising from the same first mismanagement 
in point of diet: and here a train of dread- 
ful symptoms present themselves; the 
head, the stomach, the bowels, are all at 
times terribly affected; a general wasting
x INTRODUCTION. 
of the body frequently ensues, and uncon- 
querable fevers prevail, which generally 
terminate in convulsions and death. 
“ To prevent all these unhappy conse- 
quences, let us but for a moment reflect 
that every mother is designed by Nature 
to foster her own child. If the breast is 
not to be obtained, cows milk is in 
general to be preferred to any kind of food 
that can be invented, because it is nearly 
similar to that which Nature intended.” 
I sincerely wish the hints thrown out in 
the following letters may be attended to, 
as the success of rearing children, and the 
preserving infirm and aged constitutions, 
greatly depends upon good nursing; much 
more indeed than it does upon the appli- 
cation of medicines. For although, by the 
medical art, many violent and dangerous 
diseases may oftentimes be prevented from 
proving fatal; yet, even when the doctor 
has taken his leave, the good nurse must 
still be watchful “ to restore again the in-xi INTRODUCTION. 
“ valid to a healthy and vigorous consti- 
“ tution.” 
I was apprehensive that many objections 
would be started both against my opinions 
and maxims; which indeed was a leading 
motive for concealing my name in the first 
edition; but as I hope I have spoken with 
candour, and as I mean to persuade rather 
than to find fault, it is to be wished that 
the younger part of the female sex at least, 
whom it more nearly concerns, will not 
receive this little present with such uncon- 
querable prejudices as would probably have 
been experienced from their grand-dames. 
If, by addressing their understanding, I 
should be happy enough to convince their 
judgment of the propriety of the following 
observations, I trust they may prove in some 
measure beneficial both to themselves and 
their future daughters, in the exalted cha- 
racters of wives and mothers. 
There is a certain respect due to our an- 
cestors and their customs; and for my own 
part I would never embrace new maxims or  
xii INTRODUCTION. 
opinions, but upon full conviction of their 
claiming preference to old ones. Still it 
should be remembered, the mind was never 
designed for a state of slavery; therefore, 
when once our reason is truly convinced of 
former errors, let the sanction for such mis- 
takes be never so redoubtable, there is a 
glorious freedom inherent in human nature 
that prompts a generous mind to revoke er- 
roneous opinions, and adopt those systems, 
which, upon mature deliberation, shall ap- 
pear more rational. And whenever the 
contrary disposition is discovered, it altoge- 
ther shews a want of candour, and points 
out an obstinacy, not only culpable with 
respect to our private characters, but de- 
serving of censure as it regards society; for 
such a temper tends to prohibit every kind 
of discovery that may either improve our 
own knowledge, or benefit our fellow- 
creatures. 
All our knowledge with respect to infants 
must be obtained from observation alone, as 
no one ever pretended to remember those 
xiii INTRODUCTION. 
sensations and wants which he himself ex- 
perienced in the earliest part of childhood; 
therefore a careful attendance is required in 
the nursery. When infants are properly 
managed, there is but seldom an occasion 
for the help of medicine: and should it be 
necessary to call in assistance of this kind, 
as they are totally incapable of relating 
their distress, it requires an accurate obser- 
vation, together with a circumstantial ac- 
count from the nurses who attend upon 
them, to enable a medical practitioner to 
form a right judgment of their diseases.  (xv)
CONTENTS. 
LETTER I. 
Of Marks—the imaginary consequences of 
frights and longings.—A candid enquiry 
into the merits of this doctrine. 
LETTER II. 
Of Marks—shewing that such blemishes may 
happen independent of the mother’s imagi- 
nation. 
LETTER III. 
Of Miscarriages. 
LETTER IV. 
Mother’s Milk—the natural and best food for 
infants. 
LETTER V. 
Arguments in favour of suckling—as well for 
the mother’s sake, as the child’s—and the 
evils to be apprehended in delivering children 
to the care of foster-nurses.
b2(xvi)
LETTER VI. 
The management of infants from the birth-
with directions for putting them to the breast. 
LETTER VII. 
A natural and easy method of suckling children 
—This duty proved to be a pleasure rather 
than a fatigue.
LETTER VIII.  
The proper method of weaning children.
LETTER IX. 
The safest method of bringing children up by 
hand. 
LETTER X. 
A general management of children, from the 
time of weaning, till they are about two 
years old—with observations upon the cutting 
of teeth. 
LETTER XI.
A general management of children, from two 
years old till they leave the nursery.(xvii)
LETTER XII. 
The necessity of cultivating the dispositions of 
children, to render them amiable and vir- 
tuous. 
LETTER XIII. 
Of milk—Its properties examined—the dif- 
ferent kinds of milk compared with each 
other—and their particular virtues ex- 
plained. 
LETTER XIV. 
The sick chamber—with directions also for 
invalids.
LETTER XV. 
Old age—by virtue rendered truly honourable. 
The steps by which we mounted into life, 
shewn to be the easiest and best paths to de- 
scend into the grave. ERRATA. 
P. 48, l. 4, read offspring. 
88,  l. 15, dele upon. 
90,  l. 17, for those read they.
260, l. 11, read children.LETTER I. 
OF MARKS. 
R LETTER I. 
Of Marks—the imaginary consequences of 
frights and longings, A candid enquiry into
the merits of this doctrine. 
PREJUDICES which have been imbibed 
in our early days, received from those 
we esteem and reverence, and supported 
by the authority of past ages, must needs 
make impressions upon the most candid 
and ingenuous minds; particularly when 
almost every day produces strange and 
wonderful stories to corroborate the sup- 
posed fact. 
The various blemishes frequently disco- 
vered upon children at the birth, have been 
generally considered as the effect of a fright,
B2 4 LETTER I. 
or a disappointment of the mothers longings;
and indeed this opinion has so far prevailed, 
that it has been, for a long time past, 
looked upon as incontestable. Should any 
one therefore presumptuously dare to deny 
this amazing peculiarity in pregnant wo- 
men, and the consequent effect upon the 
embryo, he must expect nothing less than 
the general censures of the female world. 
Besides, the many positive assertions upon 
this head, from the most sensible persons of 
undoubted veracity, will naturally lead a 
prudent man to speak with caution against 
the doctrine, Nevertheless it surely cannot 
be improper to make a candid enquiry into 
so wonderful a phænomenon. 
It is a subject by far the most interesting 
to the ladies: it comes indeed particularly 
under their cognizance; for the dreaded 
evil affects the fair sex much more essen- 
tially than it does ours. With my female 
friends therefore I beg leave to discuss this 
important point. 
5 LETTER I. 
It is by every one allowed to the honour 
of this nation, and let particular commen- 
dation be given to the daughters of Great- 
Britain themselves, that in the education of 
young women, letters, and the polite im- 
provements, are much more attended to in 
this age than formerly; accomplishments 
which not only render their manners more 
engaging, but qualify them likewise for the 
happy domestic life; and contribute much 
to adorn these amiable and sweetly-endear- 
ing companions of the social hour. How 
essentially necessary is such a friend to make 
life comfortable and happy! 
What a lustre does every good and ac- 
complished woman add to the matrimonial 
state!—She must by every reasonable man 
be considered not only as the partner of his 
bed, but of his very foul. 
I can at this time readily call to mind 
many such exalted characters, to whom in 
a most particular manner I now address 
B36 LETTER I.
myself:—women, whole enlarged minds 
are capable of a much greater depth of rea- 
soning than these speculations will afford; 
and in whose company I have oftentimes 
enjoyed the happiness of friendly conversa- 
tion—with whom, upon different occasions, 
I have, in part, entered into the subject of 
this, and the following letters. It is indeed 
at the request of several of these my worthy 
female friends that I have been induced to 
collect my thoughts, in order to deliver 
them to the public.
Ignorance, my fair readers, is the pa- 
rent of credulity and superstition. Know- 
ledge is the conqueror that triumphs over 
such terrible foes. How much is the un- 
derstanding enlightened and improved by 
the use of letters? When therefore we con- 
sider that the art of printing was not disco- 
vered until the fifteenth century, and it was 
a long time after that before it became uni- 
versal in Europe, we shall not greatly won- 
der at the bigotry and rudeness of manners 
7 LETTER I. 
in our ancestors; and we shall cease to re- 
flect upon those credulous times. 
To the those of ignorance we are to place 
the many and hideous stories which have 
been formerly related of apparitions, goblins, 
and witches, that have at times infested 
different parts of Europe; and even in Eng- 
land have claimed the attention of civil and 
ecclesiastical power: instances of which are 
to be found in our history. 
At this period I believe there are but few 
who give credit to such romances. The 
Spectator and his cotemporaries pretty well 
cleared the country of witches. As to ghosts, 
the last that made its appearance was the no- 
torious Fanny of Cock-lane, and this arch 
spirit was effectually laid, as it is called, in 
a court of justice; where the gentlemen of 
the law carefully collected her ashes, and, 
like alchemists, turned them into gold, so 
that there is no fear of any more spirits 
rising from her urn, 
8 LETTER I. 
We are now, my intelligent fair, fully con- 
vinced of the ridiculous fallacy of such bug- 
bears, and at this time there is scarcely a 
female but can enjoy, without one dreadful 
apprehension, a cool and silent walk by 
moon-light. A pleasure their mothers could 
hardly be persuaded to partake of; for not 
longer than half a century ago, if a daunt- 
less virgin had thus presumptuously ven- 
tured, the affrighted parents would have 
been apprehensive for their daughter, lest 
she should, some time or another, be pu- 
nished for such impious audacity. 
Thus we see prodigies and wonders daily 
vanishing, in proportion as literary know- 
ledge, and the general improvement of the 
understanding, are cultivated. 
To some future season perhaps we must 
postpone the elucidation of marks, the sup- 
posed consequences of frights and longings: 
Yet, if this matter should be a subject of 
dispute with the ladies for the present, I 
doubt not that a little time and candid ob- 9 LETTER I. 
servation will commit the very idea of such 
romantic opinions, together with that of 
frights, and every other superstitious error, 
to eternal oblivion. 
A fright is generally believed to have the 
same unlucky effect upon pregnant women, 
as a disappointment of their wishes will pro- 
duce. Hence they are perpetually racked 
between hope and fear, to the torment of 
themselves, and every body about them; 
and are sometimes so extravagant with re- 
gard to a wish or longing, as not to be satis- 
sied but at an immense expence: for we 
have heard that these strange cravings are 
not altogether confined to the palate, they 
sometimes extend themselves to equipage, 
jewels, dress, baubles, &c. As a proof that 
such chimerical notions even at this time 
prevail, the reader is desired to attend to the 
following relation.— 
Since the first edition of this work went 
to the press, the author happened to dine, 
in company with a pregnant lady totally 
10 LETTER I. 
free from such prejudice, at the house of an 
intimate female friend, who has an heart 
truly good and sympathetic. Her teeming 
visiter took notice of a toy; it was a pigeon- 
house made of Staffordshire ware, and in a 
baby-house would appear a proper orna- 
ment; Yet the forebodings of this good 
matron, lest her friend should have enter- 
tained a longing for it, operated so strongly, 
that she kindly ordered it to be put into her 
visiter’s carriage. The pregnant lady 
strongly objected to it indeed, but to no 
purpose; insomuch that she was obliged to 
take the pigeon-house home. 
But not to dwell upon such like particu- 
lars, which nevertheless have been fre- 
quently introduced in support of whimsical 
desires, and which are continually magni- 
fied in the relation, we shall confine our 
remarks to the general manner in which 
this magic operates. 
As I have universally been thought an in- 
fidel in matters of this kind, the ladies 11 LETTER I. 
have treated me accordingly; nay frequent- 
ly, when I have begged quarter, it has been 
cruelly denied; which cautions me at this 
time to be modestly humble and diffident. 
I shall affert nothing, but by fair and im- 
partial enquiry endeavour to search out the 
truth. 
In consequence of my supposed want of 
faith in these affairs, there is scarcely a fe- 
male I am acquainted with, who does not 
treasure up every surprising story of this kind 
that the hears; to tell it me with all the ad- 
vantages that a persuasive tongue can give, 
in order to bring about my conversion. 
I verily believe that by the assistance of 
these my good friends I could furnish a large 
folio volume of such histories. It is a spa- 
cious field for the fancy to rove in. A va- 
riety of preternatural marks in living per- 
sons may be produced every day: nor can 
the existence of these extraordinary appear- 
ances be denied, for that is incontestable, as 
every one can vouch. The true cause of  12 LETTER I. 
such wonders therefore is the subject of our 
pursuit. 
In the first place, I shall make bold to de- 
clare that I never met with one of these ble- 
mishes, which altogether struck my fancy 
with respect even to the imaginary likeness; 
or which, as to the supposed cause, en- 
gaged my rational confidence. 
I have been shewed a mark that was 
compared to the rhind of bacon, and told 
a strange story of the mother’s longing for 
a gammon—I fancied it to be like the 
tinge of a Malatto, and congratulated the 
parents that the child was not altogether 
swarthy. 
A lady of my acquaintance has often- 
times declared that she is marked with a 
perfect pig, but I never could obtain the 
sight of this rarity, it not being convenient- 
ly situated for public inspection. A little 
while ago I was in company with her mo-13 LETTER I. 
ther, an elderly woman, and quite a stout 
champion, as I found, for marks and ble- 
mishes, in consequence of frights and long- 
ings. Upon a particular enquiry it appeared 
that she was unacquainted with the acci- 
dent until some considerable time after the 
birth; and then from the appearance of the 
mark she very well remembered the occasion 
of it—which was this. When she was very 
near her time, her husband and self were 
invited to the house of a relation living at 
some distance, who, she knew, had some 
very fine sucking pigs. They both thought 
the ride would be too much for her; but she 
recollects her having said that she would go 
at all events, if she was sure they would dress 
one of the pigs for dinner. However, the 
husband went alone, and returned in the 
evening with a quarter of a pig that had 
been dressed on purpose for their dinner, her 
relation knowing she was fond of it. But 
alas! as her evil genius would have it, 
when she sat down to supper she could eat 
but very little; and at that time unluckily 
C14 LETTER I. 
rubbed the part with her hand where her 
daughter is marked, which she is very certain 
occasioned the form of a pig. I asked her 
how the child could be marked, since she 
had her desire. No matter for that, answer- 
ed she, though I had the pig, the child to be 
sure must be marked; because I longed for 
it nice and hot, with good plumb sauce and 
gravy, but was obliged to eat it cold. We 
all laughed heartily at the conclusion, 
though, as the reader may judge, from dif- 
ferent motives; but the old lady thought 
she had obtained a complete victory. 
I have given this little history to shew 
the absurd manner in which these things 
are usually accounted for. It will be also 
proper in this place to remark the notorious 
dissimilarity between such blemishes and 
their supposed originals. We are to take 
notice likewise of the case with which the 
fancy is imposed upon, or imposes on itself 
in such cases, even to infatuation; magni- 
fying the most trifling conjectures into the 
strongest confirmations. How often do wo- 
15 LETTER I. 
men rack their minds to find out the origin 
of these marks? which evidently proceeds 
from their aversion to be thought capable 
of producing an offspring with any imper- 
fections, and their servants and nurses, 
considering it actually as their business, are 
always ready to help them out upon these 
occasions. 
Fruit, wine, boiled lobsters, fresh sal- 
mon, and such like things of a red colour 
are the most common marks, and there is 
scarcely a family in the kingdom but some
one or more of them can produce instances 
of this sort. 
These strange effects we are told not only 
happen to the human race, but also, how
wonderful to relate!—to brutes. There 
is a worthy family, whose veracity is not to 
be doubted, that are firmly persuaded of the 
following fact; of which they were all 
spectators. I shall deliver the account, as 
C2 16 LETTER I. 
nearly as possible, in the lady’s words, 
who favoured me with the relation. 
Her father’s favourite cat happened to 
produce a kitten, which, to the surprise of 
all the family, was marked upon the back, 
with a rat. As the kitten grew, the rat 
encreased likewise; till, at the end of some 
months, it dropped off the kitten quite per- 
fect in its form;—and the lady had it in her 
own hand, I was questioned very particu- 
larly whether I could any longer doubt the 
consequences of longing and frights, since it 
even extended to brutes—for, continued 
she, what could be the cause of this, but 
the creature being disappointed of some rat 
she was pursuing? 
Thus closely pressed I begged her yet to 
pardon my want of belief—As to the cause, 
I was silent about it; that there was a sub- 
stance upon the kitten, which fell off as re- 
lated, I had no doubt—what then could I 
doubt?—That their own imaginations de- 
ceived them - How was that possible? Much17 LETTER I. 
more so than they were aware of—where 
is the rat, madam?—Thrown away long 
ago—that is unlucky, for had I seen it, pro- 
bably it might have struck me as resembling 
an owl, or some other thing altogether as 
extravagant. It was downright obstinacy 
in me, for I would not believe any thing— 
I further said, had it been a rat, I thought 
she would have wanted courage to touch 
it—even supposing it to be dead; and had 
it been alive, it would certainly have run 
away and prevented her. This pleasantry 
abated somewhat of the earnestness of our 
argument, and a laugh made us very good 
friends—but I was an incredulous man. 
I have heard of a woman surprised in the 
street, when she was very near her time, by 
a person with a withered arm; upon her 
return home the fright threw her into labor, 
and she was delivered of a child with a wi- 
thered arm.—How can we possibly believe 
such an immediate effect as this to be pro- 
duced?—Is it to be credited that the mo- 
C3
18 LETTER I. 
ther’s terror should instantly blast the arm 
of the child, thus rendering it similar to 
the object of horror? 
And if this be rejected, how can we allow 
the total loss of a limb from a similar 
cause? —Could it be annihilated? This no 
one will assert. If not, supposing the effect 
to take place, and the arm or the leg should 
be separated from the body, what becomes 
of it? Such divided part is never to be found 
upon these occasions. On the contrary, 
where there is an addition to the form, pro- 
ceeding also, as we are told, from fright; 
such, for instance, as a toe or finger extraor- 
dinary, an arm or a leg; in the name of 
wonder, from what source can those ex- 
uberances be so immediately produced? Is 
it not astonishing that such credulous infa- 
tuations should thus beguile our reason? 
Not to trouble my fair readers with any 
more of these relations, which by preju- 
diced persons are accounted undeniable, I 19 LETTER I. 
shall just mention a few facts for the con- 
sideration of the candid. 
A lady of my particular acquaintance, 
during the time of her pregnancy, was un- 
fortunately overturned in a coach, by which 
accident, as she endeavoured to get out, the 
first joint of her second finger was intirely 
broken off. This was an alarming circum- 
stance to all her friends, and the dreadful 
apprehensions of the child’s being born a 
cripple disturbed every one; but to the 
great astonishment of her acquaintance, she 
was delivered of a fine and perfect boy. 
An eminent practitioner relates a story to 
this effect, which is equally to be credited, 
as happening under his own observation. 
A lady of quality being in convulsions, 
the family sent for the doctor in great haste. 
He found her upon the bed extremely ill in- 
deed. When her ladyship came a little to 
herself, she cried out, The black cat! the 20 LETTER I. 
blackcat!— her well-known particular aver- 
sion to this domestic animal seemed to point 
out the cause of the disaster, of which till 
now they were entirely ignorant, and the 
servants diligently searched for the object; 
when in a tub, placed to receive the rain 
water, near her ladyship’s dressing-room
window, poor puss was discovered. 
This sight so terribly affected the lady, 
that her fears were ever uppermost, and she
was miserable until the time of her delivery. 
Neither could her friends pacify her, nor 
the arguments of so able a man bring her 
to reason. Notwithstanding all they could 
say, she was fully persuaded her child’s face 
would be like this black cat’s. At length 
Lucina smiled propitious on its birth, and 
her ladyship’s apprehensions vanished upon 
her being brought to bed of a lovely boy 
without either mark or blemish. 
Just about the same time it happened that 
the same gentleman delivered another per- 
son of a boy also. The child had a small 21 LETTER I.
darkish spot upon the forehead. He was 
curious enough to interrogate the mother 
about it, and she most ingenuously declared 
that she was neither sensible of any fright 
or longing during the whole time of her 
breeding. 
Had this blemish happened to the child 
of the noble parent, the doctor truly ob- 
serves, the black cat would undoubtedly 
have occasioned a remarkable anecdote in 
the history of her ladyship’s house—for by 
all her family and friends it would have been 
looked upon as an incontestable proof of 
these prodigies. And give me leave to add, 
with much more seeming plausibility too 
than the generality of these stories can 
boast; because the lady had declared her 
apprehensions at the time of the supposed 
injury. 
I shall here add another instance of an 
apprehension altogether as fruitless as that 
of the noble lady. It was made known to 
me in consequence of reading the above to 22 LETTER I. 
a particular friend, who immediately re- 
plied that he was under great anxiety for his 
wife, upon account of her being terrified at 
the sight of a person who had a very un- 
happy blemish on her face. The wife 
of this gentleman, by chance going to St. 
Paul’s church, was placed in a stall exactly 
opposite to the unfortunate object, which 
affected her so much that her devotion 
was entirely lost; and she talked of this 
poor woman continually after she left the 
church. 
In a few weeks this lady went again to 
St. Paul’s, and was unluckily placed oppo- 
site the same person, which so distressed her 
that she dared not to venture there any more. 
Surely this is as striking an instance as we 
can suppose. I told my friend I was glad 
he acquainted me of it before his wife was 
brought to bed, and that I should pay great 
attention to the consequence. But at the 
same time desired he would endeavour to 
make both himself and wife very easy, as- 
suring him, on the observation of myself and 23 LETTER I. 
others, how little room there was to be under 
any dismal apprehension on this account. 
To finish the story, his wife was soon after 
delivered of a fine and perfect child. Since 
which this lady has declared her apprehen- 
sions so terrified her, she dared not to look 
at the child, till she collected from the con- 
versation of her attendants that the boy’s 
face was free from blemish. What a cruel 
suspense and painful sufferance must this 
have been to a mother! 
Not long ago I was in the chamber of a 
lady newly delivered; her mother being pre- 
sent took me to the window, and in great 
distress acquainted me the child had a large 
mark upon the right side of its face, that she 
was terrified at the thoughts of breaking it 
to her daughter, and begged me to acquaint 
her of it. Accordingly, after congratulat- 
ing the good lady in the straw, upon her 
own health and a fine baby, in the course 
of conversion, I jocosely told her that we 
were at a loss to account for a pretty spot 
upon the child’s face, and must desire her 24 LETTER I. 
to inform us of the occasion of it. After a 
very minute recollection, she frankly con- 
fessed she did not remember any one thing 
that she longed for during her pregnancy, 
neither could she any how account for the 
accident. 
A variety of other circumstances might 
be enumerated to discredit, though many 
stories are related to confirm this wonder- 
ful affair, I shall not, however, introduce 
further particulars, though divers have hap- 
pened within my notice, but conclude this 
letter with remarking, that in every instance 
before related, where the misfortune of a 
blemish was apprehended, it did not hap- 
pen; and in the other cases, where marks 
appeared, they were entirely unexpected, 
and the cause of them totally unknown to 
the mothers; which, I may venture to say, 
has always been the case. If, therefore, 
women would wish to be credited in these 
stories of frights and longings, let them de- 
clare, before they are delivered, like the 
two ladies mentioned in this letter, that 25 LETTER I. 
they have marked the child, and make 
known the cause of it. Nothing less can 
prove this fact, and till then even the possi- 
bility of it may very reasonably be doubted— 
for surely we may conclude that so remark- 
able an effect of sympathy can never take 
place without the immediate and most cer- 
tain knowledge of the mother. 
DLETTER II. 
OF MARKS. 
D2  LETTER II. 
Of Marks—shewing that such blemishes may 
happen independent of the mother’s imagi- 
nation. 
AS to longings, I doubt not but every 
person must have been sensible of such 
inclinations. I can answer for myself, that 
when indisposed, and my stomach rather 
weak, I have many times suffered, not a 
little, in being disappointed of a thing that 
seemed particularly to strike my fancy; sure- 
ly I may be allowed to say that the preju- 
dices of female education are likely to en- 
courage such inclinations to a much greater 
degree in pregnant women, whose appetites 
are usually weak and fanciful; and, as it 
is the case in every passion when too extra- 
vagantly indulged, I take it for granted 
ladies may be sometimes very much hurt by 
such a disappointment, independently of 
superstitious, tormenting apprehensions. 
I would wish to arm every female breast 
with the resolution necessary for her own 
D3 30 LETTER II. 
happiness. Yet I do not deny but upon a 
thousand occasions the ladies suffer, una- 
voidably as it were, from fear; and mate- 
rially so in the present instance. 
Women, from the delicacy of their frame, 
and the particular mode of education in po- 
lite countries, are without doubt much more 
under the dominion of fear than men; who 
are continually spurred on by custom and 
vigour to exert their courage. This ren- 
ders a variety of objects, although terrible 
to the fair sex, so familiar to ours, that 
contempt alone is oftentimes a security a- 
gainst many such horrible intruders. 
We confess then that women are ex- 
ceedingly subject to fear. It is also granted 
that, in things they long for, they may 
be painfully disappointed. It is not denied 
but that there are oftentimes very extraor- 
dinary appearances at the birth, which the 
fancy likens to a variety of things—but it 
does not therefore follow that we are bound 
to believe such marks or blemishes to be the 
31 LETTER II. 
effect of fright, or the consequence of a pa- 
rent’s disappointment. 
In the first letter we gave several rela- 
tions on both sides of the question: I shall 
now beg leave to propose a few queries, 
which if allowed, in my opinion, seem, in 
part, to account for these extraordinary ap- 
pearances; and what cannot be illustrated 
upon a rational enquiry, why may we not 
suppose to proceed from hidden, accidental 
causes in the operations of nature? Since 
excrescences upon trees, plants, and indeed 
blemishes on almost every kind of animals, 
(of which daily experience will convince a 
common observer) seem strongly to autho- 
rise such a conjecture; I say, why may we 
not suppose this to be the true reason, with- 
out the assistance of a wonder-working ima- 
gination? 
Will not an inflammation upon the eye 
frequently produce an universal redness over 
that part which otherwise appears beautifully 
white?  
32 LETTER II. 
What is the cause of this surprising alte- 
ration? 
Must not there ever have been a fluid 
circulating in those tender vessels?—And 
must not that fluid be necessarily limpid? 
Are not those vessels therefore, unless In- 
jured, too small to admit the sanguinary 
fluid in its compact and red state? 
And does it not evidently appear that 
they must be considerably distended, before 
the red blood can be admitted, which de- 
notes this inflammation? 
Save where the virgin blush brings the 
blood into the cheek, or the rosy-coloured 
nymph rivals our courtly beauties;—does 
not the whiteness of the skin in almost every 
part of the body plainly shew that its vessels 
equally deny the admission of this red fluid? 
We are told by curious enquirers, that 
for several months after conception, the 33 LETTER II. 
embryo receives its support from a limpid 
fluid, and that the form itself is nearly 
limpid, or colourless. 
If so, are not the vessels of an unborn 
child, as it arrives nearer to the birth, gra- 
dually enlarged, so as in the proper parts to 
give admission to this red sanguinary fluid? 
May not therefore some accidental pres- 
sure upon a pregnant woman—the violence 
of a sudden jolt—or the shock received by 
a false step or a fall, with a variety of other 
casualties, convey such an injury to the ten- 
der embryo, as upon some part of the skin 
to occasion a similar effect to that of the 
eye? 
Do we not oftentimes observe inflamma- 
tions in the eye to be in a manner ha- 
bitual? 
Why may we not then suppose these de- 
licate vessels, when thus distended, to be so 
oppressed by the particles of the fluid which 34 LETTER II. 
rush into them, as never more to be able to 
recover their natural size? 
Hence these parts, and these parts only, 
giving admission to the red blood—is it not 
probable that they may assume the various 
forms, which in various infants are ima- 
gined to referable fo many different things? 
The cure of the before-mentioned inflam- 
mation of the eye frequently depends, not 
upon bleeding, but upon constringing the 
vessels, and restoring them to their original 
state, so that they again only admit their 
proper limpid fluids; and perhaps, if astrin- 
gent applications were used at the birth, 
where a strong pressure could be made upon 
the particular part, many of these blemishes 
might in a great measure, if not altogether, 
be removed. 
Such are our conjectures on the cause 
of those marks which are totally of, or ap- 
preaching to a red colour. But there are 
other blemishes which, at first sight, my 
35 LETTER II. 
readers may take for granted cannot be ac- 
counted for by this way of reasoning: such, 
for instance, as appear of a light and dark 
brown, of a chocolate and black colour. 
Nevertheless, my fair friends, permit us 
candidly to proceed. 
A blow sometimes stains the skin yel- 
low; if the part be much bruised, the tinge 
is deeper, and frequently turns quite black. 
A curious observer must have noticed in 
those persons, who from violent blows have 
received such contusions as are vulgarly 
called black eyes, that the skin, before it 
returns to its natural colour, assumes a great 
variety of different hues; all proceeding 
from the same first cause. Is it not then 
probable that some such accident happen- 
ing to an unborn child may produce a 
similar effect? This perhaps will be al- 
lowed; but then why should such blemishes 
continue in children, since they usually 
disappear in the case before-mentioned? 
However, to proceed in the enquiry: Such 
effects being admitted, their permanency  36 LETTER II. 
then is the difficulty to be overcome. Let 
us consider that, although in mature life the 
constitution has generally strength sufficient 
to repel most accidents, not instantly mor- 
tal; yet in childhood, and old age, the 
powers of the body are overcome by very 
flight injuries. In the meridian of life 
those parts of the body which are disfi- 
gured by accidents most commonly recover 
themselves; nevertheless many instances 
are to be produced, even in adults, where 
the skin continues discoloured. Bruises 
and other injuries upon the shins, particu- 
larly in feeble constitutions, frequently oc- 
casion marks that never disappear. The 
same is likewise observed upon the legs of 
those who are accustomed to fit too near a 
fire, in which case we say they have burnt 
their shins; and old sores generally leave 
such marks. I have seen many of these 
lasting blemishes. My readers probably re- 
collect the fact, and also that such injured 
parts assume a variety of colours; black, 
red, brown, motley, &c. much resembling 37 LETTER II. 
those which are supposed to proceed from 
the force of imagination. 
Since therefore we find such like appear- 
ances are sometimes permanent in the dif- 
ferent periods of life, what can be said to 
disprove their continuance in infants, when 
supposed to happen either before or at the 
time of delivery? for surely we may con- 
clude, the more delicate the form is, it will 
prove the more susceptible of injuries, and 
those injuries will last the longer; the tender 
vessels in such cases not being; so able to re- 
cover themselves. And as we often find it 
to be so in the feebleness of age, and in a 
Variety of other instances,—why may we 
not in the tender embryo also suppose these 
blemishes sometimes to remain, and be 
durable? 
But if you think the above reasoning not 
sufficiently plausible, let us consider the dif- 
ference of complexion in different perform 
of this country—but principally the dif-
E 38 LETTER II. 
ferent colours of Europeans and Africans— 
and since we find appearances so diametri- 
cally opposite in the skins of different per- 
sons—why may not the same contract in 
some measure take place in the skin of one 
and the same person through a kind of error 
in nature from her intended scope? 
Nay, do not those blemishes called 
freckles, and more especially moles, which 
frequently make their first appearance in 
advanced life, and are often covered with 
hairs; I say, do not these, with the com- 
mon excrescences of warts, &c. shew us 
how easily most of the different colours 
and appearances may be produced at any 
age? And though the cause of these is full 
as little known as the matter under present 
consideration, was the effect ever deemed 
miraculous? 
Now is it to be wondered at, if these 
sportings of nature should bear a resemblance 
to some or other of the vast variety of ob- 
jects in the animal or vegetable creation? 39 LETTER II. 
Or in fact, if they bear no such real re- 
semblance, cannot the imagination readily 
suppose they do; in like manner as, when 
looking upon the clouds, we easily discern 
men, horses, trees, forests, flocks of sheep, 
armies, and indeed every thing which the 
most fruitful invention can form? 
Some further rational conjectures might 
be added, but they would probably in this 
place be considered as too technical for the 
generality of my readers: I shall therefore 
wave them at present, for I think there has 
been already enough said upon this subject
to check at least, if not entirely to subdue, 
these reigning infatuations. 
Now if the doctrine of marks, in conse- 
quence of frights and longings, should prove 
to be nothing more than prejudice, ladies 
will avoid the continual distress which in 
these circumstances they labour under—for 
sorry I am to say it, but at present it seems 
as fashionable to cultivate such dispositions  
E240 LETTER II. 
in young married women, as to recommend 
matrimony itself. 
On the other hand, supposing all that has 
been advanced should prove to be chimeri- 
cal; the removing of the apprehension, by 
which I mean the foreboding fears of the mo- 
ther, will be to remove the greatest part of 
the evil—and surely it is time enough at 
the birth to discern an imperfection. This 
indeed is a point which the strongest advo- 
cates for the force of imagination must not 
only allow, but likewise approve of its ten- 
dency; since fortitude is the only preven- 
tative, according to their favourite system, 
against the miserable consequences of frights, 
and disappointed longings: for if such a de- 
gree of courage can be obtained as will pre- 
vent fear, and such a degree of resolution 
maintained as will prevent the mind being 
hurt, upon any casual disappointment of 
the inclination, the evil itself is at once re- 
medied; because the imagination will never 
painfully dwell either upon objects of dis- 
gust, or inclination; and consequently 41 LETTER II. 
blemishes can never happen from such 
causes. 
I trust that my attentive and intelligent 
readers will not be displeased with the dis- 
cussion of this very interesting subject.
E3
 LETTER III. 
OF MISCARRIAGES.  LETTER III. 
OF MISCARRIAGES. 
WE are now, my delicate fair ones, 
entering upon a subject which re- 
quires some circumspection, to divide the 
province of the physician from the advice 
of a friend. 
There are, undoubtedly, constitutional 
errors, which oftentimes prevent women 
from becoming joyful mothers; and they 
may be hindered also by accidental circum- 
stances. Both these considerations, how- 
ever, belong to the physician. In a word, 
therefore, these directions do not extend to 
such remote causes; my counsels at pre- 
sent being designed to assist you in your 
own sphere. 
The desire of children is evidently predo- 
minant in almost every female disposition: 
it must be certainly owing to the wise ordi- 
nation of Providence that their education is  46 LETTER III. 
so admirably calculated to encourage this 
fondness. How engaging are the childish 
amusements of a daughter!—Let us picture 
an innocent little girl fondly caressing a 
waxen image, dressing and undressing it 
with all. the pomp and importance of a 
tender mother. What a delightful employ- 
ment!—how amiable does the child herself 
appear!—and so endearing is this female 
province, that it is justly remarked to grow 
up with the sex into life. 
I have with inexpressible pleasure seen 
many young ladies, women grown, happily 
amusing themselves at their younger sister’s 
baby-house, and often discovered a crimson 
blush, that genuine mark of female mo- 
desty, arising from their being somewhat 
confused in suffering themselves to be thus 
unexpectedly surprised. 
There are indeed some persons who 
hare declared an aversion to children. I 
hare painfully suffered from the enumera- 47 LETTER III. 
tion of the difficulties, and inconveniences, 
which they describe parents to labour under 
who have the care of a little family.—Sel- 
fish and unsocial considerations! 
God has universally manifested that the 
whole human race are dependent upon one 
another, and those persons who think and 
act thus narrowly, can neither be accounted 
good characters in themselves, nor worthy 
members with respect to society. But alas! 
they are strangers to the feelings of parental 
fondness. 
Certain I am, ye amiable wives, that if 
it be your good fortune to become happy 
mothers—your children, those dear pledges 
of love, if prudently educated, prove not 
only an engaging comfort to yourselves, but 
a great and lasting security for the affections 
of your husbands. Trust me there is a 
time when the charms of beauty must cease, 
and the passions of youth bend to the ma- 
jesty of wisdom—’tis then good-nature and  48 LETTER III. 
good-sense, with that essential ingredient a 
chearful disposition, will in a great mea- 
sure secure your conquest; and charming 
offsprings will assuredly contribute to unite 
parents in the lasting bonds of friendship. 
How desirable therefore are children! 
Even poverty itself does not prevent the 
sanguine wish for them. Let us then en- 
deavour to promote their safe and happy 
increase. 
The difference of constitution in women 
is an important affair; there are some who 
upon every trifling occasion are subject to 
miscarriages—others again, who in spite of 
the most indirect and powerful means are 
often compelled to bear the token of un- 
warrantable amours—and there are in- 
stances even of married women, who, not 
supposing themselves to be breeding, have 
been treated in the most likely manner to 
bring about an abortion—but all in vain. 
A remarkable story of this kind occurs to49 LETTER III. 
my memory, which I relate from my own 
knowledge. 
An honest labouring man and his wife 
lived together many years without having 
children, and they were both beyond the 
meridian of life, when the poor woman was 
supposed to be afflicted with a dropsy. From 
time to time she advised with several emi- 
nent physicians, who, from her appearance 
and the account she gave, treated her as 
dropsical; administering the most powerful 
remedies against that disorder. 
At length she grew so very big that all 
hopes of a cure were given over, and the 
operation of tapping was recommended. 
The husband’s circumstances being narrow, 
and the expence of this illness putting it out 
of his power to employ a surgeon, the poor 
woman was advised to go into the hospital; 
this, however, she refused. 
A week or two after this, the husband 
called, with a most joyful countenance, to  
F
50 LETTER III. 
inform me his wife was brought to bed, 
and that both the mother and child were 
likely to do well. I was at that time very 
young, but my reflections upon the oddity 
of the event determined me to be always 
wary in the examination of dropsical female 
patients. 
Thus we see in this woman, and in a va- 
riety of other cases, where impious efforts 
have been used to promote a miscarriage, 
that Nature, in spite of great violence, 
sometimes will not be interrupted. 
Let us then aim at assisting her in this 
great work, where the constitution appears 
not able to go through with it; and point 
out the most rational means to prevent 
abortion. 
Our first letter, over and above the en- 
quiry concerning marks, longings, and 
frights, greatly tends to this material end. 
Women of a delicate form, and too great 
sensibility, are the most liable to mis- 51 LETTER III. 
carry. Such also are the most likely to im- 
bibe, and to be affected by, the prejudices 
we there wished to caution them against. 
The power of fear is undoubtedly sovereign 
over most persons, and this, as it frequently 
occasions miscarriages, is truly to be dreaded. 
If therefore the prejudices were discounte- 
nanced, the unhappy fear itself would as- 
suredly cease. 
And further, there is nothing tends more 
to render life happy, either to men or wo- 
men, than to conquer, as much as possible, 
the passion of fear. This is the monster 
which in some degree subdues us all; and 
too frequently makes mankind miserable. 
There is no calamity but would easily be- 
come supportable, could we divest ourselves 
of fear; and daily experience proves women 
to be most subject to its tortures. How 
many trifling infects, that a man conti- 
nually spurns from him, ruffle the breast of 
females, and throw them into the greatest 
agonies!
F252 LETTER III. 
The evil therefore is seated in the imagi- 
nation, for it is the dreadful apprehension of 
their own mind that torments them; which, 
by a firm and steady resolution, may gene- 
rally be overcome. Fortitude is an inesti- 
mable jewel. 
However difficult the task appears, the 
earliest and strongest prejudices may com- 
monly be conquered. I am sensible that 
sometimes it will require great pains, and 
never can be done but by the strength of 
reaon. Would you, my too susceptible 
fair, follow my advice on this subject, a 
thousand accidents might be avoided that 
hourly happen to you upon this, and many 
other occasions. 
Reason was bestowed upon us both 
for the preservation of our health and 
the promotion of our happiness. The 
abuse of it as necessarily destroys the one as 
the other. 
How do we continually reflect upon our- 
selves for inconveniencies, mental as well as 53 LETTER III. 
corporeal, that arise from inconsiderateness 
and folly? Believe me, ladies, miscarriages 
are frequently brought about by imprudence. 
When a wife has the pleasing prospect of 
becoming a mother, it is no longer a time to 
be revelling in midnight assemblies. Such 
a conduct not only deprives her of natural 
rest, but also endangers her health, and 
thereby oftentimes promotes this dreaded 
evil. 
In this and every other point I beg leave 
to caution you against falling into wide ex- 
tremes. Some ladies I have seen madly 
running up and down, and jumbling all 
the town over in the most jolting hack- 
ney-coach that could be procured; and, al- 
though at the same time they complain of 
being shaken to pieces, yet this they say is 
to prevent the accident.—Others never step 
out of doors, nay, nor so much as go up and 
down a pair of stairs, for several months: 
this also is to avoid the danger. 
F354 LETTER III. 
Again let me warn you of both ex- 
tremes. Be this your guide—whatever 
exercise you are capable of taking with- 
out fatigue, indulge—but no more. Never, 
in this point, regard the example of others. 
Because your friend can do this and that, 
it is no reason you should; and if the at- 
tempt gives pain, it should certainly be 
avoided. 
I need not caution the present age against 
the pernicious custom of lacing too tightly; 
for a lass of fifteen, in the dress of our times, 
would in the last age have been supposed to 
be just at down-lying. 
I do not mean to condemn, but to praise 
the ladies for giving themselves room in the 
waist; nevertheless extremes you know are 
not advised. There is a certain medium 
in every part of life, which is the je-ne-sçay- 
quoi that constitutes the agreeable. 
It is as uncommon now to see a young 
girl crooked, as it formerly was to see one 55 LETTER III. 
perfectly straight, I believe no one denies 
that their shapes were greatly injured by the 
stiffness of their stays, and by being laced so 
exceedingly close. This pernicious custom 
was frequently the cause of a bad state of 
health, and threw many young women into 
consumptions. We now rarely see ladies 
fainting in public places; but when they did 
not allow themselves room to breathe, it 
happened every day. * This prudent altera- 
tion therefore, so serviceable to maidens, is 
still more necessary for married women. 
There is another caution at this time to 
be observed. I have frequently beheld, with 
pain, divers ladies too apt to be lifting and 
playing with heavy children: there are 
certain sympathetic emotions, altogether 
natural and laudable, which prompt them 
to it; and far be it from my thoughts to 
deprive them of so tender and generous a 
* It is to be hoped the ladies will not again lace them- 
selves up, to display fine shapes; the Author, however, 
wishes to warn them against so pernicious a fashion. 56 LETTER III. 
gratification: nevertheless, to see a de- 
licate little form, very near her time, stop a 
bouncing boy, and catch him in her arms, 
is really an alarming sight: many miscar- 
riages happen from such inconsiderateness; 
and, if our conjectures are not wrong, many 
blemishes also by these means are probably 
occasioned. 
But there is a practice indiscriminately 
used even to this day, worse than all the rest; 
and that is bleeding. Whether a woman 
be robust or weakly, if she is pregnant, 
she must be bled. Has she any pains?— 
No matter. Is she in health?—Yes. But 
she must lose blood—Why? Because she is 
with child. Her mother always did it, and 
her grandmother, aye, and her great great 
grandmother too, time out of mind; and 
therefore can the propriety of it be doubted? 
—These are the general arguments used by 
women in favour of bleeding, when they 
are in perfect health; but if any slight in- 
disposition happens, be it ever so foreign 
57 LETTER III. 
to their particular situations, and which 
perhaps at another time would pass unno- 
ticed, dreadful consequences are appre- 
hended if they are not bled: nay, indeed, 
those little temporary inconveniencies, 
which generally and unavoidably attend 
advanced pregnancy, in their mistaken 
opinions, call aloud for bleeding. 
In our two former letters we took notice 
of the difficulty that attends rooting out 
fixed and prevailing prejudices; and I am 
apprehensive that this is as deeply seated in 
the minds of women as those of which we 
there treated. However, let us ask the 
assistance of reason also in this particular, 
and search a little into the merits of the 
custom. 
Is not the infant supported by the mo- 
ther? 
When there are two to be supported, is 
not more nourishment required than for 
one of them only?  58 LETTER III. 
Is this then a time, without a real neces- 
sity, to sport with the blood of a weakly and 
delicate woman? No, surely. 
Let me therefore beg of you, my ingenu- 
ous friends, to consider this matter in a ra- 
tional light. I have given a plain and easy 
clue to pursue the enquiry, and the subject 
will not permit me to enter more fully into 
it with my fair readers, without assuming 
the character of the physician, and with- 
out advancing those things which may, in 
this collection of letters, be considered as 
an affront to delicacy. 
To your own thoughts then I commit 
it; and will conclude this letter with say- 
ing, that though I do not deny but there are 
cases which require bleeding—yet I caution 
you against doing it at random, and, indeed, 
without very good advice—at the same time 
I firmly believe such instances rarely hap- 
pen to those who are not of a robust consti- 
tution, and am fully persuaded that many 
women are daily injured by this wrong 
practice. LETTER IV. 
OF MOTHERS MILK.  LETTER IV. 
Mothers milk—the natural and best food 
for infants. 
I HAVE endeavoured to set forth the 
ridiculousness of women terrifying 
themselves, and every body about them, 
during their pregnancy with evils that, most 
probably, are altogether imaginary. I 
would wish my female readers to consider 
this subject in a more extensive view, and 
to aim at greater fortitude, than the sex 
can generally boast, in the common occur- 
rences of life; when the tenderness of men 
is not so much engaged, and when the 
ladies cannot reasonably expect such kind 
allowances as are made at this particular 
time. Think me not severe; a faithful 
monitor must speak with freedom; the 
man who is blind to this foible, must be 
insensible to your charms, and unworthy 
of your confidence. Your happiness is at 
stake, much more so than a superficial 
observer may imagine. Female vivacity 
G62 LETTER IV. 
softens the rugged paths of life, and, be- 
lieve me, self-love operates powerfully even 
upon the most generous minds. The woman 
who indulges gloomy ideas; who is conti- 
nually brooding over melancholy; who, in 
her hours of domestic retirement, is perpe- 
tually rendering herself miserable, and her 
most intimate acquaintance, and dearest re- 
latives, unhappy—such a mistaken she must 
only expect the cold eye of pity. However 
powerful her personal attractions, she will 
ultimately banish her husband and her 
friends. It will be found her greatest mis- 
fortune, and at a time too when it is irre- 
trievable, to have once bad the merit to 
gain, perhaps, a valuable heart, when she 
has not discretion enough to keep it.—The 
importance of the subject will, I hope, apo- 
logize for this digression. 
We have also earnestly laboured to con- 
quer the prejudices concerning marks in 
consequence of frights and longings; and 
have exposed the fabulous histories of those 
wonders. We have likewise shewn how
63 LETTER IV.  
the understanding may be deceived by
the forms of fancy, and have no less 
earnestly endeavoured to explode the mis- 
taken custom of bleeding indiscriminately, 
during pregnancy—pointing out upon ra- 
tional principles the absurdity of all. A 
task equally arduous in every part, a thou- 
sand prejudices being imbibed against the 
whole. 
Another subject at this time presents it- 
self to view. I mean that of women suck- 
ling their own children; against which the 
present obstinately received opinions are still 
more unaccountable than the former, as 
nothing but a strange perversion of human 
nature could first deprive children of their 
mothers milk. Give me leave therefore to 
observe, that milk is the natural support 
which the great Author of our being has 
provided for our infant state; and I am 
heartily sorry the present manner of bring- 
ing up children puts me, in some measure, 
G264 LETTER IV.
under the necessity of proving milk to he the 
best food that can be given them.
Milk is a nourishment produced from 
the various kinds of food taken in by the 
mother. Her stomach breaks and digests 
the aliment, which, after various operations 
of nature, becomes so far animalized as to 
be a kind of white blood; from whence 
animal bodies at all times receive their con- 
stant support and recruit. This therefore 
being admitted—until an infant’s powers 
are sufficiently strengthened to perform so 
great a business as that of digestion, the mo- 
ther, by the all-wise appointment of Pro- 
vidence, from her own breast supplies it 
with the means of life. Hence no other 
nourishment appears so proper for a new- 
born child. 
For the further information and satis- 
faction of my female readers, and to con- 
vince them that milk is the mod proper 
nourishment for tender infants, I think it 
will not be improper to give a concise ac- 
65 LETTER IV. 
count of the manner in which grown per- 
form receive their constant recruit and sup- 
port from their daily food. 
Whether it be animal or vegetable diet, 
or a mixture of both, taken into the sto- 
mach; the quality of the food is so far 
altered by the digestive faculties, that a 
milky nutriment is produced from it; and 
as the aliment passes through the bowels, 
this milk is taken up by a great number of 
fine vessels, which, from their destined 
office, are called the milky vessels; and 
through them it is conveyed into the blood 
for our support: and, as before observed, 
Nature has so admirably contrived the ani- 
mal fabric, that mothers are likewise en- 
abled to support their young from this con- 
stant supply, which at the same time also 
affords to themselves their own proper 
nourishment. 
This is the grand scheme of nutriment: 
for when these particles of our food which 
afford us sustenance, are thus taken up by 
G366 LETTER IV. 
the milky vessels; the grosser parts are, by 
the same wonderful construction of the 
bowels, rejected and evacuated, in a man- 
ner well known to every one. 
Whoever therefore gives this argument 
a rational consideration will, I trust, be led 
to acknowledge milk to be not only the 
natural, but the best and most strength- 
ening nourishment that infants can pos- 
sibly receive; because their digestive facul- 
ties are, at this time, incapable of pro- 
ducing a good and proper milky nutriment 
from any kind of food which can be given 
to them. 
The Author of Nature has universally 
committed the support of infants, and the 
early part of children’s education, to women; 
if it were not thus ordained, he would un- 
doubtedly have furnished men also with 
milk for the nourishment of their young; 
and experience convinces us that women 
are much better qualified both by Nature 
and custom for this important concern. 67 LETTER IV. 
This system of nursing therefore is peculi- 
arly addressed to the fair sex, who are most 
interested in it, and who will most sensibly 
feel the happy or miserable effects of the 
manner in which they discharge this first 
great trust which is reposed in them. 
Here indeed a mother will assuredly reap 
the happy fruits of fortitude, and those 
likewise of a lively, chearful, and obliging 
disposition. This subject will be treated at 
large in the twelfth letter; nevertheless, 
give me leave to observe in this place, 
that such as the mother is, generally speak- 
ing, such will be the first, and most pro- 
bably the most durable impressions re- 
ceived by the child. It therefore naturally 
follows, that infants, whose minds are 
early accustomed to agreeable objects, and 
whose expanding ideas are gratified with 
pleasing sensations, unabated by flavish 
fears; such, and such only, as they rise into 
life, will possess that generous gratitude, 
which prompts them to consider it as a first 
great duty to contribute to the happiness 
of their parents. 
68 LETTER IV. 
I am exceedingly offended, whenever I 
observe a child, grown to man or woman’s 
estate, who shews, upon any occasion, a 
want of respect or duty to its parents; and 
more particularly so, if such flight or con- 
tempt be exercised towards a good mother.
Unnatural monster! to be wanting in re- 
spect to her who bore him in her womb; 
who cherished and supported him with her 
milk; and for many years after his birth 
gave up her own pleasures and recreations 
intirely for his sake; and who had no cares 
but for his welfare. I would have a mark 
set upon the forehead of such a barbarous 
savage, and he should be hunted from the 
society of men. 
Those mothers who by a foolish indul- 
gence spoil their children’s tempers and dis- 
positions, are undoubtedly culpable; but 
the example of a violent, passionate, yet 
negligent and insensible father, is equally or 
more to be dreaded. A mother has this 
plea, that she endeavours at least at the 
time to make her child happy; and it may 69 LETTER IV. 
be said in excuse for her conduct, that she 
is to be pitied in not knowing better: but 
there is no excuse either to God or man 
that can be urged to mitigate the vice and 
folly of such a father; the iniquity resteth 
with himself alone, for the benevolent Au- 
thor of our being is not to be arraigned upon 
this or any other occasion. 
How provident is Nature in all her works! 
How wonderfully indulgent to man, and 
other helpless animals in their first state of 
existence, by thus enabling the mother to 
feed her young with nourishment drawn 
from her own body, until such time as the 
offspring has obtained strength sufficient to 
provide for itself! This gracious bounty is 
abused only by man, the most intelligent of 
earthly beings; whose misuse of reason leads 
him astray, whilst humble instinct directs 
all other parts of the creation aright. 
If we look around us, we shall find every 
animal that gives suck carefully fostering 
her young; and other enjoyments are no 70 LETTER IV. 
more thought of, until they are capable of 
providing for themselves. An example by 
which mankind might profit much; but the 
strong impulse of passion in this, and many 
other instances, subdues our reason. Did 
we consider the benefit of our children 
more, and the indulgence of our selfish in- 
clinations less, the race of man would be 
more healthy, strong and vigorous, than we 
can at present boast. But alas! such is the 
depravity of human nature, that it would be 
in vain to enlarge upon this topic of com- 
plaint; it is therefore our present business 
to prevent, as much as possible, the future 
growth of these evils. 
Let us, my friends, as you are all 
interested in the enquiry, compare the 
success of mankind with that of other 
animals in rearing their young. A little 
observation will convince us that greater 
numbers of the human race are lost in their 
infancy than of any other species; for near 
one half the deaths, within our bills of 
mortality, happen to children under five 71 LETTER IV. 
years of age. And further, compare the 
opulent with the rustic, the success is still 
exceedingly different. How many children 
of the great fall victims to prevailing 
customs, the effects of riches? How many 
of the poor are saved by wanting these 
luxuries? 
Again, compare the success of such as 
suckle their own offspring with that of those 
who commit them to the care of nurses, or 
bring them up by hand; and we shall there 
likewise find an amazing difference: but 
more of this hereafter. 
From these considerations, it is evident 
that Nature is always preferable to art, 
whence the brute creation succeed better 
than the human in preserving their own 
species. And the peasant, whom necessity 
compels to follow Nature, is, in this respect, 
happier than his lord. Those mothers also, 
who, in spite of custom, pride, or indolence, 
will take their little babies to their breast, 
must have more comfort and success, than 
72 LETTER IV. 
those who cruelly consign them to the care 
of softer nurses; thereby denying them that 
food, which is not only the most proper, but 
is ordained likewise for their infant state. 
Let me then intreat those who are de- 
sirous of rearing their children, not to rob 
them of their natural breast; would they 
wish them to be healthy and beautiful, let 
such mothers give suck: for even wet- 
nurses, we shall find, are very little to be 
depended upon. LETTER V. 
ARGUMENTS IN FAVOUR OF 
SUCKING.
H  LETTER V. 
Arguments in favour of suckling—as well for 
the mother’s sake, as the child’s—and the 
evils to be apprehended in delivering children 
to the care of softer nurses. 
HEALTH and beauty are desirable, 
and the latter in particular, to wo- 
men. They must in this case be united, as 
it is impossible for a woman to be truly 
beautiful who wants health. Disease blights 
the rosy bloom upon the cheek, turns the 
delicate whiteness of the skin into a sallow 
hue, and destroys the enchanting lustre of 
the eye. How insufficient is it for a lovely 
maid to make a conquest, if she cannot keep 
it as a wife! 
It is not at present my province to en- 
large upon the accomplishments of the 
mind. How necessary they are to secure 
the affections of a husband, every prudent 
woman knows. And she must be equally 
sensible that the elegance of her person is 
H276 LETTER V. 
also to be regarded; an advantage which 
those who are in a bad state of health have 
scarcely spirits to attend to: besides, illness 
too often renders the sweetest dispositions 
cross and peevish. 
Those who are happy enough to have 
children, run the greatest risque, not only 
of losing them, but of destroying their own 
health and beauty, by repelling their milk 
immediately after delivery. It never can 
be done without producing a fever. Often- 
times tumours, and cancers in the breast, 
owe their origin to this pernicious custom; 
asthmatical complaints, and lingering 
diseases are frequently occasioned by it; 
and too commonly, the immediate death 
of the mother follows from such ill ma- 
nagement. 
Consider, my fair pupils, for your own 
health’s sake, and for the sake of your future 
happiness, how necessary it is to preserve 
such dear pledges of mutual love. By these 77 LETTER V. 
powerful ties, many a man, in spite of im- 
petuous passions, is compelled to continue 
the prudent, kind, indulgent, tender hus- 
band. Did you but thoroughly know the 
secret impulses of the human heart, you 
would not risk the loss of your children, 
by unnaturally denying them the means of 
life. 
Let not the mistaken husband insinuate 
that you will be less charming in his sight, 
by doing your duty to your little ones; 
many—many instances have I known of 
weakly and delicate women, who, at my 
particular request, have suckled their 
children, and thereby obtained a much 
better state of health; nay, they have been 
more pleasing in their persons, after thus 
becoming happy mothers, and their hus- 
bands have, with pleasure, acknowledged 
their improved charms. 
There may be some cases in which it is 
not prudent for a mother to give suck, but
H3  78 LETTER V. 
these instances very rarely happen; and 
there may be some women, who, although 
they are ever so desirous, cannot suckle;
this however is but seldom to be urged. I 
sincerely sympathise with those unfortu- 
nate ladies who are thus deprived of a hap- 
piness, only known to those who enjoy it. 
What shall we say under these necessitous 
circumstances? Shall we advise such mo- 
thers to employ a wet-nurse; or to bring 
their children up under their own manage- 
ment, according to proper rules which 
shall be laid down in a following letter?
They are both, in my opinion, wretched 
necessities. Yet, was an infant of my own 
thus unhappily situated, without hesitation 
I would prefer the latter; for much is to 
be apprehended from a child’s sucking a 
strange woman: nothing less than abso- 
lute necessity would make me comply 
with it. 
Too often diseases, and those of the worst 
kind, are imbibed from the breast. It is a 79 LETTER V. 
shocking truth, but vicious inconstancy is 
become so universal, even amongst the lower 
rank of people, that many women offer 
themselves and are daily employed as wet- 
nurses, who are labouring under dreadful 
and infectious diseases. Yet, supposing 
you can arrive at a satisfactory assurance in 
this point, there is a certain cleaning qua- 
lity in the milk of a woman immediately 
after child-bearing, exceedingly necessary 
for the new-born babe, in order to prepare 
its stomach and bowels for future food— 
this you very rarely can obtain from a wet- 
nurse. 
There is yet a further evil to be dreaded; 
as it is through necessity alone that a wo- 
man will desert her own infant, and take 
another to her breast, she may be induced, 
by the advantage she gains, to conceal her 
being again with child, and continue to 
suckle the infant till it pines away, and dies 
for want of proper nourishment. Thou- 
sands have been sacrificed by these means.  80 LETTER V. 
Should they however escape, in either 
case they are, too generally, miserable be- 
ings: for, in consequence of the first, dis- 
eases of the glands, known by the vulgar 
name of the king’s evil, and other terrible 
complaints, succeed; and in the latter, the 
the rickets, watry gripes, and many other 
maladies, proceeding from a weakly and 
relaxed habit of body, most commonly 
ensue. 
On the other hand, disease and death are 
the usual consequences of the present erro- 
neous method of bringing children up by 
hand. Scarcely one in four of these little 
innocents live to get over the cutting of 
their teeth; and the vitiated blood of those 
that escape, occasioned by improper nou- 
rishment, generally renders them infirm, 
or short-lived. Almost every complaint to 
which children are subject, appears to me 
to proceed originally from an improper ma- 
nagement of them; for the young of all 
other animals are full of health and vigour. 81 LETTER V. 
And moreover, independently of these 
misfortunes, the future happiness of the 
parent herself is greatly interested in this 
maternal concern, as it generally falls out 
that those children who are neglected by 
their mothers during their infant years, for- 
get all duty and affection towards them, 
when such mothers are in the decline of 
life; and this contempt from a child is no- 
thing less than plunging a dagger into the 
breast of its parent; and besides the cruel 
pangs which she must unavoidably experi- 
ence from this want of duty, daily obser- 
vation convinces us that widows frequently 
suffer not a little, even in the common con- 
veniencies of life, by the means of those 
very children, who if properly educated 
would have probably become their support 
and comfort. 
Such are the melancholy prospects at- 
tending the present unnatural practice of 
wet, and dry nursing; from which a curse 
is oftentimes entailed upon a generation, of 
which parents ought to esteem themselves 82 LETTER V. 
the authors. How terrible soever these 
things appear, I esteem it my duty to ac- 
quaint mothers in particular, what a risk 
they run in thus hazarding the health and 
lives of their children, together with their 
own present and future happiness; and sin- 
cerely hope I may imprint the same objec- 
tions upon them, that daily experience in 
my profession presents to me, against these 
pernicious customs. 
O! that I could prevail upon my fair 
countrywomen to become still more lovely 
in the sight of men! Believe it not, when 
it is insinuated, that your bosoms are less 
charming, for having a dear little cherub 
at your breast. I speak from the feelings 
of a man, and of one too who has an uni- 
versal and generous love for the virtuous 
part of your sex. Trust me, there is no 
husband could withstand the fond solicita- 
tions of an endearing wife, would fire be 
earnest in her desire of bringing up her own 
children. Rest assured, when he beholds 
the object of his soul cherishing and sup- 83 LETTER V. 
porting in her arms the propitious reward 
of wedlock, and fondly traces his own linea- 
ments in the darling boy, it recalls a thou- 
sand delicate sensations to a generous mind. 
Perhaps he drops a sympathetic tear in re- 
collecting the painful throes of the mother, 
which die chearfully bore to make him such 
an inestimable present. His love, tender- 
ness, and gratitude, being thus engaged— 
with what raptures must he behold her, still 
carefully intent upon the preservation of 
his own image? 
How ardent soever such an one’s affec- 
tions might be before matrimony, a scene 
like this will more firmly rivet the pleasing 
setters of love:—for though a beautiful vir- 
gin must ever kindle emotions in a man of 
sensibility; a chaste and tender wife, with a 
little one at her breast, is certainly, to her 
husband, the mod exquisitely enchanting 
object upon earth:—and surely, ladies, had 
fashion but established this laudable custom 
amongst you, it would prove so truly amia- 
ble, as not only to excite the emulation of  84 LETTER V. 
your maiden friends to worthy conquests, 
but also raise their ambition to shine in cha- 
racters thus dignified. How greatly then 
would you contribute to the felicity of your 
own families, and of mankind in general! LETTER VI. 
THE MANAGEMENT OF INFANTS FROM 
THE BIRTH. 
I LETTER VI. 
The management of infants from the birth— 
with directions for putting them to the 
breast. 
HAPPY, thrice happy woman, now 
become a joyful mother, nurturing 
her young! Say, tell me, you who know 
the rapturous delight, how complete is the 
bliss of enfolding in your longing arms the 
dear dear fruits of all your pains?—pains 
now no more remembered. Long may you 
preserve the darling, and be doubly blest in 
its future beauty, health, and virtue! 
I am not unmindful, my charming 
friends, of the prejudices necessary to be 
conquered, before so material a benefit to 
mankind, as that which I am to picture out 
in this letter, can be generally obtained. In 
my last, the misfortunes attending the neg- 
lect of this duty were fully explained, and 
I288 LETTER VI. 
as I have frequently succeeded amongst the 
private circle of my friends, by addressing 
their understanding, I trust to the candour 
of the more ingenuous sex, for my success 
in public. My endeavour therefore through- 
out shall be to convince you that I have 
reason and truth on my side. Happy then 
shall I think myself, and amply rewarded 
for my trouble, if I am fortunate enough to 
meet with your approbation; as your ob- 
servance of the rules laid down in this little 
manual must necessarily follow. Much de- 
pends upon your maternal care in the first 
stage of life; it is a pleasing duty, to which 
you are honourably called upon, both by 
Nature and the custom of all nations. 
I am truly sensible that, according to the 
present mistaken manner of suckling and 
rearing children, the business is a fa- 
tigue which frightens many at the first at- 
tempt; it Is a method altogether culpable 
and unnatural. To this letter particularly 
belongs the first management of them. In my 
next I shall point out the subsequent errors,  89 LETTER VI. 
and lay down some general rules, that will 
not only prove beneficial to the child, 
but make the talk of suckling easy and 
delightful to the mother: even the polite 
and gay may chearfully undertake this, at 
present, laborious employment, without 
greatly interfering with a social life—for 
the gloomy ideas of a nursery will vanish. 
The paths of Nature are easy and de- 
lightful. Come then, my fair, and let us 
follow her, step by step. 
We have before observed that a child 
brings its immediate nourishment into the 
world with its birth. Man is born in sor- 
row. The fatigue and pain of delivery, 
both to the mother and the child, require 
rest; and generally, where no improper 
means are used, they both directly fall into 
a sweet refreshing sleep; during which time 
the milky vessels of the breast are dilated. 
Thus, with prudent management, in a short 
time a small flow of milk will be obtained. 
The child, replete with nourishment at its 
birth, awakes equally refreshed with the  
I3
90 LETTER VI. 
mother, and by eagerly sucking the nipple 
encourages its more plentiful supply. 
Sometimes there may be a little incon-
venience with the first child; but this is 
rendered still greater by keeping it away, 
perhaps two or three days, from the mo- 
ther, and suffering her attendants to draw 
her breasts, which generally occasions fore 
nipples. The gentle, easy, and frequent 
suction of an infant, will not only prevent 
this inconvenience, but gradually invite the 
milk, thereby relieving the mother from a 
troublesome burthen: the nipple also, by 
this means, will be drawn out, so that the 
child may suck without further difficulty,
This is the lesson Nature teaches, and 
wise are those who observe her precepts. 
As to an infant’s cloathing, the lighter 
it is, and the more unconfined, the better; 
very little covering is necessary, and the 
future deformities of shape, &c. not to 
mention the deplorable loss of health, 
sometimes proceed from the dress being 91 LETTER VI. 
too heavy and confined, at its first entrance 
into life. 
I am entirely against an infant’s receiv- 
ing any nourishment until it can be put to 
the breast; and much more so against cram- 
ming it with what nurses call pap. The 
stomach is not yet fit for any other food 
than what Nature has prepared. Art can- 
not produce a diet with such an affinity to 
animal blood, as to render it proper for the 
tender bowels of a new-born child. 
The cries of an infant are generally occa- 
sioned by the uneasiness it suffers, either 
from its dress, or in consequence of thus 
cramming it, The complaints of children 
in these early days, as I before observed, 
and likewise the difficulty in cutting of teeth, 
which I shall hereafter speak of, proceed 
almost entirely from this wrong practice. 
Watery gripes, offensive stools, and most 
disorders in their bowels, are altogether 
occasioned by improper food. 
92 LETTER VI. 
Custom has rendered this ridiculous prac-
tice so universal, that the good women 
continually complain it is impossible for a 
child to remain without food till the milk 
comes. Let any mother make a fair and 
unprejudiced trial, and experience will con- 
vince her of the truth of our maxim. 
How are other animals supported? Na- 
ture, in no one part of the creation, is so 
imperfect, as to be indebted to the wifdom 
of man to rectify her works. And suppose 
a case, in which the milk does not slow so 
soon as in general it is expected, let the 
child, under such circumstances, be put to 
the breast again and again; a very little nou- 
rishment will at present suffice, and that 
will most commonly be obtained from the 
nipple; if it is not, a little warm milk and 
water, with a small quantity of Lisbon 
sugar, is the only nourishment, in my opi- 
nion, that is proper to be given; this ad- 
vice I have caused to be strictly followed, 
and have happily experienced the good ef- 
fects of it in an infant of my own; who 
93 LETTER VI. 
scarcely received any support from the breast 
till after the third day from the birth. Fol- 
low, my dear ladies, these rules, and where 
there are an hundred accidents that now 
happen to mothers, in consequence of milk 
fevers; and to children, in consequence of 
being denied the breast, you will rarely 
find one. I am convinced of the truth of 
my assertion by experience, and therefore 
am the more bold in recommending it to 
you, and to the public.  LETTER VII. 
A NATURAL AND EASY METHOD 
OF SUCKLING CHILDREN.  LETTER VII. 
A natural and easy method of suckling children 
—This duty proved to he a pleasure rather 
than a fatigue. 
NOW then, my nearly interested friends, 
let us observe those parts of the crea- 
tion where instinct only can direct, and for 
once learn a lesson from the tender brute. 
Behold those animals which are familiar to 
us, how successful they are in bringing up 
their young! Animals that give milk to 
three, four, five, six, and sometimes more 
of their offspring at a birth. How well 
and happy are the dams! What unremit- 
ting care do they take of their nurslings! 
They never desert them until time has given 
to their bodies strength sufficient to provide 
for themselves. Provident Nature!—and 
shall mankind alone distrust thy goodness? 
Let us learn and be wise. Never more suffer 
it to pass for an argument, that a woman 
who is capable of bearing a child has nor 
strength to suckle it, when the little crea- 
K98 LETTER VII. 
tures that surround us can rear a whole fa- 
mily at once. 
O that I could convince you of the breast 
alone being a sufficient support for the 
robust of children! Consider Nature well 
in all her works! Let ignorance and pre- 
judice no longer prevail! Believe this so- 
lemn truth, almost every woman is capable 
of supporting her babe; and great will prove 
the advantages, both to herself and her in- 
fant. When it is confined altogether to the 
breast, it gains strength every day, and de- 
fies disease. The mother, under these cir- 
cumstances, would not again conceive so 
quickly, and miscarriages would thereby be, 
in a great measure, prevented; unless hur- 
ried on by frequent bleedings, and other 
mistaken practices. 
If, for the sake of your families, you 
value your own lives, attend to this indis- 
putable fact. You yourselves know how 
many women are ruined in their health 
by not suckling their children; and what 
99 LETTER VII. 
numbers are continually sacrificed by un- 
skilful methods of treatment, at the time of 
their delivery. You may—you should sup- 
port your young; the talk is easy and de- 
lightful, and the thriving child rewards- 
your pains. It is not laborious. I would 
not wish to see you slaves. The tender 
delicacy of your frame forbids the very 
thought. The method is plain and easy— 
only follow Nature. 
Sleep is essentially necessary to life, and
that the stomach should sometimes be at 
rest, is as essentially necessary to health; 
both these things the mother and child 
equally require. Thus the slavish part of 
the business is set aside; for it is an absurd 
and erroneous custom, after stuffing it con- 
tinually in the day, to keep a child at the 
breast all night. This counter-acts the 
operations of Nature, not only by depriving 
it of its rest, but also, from a constant full- 
ness, the powers of the infant-body are pre- 
vented from exerting themselves in a proper 
K2100 LETTER VII. 
manner upon the aliment received. Hence 
the stomach and bowels are enfeebled, and 
thereby rendered incapable of producing 
such wholesome nourishment as a child 
would otherwise obtain from its food: to 
which grand purpose, found sleep and ab- 
stinence are equally conducive. 
On the other hand, the mother, being 
continually disturbed during the night, is 
also prevented from assimilating that good 
and perfect milk, which would otherwise 
be produced from the food of the day. 
Hence she becomes ill, grows tired of 
her talk, and the crude milk proves 
noxious to the weakened bowels of the in- 
fant. Thus disappointment and death fre- 
quently succeed. 
I know it will be urged by some that it 
is impossible to keep children quiet and at 
rest during the night, and that they cry for 
food. Let them be managed from the birth 
agreeably to the directions here given, and 
then I believe few persons will complain of 101 LETTER VII. 
their being troublesome. One reason why 
children do not sleep well by night is, that 
they are indulged too much in the cradle 
by day, when they should have exercise. 
Another still greater reason, I am inclined 
to think, proceeds from pain, occasioned by 
improper food, in the first passages; for I 
will venture to affirm that almost every 
child’s bowels, from the present wrong- 
management, are in a state of disease, 
which too frequently grows up with it 
into life; and thus in infancy the lurking 
cause of a bad constitution is oftentimes- 
established. 
When their little stomachs, irritated by 
too large a quantity, and the bad quality of 
food, become somewhat empty; a pain, 
probably like what we call the heart-burn, 
and acidities at the stomach, awakens them 
from their disturbed slumbers; and these 
little creatures can then only discover their 
uneasiness by crying. Hence nurses, partly 
for their own quiet, and partly through a 
K3102 LETTER VII. 
mistaken notion that children cry only for 
nourishment, cram them until they are 
quite gorged. Such infants eagerly devour 
whatever is given them, because the recep- 
tion of food takes off that too great sensibi- 
lity of the stomach which caused the pain. 
A similar effect to this, grown persons, 
troubled with the complaints I have now 
mentioned, must every day experience 
upon taking nourishment; for it always 
affords a present relief. 
Four or five times in the twenty-four 
hours are sufficient for a child to receive the 
breast, and let the following rules be nearly 
observed. About six or seven in the morn- 
ing, after which the child may be allowed 
an hour or two’s sleep;—again, an hour 
after the mother has breakfasted—and a 
third time, if she pleases, before dinner 
a fourth time at five or six o’clock in the 
evening, being two or three hours after 
dinner—and lastly, between ten and eleven, 
just before she goes to rest. 
103 LETTER VII. 
Now, by those mothers who have ser- 
vants to take off the laborious part of the 
management of children, this surely cannot 
be deemed a fatigue; that the task itself is 
a pleasure, the fondness of nurses towards 
children at the breast fully proves; and that 
it is an indispensible duty, the feelings of 
human nature evidently proclaim. 
In the early months sleep may be indulged 
during the day, but exercise should also at 
proper intervals be given to children. As 
they grow stronger, sleep should be less en- 
couraged, and exercise encreased. 
There are several points of management 
that I have no fault to find with, and, 
amongst others, think it needless to dwell 
upon the necessity of keeping children dry 
and clean: It is so evident, that few nurses 
are culpable in these particulars. But as 
to rocking children, the custom is altoge- 
ther absurd. He was an ingenious man 
who invented a mouse-trap, though none 
but a fool first thought of a cradle; it was 104 LETTER VII. 
certainly invented to save the attendants 
trouble, for which, by the bye, they suffer 
more in return: I never permitted a cradle 
to disgrace my nursery. Infants, if well, 
sleep without this lullaby-labour, and such 
forced dosings generally render them peevish 
and watchful in the night; which is the 
most proper time both for them and their 
nurses to enjoy their rest. 
At the end of six or seven months, when 
the four first teeth ought to appear, children 
should be kept awake, and exercised as 
much as possible; by which time, if ma-
naged properly, they will generally gain 
strength enough to shoot these teeth, and 
the others will in, due course be cut with 
ease. 
Thus you will avoid an evil that sweeps 
away great numbers, of which, however, I 
shall speak more fully in another letter; for 
it is intirely owing to the weakness of their 
bodies that children cut their teeth with so 
105 LETTER VII. 
much difficulty, and that it is attended with 
fever, convulsions, and death. 
This weakness of body is but little un- 
derstood; for if a child be bloated with fat, 
which too generally happens when it is im- 
properly fed, the parents and their friends 
call it a fine child, and admire how it 
thrives. When, alas! that very fat is the 
disease which renders its constitution thus 
feeble; for if the butcher did not kill lambs 
and calves when they become immode- 
rately fat, they likewise would die as fre- 
quently as children. Which death may 
be justly attributed to the preposterous 
method, so generally in use, of giving them 
too much crude unsalutary nourishment; 
and not managing them in other respects as 
Nature requires, to strengthen the body 
from the food received. 
After what has been advanced concern- 
ing the early part of infant-management, 
give me leave to observe that the argu- 106 LETTER VII. 
ments enforced upon this important subject
are submitted to the consideration of those 
mothers, who are desirous of preferring a 
rational system to bigoted maxims and 
opinions. I would wish them to be at- 
tended to, and I trust that they will 
merit their approbation. I do not expert 
the foregoing rules to be invariably adopted 
from the birth, I know very well, and it 
is obvious to those who have been atten- 
tive to children, that infants require some 
more, and others less attendance, especi- 
ally during the first month or two; and 
a certain time is necessary, even under 
the most prudent management, to ac- 
custom them to our wished-for habits. 
There is a wide difference between know- 
ing what is right and doing it; and 
oftentimes although we may be desirous 
of strictly following the most prudent 
maxims, difficulties will unexpectedly 
arise in the first attempts. Let me there- 
fore desire you to aim at the above 
regulations, which by perseverance will107 LETTER VII. 
soon become practicable; and then, de- 
termine for yourselves, how greatly they 
will contribute to your own ease and com- 
fort, as well as to the advantage of your 
children.
 LETTER VIII. 
THE PROPER METHOD OF WEANING 
CHILDREN.
L LETTER VIII. 
The proper method of weaning children. 
IN my last letter I condemned the pre- 
sent erroneous method of suckling and 
feeding children, and recommended a plain 
and easy way of rearing them to six or seven 
months old, upon a rational plan, pointed 
out by Nature in many different parts of the 
creation; and which most probably was 
strictly followed by mankind in the early 
ages of the world, before luxury, pride, and 
indolence crept into society. Antient his- 
tory never could have boasted of so many 
strong and valiant men, had not mothers, 
in their infancy, given strength and vigour 
to their constitutions; and the cause of the 
present pusillanimous, feeble, weakly, and 
diseased race of mortals, may in some mea- 
sure be ascribed to the want of this earliest 
maternal care. 
Let us talk with the plain and simple 
husbandman, who has a nursery of trees
L2112 LETTER VIII. 
under his direction; he will tell us it is not 
sufficient for the stocks to be good of their 
kind, for unless they be secured from rude 
winds, and properly cultivated, so that they 
may receive nourishment, they will never 
thrive. 
It is literally the same in animal life; 
there are unfortunate mothers who daily 
and woefully experience the truth of this 
argument. How many women are blest 
with fine children, not a blemish, nor the 
mark of a disease, about them at their birth; 
and yet before many months are past, for 
want of prudent care and proper nourish- 
ment, do they not waste away and die? I 
need not say more, the tears of many of my 
gentle readers, at the unhappy recollection, 
will sufficiently testify the fact. May such 
tears prove a warning for their future 
conduct, and, trust me, my honoured ma- 
trons, your sorrow will be turned into joy— 
a joy of the tenderest nature, generous and 
truly laudable!113 LETTER VIII. 
Let not man in the vanity of his heart 
triumph in a superiority over the fair sex! 
for to them alone it belongs to lay the foun- 
dation, not of what he is, but what he 
should be—healthy, strong, and vigorous. 
You, ladies, form an hero in the cradle, and 
courage is received from the breast. Gra- 
titude in return demands a protection to 
you from man. With yourselves therefore 
it remains to render him capable of that 
protection. Thus Nature, my fair ones, or- 
dained your importance in the creation. 
But to return to the husbandman: he  
will again tell us, that when his-trees have 
received their infant strength, and their 
roots begin to shoot, it is necessary to trans- 
plant them from the nursery to a more ex- 
tensive soil, in order to arrive at their na- 
tural perfection. So you, my friends, hav- 
ing brought the. child through its infant 
state, by the tender nourishment of the 
breast, must at the time of weaning (which 
in my opinion is best postponed until it be 
near a twelve month old) transplant your 
L3114 LETTER VIII. 
little nursery likewise to a more extensive 
soil: that is, you must afford it more co- 
pious nourishment, in order to bring it to 
maturer life. 
Yet, as great skill and caution are re- 
quired on the part of the husbandman, in 
this business of transplanting, so great judg- 
ment and care must be shewn by you, in 
this your province of weaning children; for 
custom has so far deviated from Nature, as 
to render the greatest circumspection ne- 
cessary to point out the happy medium. 
A further care therefore at this time de- 
mands our attention. Man, according to 
the present mode, particularly in England, 
is greatly supported by animal food. A 
sudden transition from one extreme to ano- 
ther is always dangerous, and every mate- 
rial alteration, to avoid inconvenicncies, 
should be brought about step by step. If 
Nature ever intended us to destroy the ani- 
mals around us for prey, surely we may 
conclude, this food never could be designed 115 LETTER VIII. 
for our use until such time as we had teeth
to eat it. 
Many ill consequences arise from persons 
devouring their meals too eagerly; and if 
the stomachs of men are oppressed, by not 
sufficiently chewing their meat, certainly 
the weak and tender stomachs of children, 
who have not as yet teeth sufficient to break 
it, must be still less fit to receive it altoge- 
ther whole. 
Animal food then at this time of life is 
absolutely forbidden, from reason and reflec- 
tion; but as it is in some measure necessary 
to prepare them for their future method of 
living, broths and jellies may he now given 
sparingly, and as they encrease in strength 
and age, more plentifully. Hereby the ani- 
mal juices are received, which contain the 
only nourishment in flesh, without any la- 
bour to the stomach; and let it be remem- 
bered that the juices of full-grown animals 
are to be preferred to the younger and fat-  116 LETTER VIII. 
tened kind; but more of this in its proper 
place. 
Let children at this time be fed once or 
twice a day with about a quarter of a pint 
of broth, and a little bread mixed in it. 
When you give a stiff jelly, a large tea cup 
full is sufficient; but I would recommend as 
much warm water, or milk with it, and 
likewise a little bread. The breast should 
not be allowed them now so often as when 
they were wholly confined to that nourish- 
ment; in short, every meal that you thus 
introduce, should supply one of the stated 
times of suckling. Thus are they gradu-
ally and insensibly weaned from the breast, 
and accustomed to animal food, without 
any pining on their parts, or much trouble 
to the mother. 
Having shewn the proper manner of 
putting a child to the breast, and likewise 
the most prudent method of taking it away;
we shall in the next letter point out the117 LETTER VIII. 
safest rules for bringing children up by 
hand; but another observation or two will 
not be improper in this place. 
The gravy which runs out of meat upon 
cutting it when brought to table is exceed- 
ingly wholesome, being nothing more than 
the pure juices of flesh. A few spoonfuls 
of this beef or mutton gravy, mixed with an 
equal quantity of warm water, and a little 
salt, make very good broth. I mention 
this, because parents generally imagine it to 
be unwholesome for children; and often- 
times when I have recommended it, some 
good old lady has stoutly opposed me, al- 
ledging that it fills a child with humours; 
whereas, on the contrary, this is the only part 
of flesh that produces good nourishment. 
Here let me protest against the custom 
of not suffering children to eat salt, for fear 
of the scurvy; not making a distinction 
between salted meats, and salt eaten with 
meat. In this point also strong prejudices 
are frequently to be combated with; for 118 LETTER VIII. 
many a time have I been told by persons of 
reverent years, that children were not suf- 
fered to eat salt in former days; adding, 
perhaps with a significant shrug, that the 
present age think themselves much wiser 
than their forefathers. 
“ Animal food which has been any con- 
“ siderable time in salt becomes hard, and 
“ requires more force to break and digest it, 
“ proper for nourishment, than weak sto- 
“ machs are capable of exerting; conse- 
“ quently salted beef, pork, and such like 
“ things, are improper for children.” 
Nevertheless, salt in itself is so far from 
producing the scurvy, that it is now gene- 
rally supposed to be its greatest antidote; 
otherwise, why do so many thousands yearly 
stock to bathe, and drink sea water? There 
is, further, a certain stimulating quality in 
salt, that greatly promotes digestion; and 
whatsoever assists that office, must of course 
rather contribute to purify the blood than 
to render it soul; which is the supposed 119 LETTER VIII. 
cause of the present frequently imagined, 
but oftentimes only a fashionable disease— 
called the scurvy. 
I have been repeatedly thanked for the 
following information. A table spoonful 
or two of salt put into a quart of spring 
water is a most excellent wash to cleanse 
the skin, especially if the face be well 
rubbed with a coarse cloth some little time 
after it has been washed with the salt and 
water. By this means the pores of the 
skin will be kept open, and no obstructed 
perspiration will remain, which is the cause 
of carbuncles and those red pimples which 
are generally mistaken for the scurvy. It 
is this stimulating and cleaning quality of 
salt that makes the sea water so useful to 
those who are troubled with eruptions; 
therefore by the above proportion, the 
water is rendered still more efficacious, 
and will clear the face and neck of heats 
and pimples which frequently disturb the 
ladies. 120 LETTER VIII. 
I cannot bear the modern prostitution 
of the words female delicacy; the duties of 
a mother are by some thought to be inde- 
licate, and the appellation is now given 
only to disease and sickness; for a woman 
must become a walking ghost to be stiled 
truly delicate. I frequently lament that 
the idea is not more strictly confined to 
mental accomplishments; nevertheless, I 
wish my fair friends to bestow every 
rational and laudable attention to render 
their persons neat, elegant, and engaging. 
I cannot conclude this letter better than 
by observing, that although beauty stands 
like a cypher when alone, every additional 
qualification increases its merits ten-fold; 
and the less sensible of it the possessor herself 
appears to be, the more it will always be 
regarded by the admiring world. 
LETTER IX. 
THE SAFEST METHOD OF BRINGING 
CHILDREN UP BY HAND.
M LETTER IX. 
The safest method of bringing children up by 
hand. 
WE have hitherto, my fair philoso- 
phers, been carefully observant of, 
and obedient to, the laws of Nature. Her 
paths are infinitely various. Every step we 
take affords new and engaging prospects. 
We have traced man from the first period 
of his existence, and have followed reason 
and instinct, to give him strength and vi- 
gour in the earliest part of life. So fair a 
dawning promises a robust and healthy con- 
stitution; nevertheless necessity obliges us 
to proceed to a further speculation. 
Let it therefore be the business of this 
letter to enquire how nearly art can supply 
the place of Nature. Let us endeavour to 
point out a method to those unfortunate 
mothers, who are, through necessity, de- 
prived of the happy enjoyment of suckling 
their own children. It may not prove un- 
M2124 LETTER IX. 
worthy the attention of those who, by 
choice, commit them to the care of others. 
I propose to carry my observations in this 
letter, as far as my instructions have been 
given to the valuable and truly praise-wor- 
thy matrons, whose duty to their family 
over-balances every other consideration. 
By and by, when the suckling is about to 
be weaned, and the dry-nursed child brought 
equally forward, the rules of diet will be 
the same for both; on which account I 
went no farther in my last than the proper 
period for introducing broths, jellies, &c. 
All other considerations will be brought 
under general directions. 
Mother’s milk we have shewn to be the 
natural and most proper support for tender 
infants; it is a digested fluid, already ani- 
malized, and therefore fittest for the nou- 
rishment of children. This remark also 
shews that the infant body is, by nature, 
designed to receive only a liquid nourish- 
ment; a hint particularly necessary to be 
attended to at this time, as it altogether 
125 LETTER IX. 
obviates the general objections against con- 
fining children to milk, in preference to 
thicker victuals, of which I shall speak more 
fully before I conclude this letter. 
We have taken notice how tender the 
stomachs and bowels of infants are, and 
have thence inferred, that almost every com- 
plaint they are afflicted with proceeds from 
the improper quality of their food; and the 
too large quantity given them also encreases 
the disease. We took notice that the di- 
gestive powers of a new-born child are in- 
capable of producing a kind nutriment 
even from bread, and therefore exclaimed 
against feeding them with what is called 
pap. But suppose it to be otherwise. What 
a poor pittance of support does such a mo- 
ther allow to her child, who gives it only 
bread and water! 
I have seen many fatal instances of such 
strange management. We ourselves should 
think it hard indeed, and nothing but dire  
M3126 LETTER IX. 
necessity could compel us to live thus spar- 
ingly; besides, how would our flesh waste 
and our strength decay? If so, surely it can- 
not be proper for an infant, whose bones 
have not as yet strength sufficient to sup- 
port its frame. How is it possible for a child 
to thrive under such treatment?—Perhaps 
some will allow a little milk to be mixed 
with its food, but very sparingly; because 
they imagine it stuffs the stomach, and fills 
a child full of phlegm. Idle and ridiculous 
are these, and all other arguments that can 
be urged against this natural and salubrious 
diet. 
Milk is here spoken of in general terms, 
because I intend in a subsequent letter to 
examine the several properties of different 
milks, and to remark the purpose to which 
each kind seems best adapted. Cows milk 
being mostly used, and in nay opinion the 
properest, in general, to answer our present 
design, I would therefore be understood to 
recommend that; if no other kind is parti- 
cularly mentioned. 
127 LETTER IX. 
I know very well that many persons, 
and perhaps some gentlemen in the practice 
of physic, will differ from me in opinion, 
when I prefer cows milk to every other kind 
of nourishment, in the early months, where 
it is necessary to bring a child up by hand. 
Let me beg of them only to make the ex- 
periment, as I speak from experience, and 
if they have reason to censure me afterwards, 
we shall meet upon equal terms; till then, 
at least, I shall hope for candour from every 
one. 
It has frequently been suggested to me, 
that cows milk is too rich, abounding also 
with too much cream, and that being of a fat 
oily nature, will relax more than strengthen. 
But, however, this fault is not much to be 
apprehended from the milk used in and about 
London. Supposing it to be the case in the 
country, which I am far from allowing, you 
may let it hand till the cream rises to the 
top, and use the skimmed milk; or by boil- 
ing deprive it of the greatest part of this 
oily quality, which collects itself upon the 128 LETTER IX. 
surface, and may then be readily taken off; 
or it may be diluted with water. 
These doubts being removed, the milk 
of cows appears, I think, to be the properest 
substitute we can make for that of the 
breast; and will answer best, after the 
first month or two. Without boiling, un- 
less it purges the child; in which case 
boiling it will generally prevent the incon- 
venience, proceeding in all likelihood from 
its oily particles. I have no objection to a 
small quantity of Lisbon sugar being mixed 
with it, particularly if the child be costive; 
and indeed this may frequently be of use, 
to prevent its too great tendency to become 
acid, from whence disorders of the bowels 
sometimes arise.†  
† Let it be remembered, that through this system of 
nursing children are supposed to be free from disease, and 
that I am to be considered not as the physician, but as the 
friend; when they are ill, it is the business of those per- 
sons who have the care of them to direct a proper food; 
and upon many occasions milk may be so managed as to 
prove greatly instrumental, even as a well-adapted nourish- 
ment, to their recovery. In too laxative a habit of body, 
129 LETTER IX. 
One remark I shall beg leave to make, 
which comes in here with propriety. We 
have taken notice in a former letter of the 
cleansing quality of mother’s milk, upon its 
first coming into the breast. Now, where 
children are debarred from receiving it, 
a substitute of some gentle purgative is 
highly proper, to give such a stimulus to 
the bowels as Nature has provided by the 
mother’s means. What I have experienced 
to be the best calculated for answering 
this purpose, is something of the follow- 
ing kind. 
Suppose we say, syrup of violets and oil 
of almonds, of each one ounce, with four or five 
for instance, rice and cinnamon may be added; but then 
care should be taken that the rice be well boiled in water 
before it is mixed with the milk. In the watery gripes I 
frequently direct the following diet for infants: Boil a 
table spoonful of ground rice, with a little cinnamon, 
in half a pint of water, till the water is nearly con-
sumed; then add a pint of milk, and let the whole 
gently simmer for five minutes; strain it through a lawn 
sieve, and make it palatable with a little sugar. This 
food corresponds well, in such complaints, with the cura-
tive intention.
130 LETTER IX. 
grains of rhubarb. This composition being 
shaken, will pretty well unite. A teaspoon- 
ful may be given as often as you find it 
necessary. 
In case the milk be thrown up in a 
curdled state, a small quantity of salt will 
generally prevent it; a circumstance I 
would wish to have attended to, as many 
children are subject to this complaint, and 
it is a method I have seldom known to fail, 
unless they are greatly over-fed. When- 
ever a child throws up the milk, it is to be 
considered as a complaint, and particularly 
so if it appears curdled; because it has then 
passed through the first change it undergoes 
in the stomach, and consequently discovers 
that the stomach itself is too feeble to exe- 
cute its further office; in this case some- 
times the stomach abounds with too great 
an acidity, but more frequently it is loaded 
and oppressed by the quantity which has 
been given to the infant. Milk always 
curdles in the stomach, and it is only a vul- 
gar error to suppose the contrary; for by this 
131 LETTER IX. 
means it becomes a substantial aliment, and 
affords a proper nourishment to children 
and ether animals; whereas, if it conti- 
nued in a fluid state, it would contribute but 
little to their support. 
What we have next to observe, is the 
quantity of milk proper to be given to a 
new-born child, in the twenty-four hours. 
What think you, my dear ladies, of a 
Winchester pint being a sufficient quantity 
for the day and night? Methinks I hear an 
exclamation—O barbarous man! Under a 
pretence of correcting us, he intends to 
starve the little helpless creatures. Was 
there ever such a cruelty heard of before? 
Allow a child only a pint of milk in a day! 
Why, it would eat two quarts of pap, 
and still cry for more. Yet, after all sur- 
prise, an infant in the month will receive 
from one pint of milk more real and 
good nourishment, than from ten quarts of 
pap, as it is called; indeed I might say 
more nourishment than from any other 
kind of support. For, notwithstanding the 
132 LETTER IX. 
juices which afford sustenance are all li- 
quid, it is necessary they should contain 
the essence of substantial food; and al- 
though a man who is accustomed to daily 
labour would soon emaciated by living 
continually upon broths; yet milk alone 
would support his strength and spirits; be- 
cause it curdles in the stomach, and thereby 
becomes a more solid and nutritious ali- 
ment. And further, let me again remind 
you, that not only the human species, but 
likewise all other animals, receive their 
continual nourishment from a milky juice 
which is prepared in their own bodies 
from the aliment received, as was before 
explained in the fourth letter. 
There are, as we have mentioned, very 
great errors in the quantities as well as 
the qualities of infants food. It was before 
observed, that children’s stomachs should 
not be always crammed. To this it is in a 
great measure owing that they are so con- 
tinually puking. A circumstance looked 
upon by some to be natural and wholesome, 
133 LETTER IX. 
who preposterously encourage this disposi- 
tion by frequent vomits. But surely, Na- 
ture never intended more nourishment to be 
received, than is necessary for our support. 
Does any person in a good state of health, 
after a moderate and proper meal, ever find 
an inclination to throw it up again? Are 
the young offspring of other animals con- 
stantly puking? How therefore can it be 
supposed natural for children to do so? A 
little reflection would soon convince such 
superficial observers of their error, for you 
will rarely find a child throw up its food 
when properly nursed. 
If one pint of milk, therefore, in the first 
week or two, be too little, it is an error on 
the right side, for it appears to be enough 
to support the child, and much worse con- 
sequences are to be apprehended from 
giving it too much. We must, every one 
of us, have often experienced how ne- 
cessary it is to be hungry, in order to relish 
our food; and that to be continually in-  
N134 LETTER IX. 
dulging palls the appetite. Certainly 
then, it must be equally necessary that the 
infant stomach should sometimes know the 
sense of hunger. 
Would not three or four pints of milk 
in the twenty-four hours support a grown 
person? If so, undoubtedly one third part 
is amply sufficient to nourish a new-born 
child. But I would not be understood to 
cavil scrupulously for a spoonful or two; I 
only mean to assist the candid enquirer in 
this most essential part of the management 
of children, who are denied the breast. 
We come next to ascertain the proper 
quantity to be given for a meal. A quarter 
of a pint is fully sufficient to be taken at a 
time, and let the hours of feeding, as well 
as every other particular, be regulated ac- 
cording to the rules laid down in the seventh 
letter. In ten days, or a fortnight, you 
may encrease the daily allowance a quarter 
of a pint—and at the end of a month you 
may allow a pint and a half in the twenty- 
135 LETTER IX. 
four hours—another half-pint may be gra- 
dually permitted by the time it is three 
months old, and this quantity, if the 
child is voracious, may be still encreased 
to three pints in the day; which, I am 
persuaded, if the milk be good, will 
prove sufficient: and this allowance will, I 
hope, cancel the severity of every matron's 
censure. 
Having now given you my thoughts upon 
this part of infant management, there is 
but one rational objection that strikes me 
against the propriety of so plain and Ample 
a method of bringing children up by hand. 
Their natural food is allowed to be milk— 
but it may be urged, that the human milk, 
in consequence of the mother’s diet, is more 
strengthening than that of cows, asses, or 
any other species of brutes. Granted— 
but then again this argument equally proves 
that cows milk partakes more of a vege- 
table nature than the milk of women; and, 
during the early months, all that the advo- 
N2136 LETTER IX. 
cates for the present custom would contend 
for, is—what? pap, panado, &c. which are 
of the vegetable kind and therefore their 
arguments require no farther answer. Was 
it proposed to add some proper broths to cows 
milk, after the first four or five Weeks, 
where there is no circumstance particularly 
to forbid it, the design would appear rea- 
sonable, in supplying the supposed deficiency 
of the animal property; and it is a point I 
would readily join in, nay it is what I mean 
to recommend towards the end of the third 
month. I frequently order milk and broth 
to be mixed together, and think it proper 
food. But let every such meal, however, 
as before advised, supply the place of the 
usual milk. In whatever way you manage 
children, be careful not to feed them over- 
much. 
There is yet a circumstance of great mo- 
ment to be attended to, and, if rightly 
comprehended by my fair pupils, will 
convince them that the allowance for 
the earlier months is amply sufficient. It137 LETTER IX. 
is the manner in which infants ought to be 
fed. 
Surely it is wrong to put a large boat full 
of pap into their little mouths, suffering 
them to swallow the whole of it in the 
space of a minute; and then perhaps, from 
their cries, to ply them with a second, 
which is no sooner down than thrown up 
again. 
We have mentioned the ill consequences 
of grown persons devouring their victuals 
too eagerly; and experience must often have 
convinced every one, that a much less quan- 
tity than we generally take, if eaten leisurely, 
and well chewed; will suffice for a meal; 
and also that, after such meals, we seem 
more comfortable, and are inclined to 
pursue either business or pleasure with far 
greater case to ourselves. On the con- 
trary, from a too hasty and hearty meal, 
the stomach will be distended overmuch, 
which is always productive of indolence, 
and a tendency to sleep. The same must  
N3138 LETTER IX. 
certainly hold good with respect to in- 
fants. 
Besides, to obtain milk from the breast, 
Nature wisely obliges them to earn their 
nourishment by the labour of drawing it. 
The stream being exceedingly small upon 
the milk’s first coming into the breast, it 
requires a long time to procure a quarter of 
a pint; and the very exercise fatigues them 
before they have received too much. This, 
in my opinion, fully proves that quantity to 
be sufficient for a meal. 
There is nothing therefore wanting, I 
hope, to complete our system, but a con- 
trivance to supply the place of the nipple, 
that the child may still labour to obtain its 
support; which alone will greatly prevent 
the error in quantity. I have seen some in- 
ventions of this kind, by means of parch- 
ment or leather sewed to the pointed end 
of an horn, which is no bad thought, and 
capable of great improvement. The Hol- 
landers, when they travel, have a small 139 LETTER IX. 
pewter vessel, somewhat in the form of a 
cone, which is filled with milk, and a piece 
of sponge covered with a linnen cloth is tied 
over the smaller end. This serves the chil- 
dren very well as an artificial nipple: for 
it is observed that a Dutch woman seldom 
or never gives suck to her child before 
strangers. 
We have plainly demonstrated that in- 
fant nourishment, particularly in the early 
months, is designed by Nature to be alto- 
gether liquid against such contrivances, 
therefore, I cannot see an objection. 
Would you, my fair friends, undertake 
this pursuit, from the happy fertility of fe- 
male imagination, I am certain a little ex- 
perience would point out to you a ready and 
convenient method to answer every pur- 
pose; and I am thoroughly satisfied the 
happy consequences would amply reward 
your pains—by preserving many dear little 
innocents, that daily fall a sacrifice to re- 
pletion or over-feeding. 
140 LETTER IX. 
P. S. Since this book made its first ap- 
pearance, I have contrived a milk-pot for 
my own nursery upon the above prin- 
ciples; it appears to my family, and to 
many of my patients, preferable to those 
now in use, and may probably be still fur- 
ther improved. For the satisfaction of my 
readers I shall give a description of it. 
This pot is somewhat in form like an urn; 
it contains a little more than a quarter of 
a pint; its handle, and neck or spout, are
not unlike those of a coffee-pot, except 
that the neck of this arises from the very 
bottom of the pot, and is very small; in 
short, it is upon the same principle as 
those gravy-pots which separate the gravy 
from the oily fat. The end of the spout is 
a little raised, and forms a roundish knob, 
somewhat in appearance like a small heart; 
this is perforated by three or four small
holes: a piece of fine rag is tied loosely 
over it, which serves the child to play with 
instead of the nipple, and through which, 
by the infant’s sucking, the milk is con-
stantly strained. The child is equally sa-
141 LETTER IX. 
tisfied as it would be with the breast; it 
never wets him in the least; he is obliged 
to labour for every drop he receives in the 
same manner as when at the breast; and, 
greatly in recommendation of this con- 
trivance, the nurses confess it is more con- 
venient than a boat, and that it saves a 
great deal of trouble in the feeding of an 
infant; which is the greatest security to 
parents, that their servants will use it, 
when they themselves are not present. 
The model of this milk-pot is left with 
Mr. Morrison, at the Three Kings, in 
Cheapside, for the benefit of the public. 
The milk-pots are now also made in the 
Queen’s-ware, in order that the poor may 
be accommodated; any person, therefore, 
at a very trifling expence, may be con- 
vinced of their utility by making the ex- 
periment. LETTER X. 
A GENERAL MANAGEMENT OF 
CHILDREN, FROM THE TIME OF 
WEANING, TILL THEY ARE 
ABOUT TWO YEARS OLD.
 LETTER X. 
A general management of children, from the 
time of weaning, till they are about two 
years old—with observations upon the cut- 
ting of teeth. 
I AM just now returned from a nursery, 
where, with sincere pleasure, I beheld a 
happy mother with a pretty little puppet at 
her breast, which she had the satisfaction of 
saving in its earliest days, by her amiable 
affection and tenderness. An infant born 
under melancholy circumstances, when the 
mother herself was afflicted with a terrible 
quincy in her throat, and had been con- 
fined to a sick chamber five or six weeks 
before her delivery. No one expected the 
life of the child, and the mother’s was 
equally doubtful. Nothing but the greatest 
care on her part could have saved the in- 
fant; and had it been committed to any 
other person, the diseased state of its bowels 
at the birth would, probably, very soon 
have put a period to its existence. 
O146 LETTER X. 
Judge, ye considerate fair, indulge with 
me the pleasing reflections of this good 
woman! Behold her, fondling at the breast 
a smiling boy, to whom she not only gave 
a being, but generously preferred his wel- 
fare, and dared, even contrary to the ad- 
vice of her friends, to suckle him, thereby 
endangering her own, to preserve the life 
of her child. May gratitude and duty 
expand within his breast, and prompt him 
virtuously to reward this truly maternal 
affection! May he, in future years, be- 
come the pleasure and support of her de- 
clining life! 
This amiable mother has three other 
little ones, that for health and beauty 
stand almost unrivalled. All nurtured un- 
der her own wing supported by her 
breast. What an encouragement is this 
to follow Nature! Her heart was never 
torn by the bitter reflection of not having 
done her duty to her family. Example 
glorious! worthy of praise—worthy of 
imitation. 147 LETTER X. 
But to return to our present point: the 
suckling being weaned, and the dry-nursed 
child brought equally forward; we shall 
now join our different nurseries together, 
and endeavour to make them thrive under 
one general direction. 
I must, however, beg leave to mention, 
that as I before advised to have the child 
kept to the breast till it is near twelve months 
old, and have also pointed out the prudent 
manner of introducing broths and jellies, 
preparative to weaning it intirely; so this 
letter is designed to recommend a proper 
management of infants from the period of 
one to two years of age. 
The best method likewise having been 
laid down for bringing children up by 
hand upon those principles that approach 
neared to Nature, which surely renders 
them unexceptionable; and having in- 
dulged them with broths and jellies earlier 
than the sucking child; I shall suppose 
these also gradually brought on to the 
O2 
148 LETTER X. 
twelfth month, and thence proceed with 
both together. 
I most earnestly recommend that they 
be strictly confined to the following diet, 
and not fed oftener than three, or four 
times at most, in the twenty-four hours. 
The quantity for each meal may now with 
propriety be considerably encreased; it will 
be longer therefore of consequence before 
the stomach becomes empty. 
Thus for instance, let their breakfast, at 
six or seven in the morning, be half a pint 
of new milk with about two ounces of 
bread in it—the second meal should be 
half a pint of good broth with the same 
quantity of bread; let this be given about 
ten or eleven in the morning—the third 
meal, about two or three in the afternoon, 
should be broth in like manner—and 
their supper, about six in the evening, 
new milk and bread, the same as for break- 
fast. When you substitute jellies, or 
gravies, for broth, let them be always 
149 LETTER X. 
plain and simple; and a less quantity will 
prove sufficient.†
If children are thirsty between their 
meals, a little barley-water and milk may 
be given them; but I would not too fre- 
quently encourage this custom. 
From hence, the general intention ap- 
pears throughout, to decrease the quantity 
of milk, as you introduce other substantial 
and proper nourishment—though I would 
always allow children a pint of milk each 
day. 
Biscuits, sweet-meats, sugar-plumbs, &c. 
all which tend to spoil the appetite, are 
highly improper; and ought to be looked 
† Under the article salop in the Family Physician, 
p. 26, you will find proper directions to prepare an excel- 
lent strengthening food, by mixing salop with milk, which 
makes it of the consistence of a custard. This prepara- 
tion of milk is highly proper for children, invalids, and 
aged persons; and it is withal a very agreeable and palate- 
able nourishment. 
O3
150 LETTER X. 
upon as one of the pernicious effects of 
luxury. Where is there a child, unaccus- 
tomed to such indulgence, that would not 
be equally pleased with a crust of bread? It 
is not my business here to enter so philoso- 
phically into the doctrine of nourishment, 
as to contend with those who suppose it al- 
together to proceed from the saccharine 
qualities of food. But allowing them the 
utmost force of their arguments, I answer, 
that Nature will always prove the best chy- 
mist, to separate these sugar-like particles 
from the aliment we take in. So much for 
the present with regard to the regulation 
of their diet. 
As to other particulars: Little or no 
sleep should now be permitted in the day. 
Air and exercise are greatly to be recom- 
mended. Let them rise as early as you 
please; and the sooner they are put to bed, 
when the evening begins to shut in, the 
better. Their cloathing should now, and 
indeed always, be light and easy. By no 
means suffer children to be confined in very 
151 LETTER X. 
warm rooms, but accustom them by de- 
grees to those variations of the seasons, 
which they will be compelled to struggle 
with in future life. 
It is a great misfortune for children to 
be brought up too tenderly. Should Provi- 
dence hereafter design them to contend with 
difficulties, how little capable will they be 
of conquering them? The child thus nur- 
tured most commonly grows up too delicate 
and feeble to encounter hardships. Should 
necessity, or chance, hereafter lead him to 
seek his fortune on the raging seas, or to 
bear his part in the hardy service of his 
country by land; how pitiful will such a 
man appear! How unequal to the necessa- 
ry toils of sieges, storms, and tempests!—
But, however, this great error, to the 
credit of good mothers be it confessed, is of 
late years much corrected. 
I beg leave, my fair friends, to say some- 
thing concerning their being put upon their 
feet. With respect to the time, the strength 
152 LETTER X. 
of the child must determine that period. Of 
this be assured, that all children will shew 
an inclination to walk, as soon as their 
bones have acquired a firmness sufficient to 
support the body. I am fearful many heavy 
children are injured by exciting their feeble 
efforts to walk too soon. Doubtless it is a 
convenience and ease to nurses to set them 
upon their feet, as they do not then require 
exercise in the arms; and consequently are 
not so great a trouble, and fatigue, to those 
who have the care of them. But it is a 
fault entirely to be condemned, and what 
I particularly caution you against, because, 
whoever you may have to attend upon 
your children, they will certainly encou- 
rage them to walk, for reasons above men- 
tioned. 
Therefore throw aside your leading- 
strings, and your back-strings, and every 
other crafty invention which tends to put 
children forwarder than Nature designed. 
Our young plants are to be cultivated 
without art. The industrious gardener, it 
153 LETTER X. 
is true, can boast of his exotics, and early 
fruits, by forcing their growth. Yet say, 
ye sons of Epicurus, are your grapes or 
pines thus raised equal to the produce of 
their natural climate? And notwithstanding 
the merit of your gardener, who is thus 
capable of gratifying this high zest of luxu- 
rious extravagance; even in this your 
boasted pride, a simple clown would be 
wise enough to expose your folly, by the 
honest preference which he would give to 
Nature. Such as the fruits are, watery and 
insipid; such also are the plants thus forced, 
weakly and tender; susceptible of the 
slightest injuries, and exposed to continual 
dangers: Such likewise are the poor feeble 
infants, forced upon their legs before Na- 
ture has designed them; while others, ma- 
naged without art, like fruitful vines defy 
the inclement seasons, and triumph in their 
natural strength and vigour. 
I do not mean, from what has been said 
upon this subject, to prevent them, when 
they really shew an inclination to walk, but  154 LETTER X. 
to admonish you against being too precipitate. 
It is in my opinion a good method to suffer 
the little creatures first to crawl upon a 
carpet, or any other convenient place; per- 
mitting them to tumble about as much as 
they please. By this means an exercise will 
be given to the body and limbs, without 
their continuing in one position long 
enough to hazard a distortion, from too 
great a weight of body. Thus let them, 
by degrees, learn to walk upright, which 
their own inclinations, in imitation of those 
about them, will prompt them to, full as 
soon as Nature designed. 
I shall now beg leave to offer a few hints 
with respect to the teeth. A circumstance 
this materially to be attended to, as woeful 
experience daily convinces us. 
Children are teazed with cutting of teeth 
from four or five months, till they are two 
years old, and upwards; nay, some are so 
backward as not to have their compleat 
number till they are turned of three years155 LETTER X. 
old. I shall not enter into the distinction 
of teeth, but speak of them in general, so 
as to give a competent idea of the precau- 
tions I mean to recommend. 
It is also very uncertain with respect to 
the exact time, of their shooting any of their 
teeth, but this also, I believe, chiefly de- 
pends upon the strength of the constitution; 
and if the rules laid down in the preceding 
letters be properly observed, you will gene- 
rally find children cut all their teeth by the 
time they are about two years old: You 
will, likewise, rarely meet with an instance 
of their being cut with difficulty. It has 
been already taken notice of, that the rea- 
son of their being backward in their teeth, 
and so many children lost on this account, 
is entirely owing to a weakness of body, 
which is a fact that scarcely any one will 
deny. 
Yet, where the constitution is not strong 
enough of itself, as a great assistance may
156 LETTER X. 
be obtained by lancing of the gums, let 
not a false tenderness prevent fond mothers 
from allowing such relief to their little 
babes, in the excruciating tortures they 
suffer by the cutting of teeth. The ope- 
ration is not to be deemed pain; for, 
if you put any thing with a sharp edge 
into their mouths, they will save you the 
trouble of doing it, by pressing hard against 
the instrument, and cutting the gum them- 
selves. 
When the teeth are discernible to the 
sight or touch, there is very little sense of 
feeling in the gum; their tortures proceed 
from the sensibility of a fine membrane 
which invelopes the tooth. If that mem- 
brane is sufficiently divided, although the 
gum should again unite, there will be no 
more trouble; for teeth thus lanced will 
gradually advance without future pain. 
Never, therefore, I say, let a prejudice like 
this hinder you from relieving such poor 
little helpless creatures. 157 LETTER X. 
There are many persons who, about the 
age of twenty, have two, and sometimes 
four, additional teeth, at the furthermost 
part of the jaws; and, from the time of life 
in which they appear, they are called the 
teeth of wisdom. Let me desire such wise 
ones, sensible of the pain upon this occa- 
sion, to reflect how insupportable it must be 
to many infants, who, perhaps, are cutting 
the whole of their teeth almost at once; at 
a time too, when their tender frames are 
but little capable of bearing pain. Many 
grown persons are obliged to have such teeth 
lanced; let them declare how much relief 
they found from this simple, but useful 
operation. 
Candid reasoning, from experience, is 
the surest way to conquer prejudices; and 
those who give themselves leave to think 
upon the point with candour, will, I doubt 
not, allow the force of this argument. 
It may not be unseasonable, in this place, 
to give a caution, which those who lance 
P158 LETTER X. 
teeth would do well to observe; as careless- 
ness or ignorance in the operation fre- 
quently frustrates the intended benefit. 
Let me advise you not to depend upon old 
women, or nurses, who undertake to do it 
with crooked sixpences, and such like in- 
effectual means. 
We took notice a little above, that the 
pain arises, not from the gum, but from 
the sensibility of a fine membrane which 
envelopes the teeth. It is not therefore suf- 
ficient to make a longitudinal incision into 
the gum, that being too commonly done 
without dividing this membrane; in which 
case, instead of good, it does hurt. After 
cutting through the gum, the instrument 
should be drawn round the tooth, and the 
person should be satisfied that it grates in 
every part against the tooth, which will ef- 
fectually divide this too sensible membrane. 
Where the gum is exceedingly tough, a 
transverse incision ought likewise to be 
made, and with these precautions the ope- 
ration will assuredly succeed. Parents can-159 LETTER X. 
not be too careful in this particular, for I 
have often observed ill consequences from 
the carelessness before mentioned. 
In my observations upon children that are 
lost between the age of five months and 
three years, I have found they are gene- 
rally carried off either by hidden convul- 
sions, or what is called a tooth-fever, or a 
wasting of the body; in the two last cases 
the scene likewise is commonly closed with 
convulsive fits. 
The original cause of these disasters hav- 
ing been frequently taken notice of to pro- 
ceed from the wrong management of chil- 
dren, it appears equally evident to me, 
that the immediate cause of these fits al- 
most always arises from want of strength 
in the constitution to cut the teeth. If is 
true the bowels sometimes are greatly af- 
fected, which indeed generally attends a 
wasting of the body; but then the im- 
mediate cause of such complaints at this 
P2160 LETTER X. 
time is most commonly the teeth. For 
if children are capable of enduring the 
improper aliments before mentioned in 
their most tender state, during the first 
four or five months; surely, without some 
more active principle, the vital powers 
would not afterwards be by them alone 
subdued. 
This makes me particularly solicitous to 
recommend lancing of the gums before it 
is too late to assist children; being firmly 
persuaded that many might be saved, who 
daily fall a sacrifice to those complaints for 
want of it. 
Amongst many other instances that I 
could relate, to shew the necessity of ad- 
mitting this operation before the strength 
of the child be decayed, and its body 
wasted, I shall conclude this letter with a 
remarkable case of this sort. 
A poor woman in the neighbourhood, 
some time since, brought her child to me; 161 LETTER X. 
he was apparently a stout fine boy, and 
then about nine months old. She desired 
my advice for an eruption the child had all 
over his body, which she called scurvy; but 
I found it nothing more than some pimples 
proceeding from the improper quality 
of its food; and in fact, notwithstanding 
the chubby appearance of the boy (which 
in reality was nothing more than bloated 
fat) he was actually of a very weakly frame, 
as appears by the sequel—and I think it 
necessary, as a further confirmation of my 
assertion, to inform you that his father was 
at this time between sixty and seventy, his 
mother not less than four or five and thirty 
years of age. 
Near or quite six months afterwards, the 
same woman came to beg the favour of me 
to look at her child again, who, she said, 
was dying. I saw an infant worn away to 
a mere skeleton, and upon inquiry found 
it to be the same chubby fat boy I had seen 
before. He lay panting for breath, and had
P3 162 LETTER X. 
taken little or no nourishment for twenty- 
four hours. Upon examining the little pa- 
tient, there was not a tooth appeared. The 
cause of the disease therefore was immedi- 
ately evident to me; but I told her it was 
too late to be of service, for I found the- 
child could not recover. 
However, to satisfy the mother, I ad- 
vised lancing the gums. To the astonish- 
ment of every one about the child, sixteen 
large teeth were cut out; but the gums 
being very much hardened, for want of this 
operation, it was with no small difficulty 
now performed. The immediate relief 
which the child received, surprised them all 
still more. From a convulsive state that he
before lay in, he instantly recovered, took 
notice of every body in the room, and during 
the time I staid, eagerly devoured a consi- 
derable quantity of nourishment. 
The grateful parent thanked me a thou- 
sand times, and reflected upon herself for 
delaying to apply to me before. But alas!
163 LETTER X. 
I foresaw it was only a temporary relief, his 
strength being utterly exhausted. I left her 
without giving the least hopes of his reco- 
very, and the next morning the child died.
A reflection upon this case, I take for 
granted, is entirely needless. It is evident, 
had the teeth been cut in due time, this 
fatal accident would not have happened. 
It is, indeed, a topic of serious concern; 
but as it comes under the class of diseases to 
which infants are subject, it cannot be en- 
larged upon in this little volume. Some 
opinions, and medical observations, are 
thrown out in the introduction to these 
letters, which, if carefully attended to, 
may assist the intelligent parent in her en- 
deavours to preserve the lives of such little 
innocents. A table of births and infant 
burials is also inserted, which proves the 
melancholy truths I am aiming to establish. LETTER XI. 
A GENERAL MANAGEMENT OF 
CHILDREN. 
 LETTER XI.
A general management of children, from two 
years old, till they leave the nursery. 
THE cultivation of the mind I have in- 
tentionally reserved for the subject of 
my next letter; for which reason I shall 
now finish my observations upon nursing, 
and endeavour to point out the safest and 
most prudent method of introducing chil- 
dren into the family way of living. 
At length, after surmounting the diffi- 
culties and inconveniences attending the 
cutting of their teeth, we have now set 
them upon their legs; to the no small 
joy of the mother, and the relief of those 
servants whose business it is to wait upon 
them. 
We have hitherto permitted bread, 
milk, and the juices only of flesh; and be- 
fore we advance any further, I beg leave to 
make the following remarks, by which my 
intelligent readers may profit. 168 LETTER XI.
The food of man, in all its various 
shapes, however tortured and disguised, is 
still confined to animal and vegetable pro- 
ductions. 
Of vegetables, bread is the most valuable 
preparation, as the experience of ages 
proves. That made from wheat flour is 
still the most strengthening, and ever to be 
preferred by those who have the means of 
obtaining it. 
The milk of cows, although it may be 
supposed not to partake so much of a 
strengthening nature as the human milk, 
those creatures feeding altogether upon 
vegetables, is, nevertheless, to be consi- 
dered as a food partly animal, and partly 
vegetable, prepared also under an all-wise 
direction. 
Gravies, jellies, and broths, we know, 
are animal juices; either spontaneously 
flowing from flesh, upon cutting it, after 169 LETTER XI. 
it is dressed; or obtained by a maceration of 
it in water. 
From these reflections, therefore, it ap- 
pears, that in the regimen already permit- 
ted, the most valuable supplies of life are 
granted, and in a manner the best adapted 
to infant constitutions; requiring but little 
exertion of the digestive faculties, and gra- 
dually introducing that nutriment, which, 
as the body becomes stronger, it must pre- 
pare for itself from the grosser aliments. 
The intention of what has been said is 
to encourage, as much as possible, the con- 
tinuation of this diet a little longer; and, 
indeed, some of the finest children I ever 
saw have been chiefly confined to a food like 
this, for the first five or six years. But al- 
though I strongly recommend it, and am 
conscious that children, unacquainted with 
the indulgence of variety, would be per- 
fectly satisfied without animal food; yet I 
am persuaded that the culpable fondness of 
Q170 LETTER XI.
most parents will initiate them, too early, 
into the luxuries of a plentiful table. 
It is true, we made an observation that 
Nature never intended flesh for our food 
until we had teeth to eat it. But it by no 
means follows, as soon as we have our teeth, 
that with an unbounded freedom we are to 
devour animal food. Remember likewise, 
ye too indulgent parents, it has been be- 
fore observed, that every alteration in our 
manner of living should be brought about 
step by step, hasty transitions being always 
dangerous: and let this teach us to be cau- 
tious in our manner of admitting flesh 
into the meals of children. 
After what has been advanced, and after 
having given you my opinion that it is yet 
time enough to suffer children to eat flesh, 
I now leave this very important point to 
the discretion of parents: however, per- 
mit me to recommend, that when flesh is 
first introduced into their food, at what- 
ever time it may be, this part of their
171 LETTER XI. 
diet should be allowed them but sparingly;
and a regard also should be paid to its 
quality. 
The flesh of barn-door fowls, beef, mut- 
ton, and full-grown animals in general, is 
the best. Crammed poultry, calves, and 
house-fed lambs, kept up to fatten, are im- 
proper, because their juices yield by far less 
nourishment. 
Hence, beef tea, and mutton broth are 
preferable to those made from lamb or veal. 
The flesh also of such young fattened ani- 
mals does not pass off weak stomachs so 
easily as the other. 
High-seasoned gravies, and soups, made 
dishes, and salted meats, are ever to be 
avoided; though salt with their meats may 
be allowed, for the reasons before given. 
Although it is not meant to confine them 
at this age so strictly to bread, I am by no 
means for permitting too free a use of ve-
Q2172  LETTER XI. 
getables; being convinced that some com- 
plaints of the bowels, in children more 
advanced in life, proceed from this error, 
and particularly worms: since, if the eggs 
of these insects are not taken in, together 
with these productions of the garden, on 
which they harbour and feed; yet this food, 
at least, affords a considerable quantity of 
slime, Which stagnating in the bowels, serves 
as an habitation for these pernicious little 
animals. This is my reason for allowing 
a little wine, now and then, to be given to 
children, and I am persuaded that I have 
seen its good effect. Care should be taken 
in the choice of vegetables; those of the 
mealy kind, that approach the nearest to 
bread, are to be preferred, such as potatoes, 
rice, &c. Turnips are also good. Lettices, 
and some few others, may, in moderation, 
be given to them, which your own pru- 
dence must point out. 
The kitchen preparations of milk, such as 
custards, blamange, white-pots, &c. are 
173 LETTER XI. 
exceedingly proper; and in this kind of food 
a greater variation may be indulged with 
less harm, being, for the most part, equally 
good and innocent. Salop mixed with 
milk, as mentioned in the last letter, may 
be granted as often as you please; and let it 
be remembered that it is the best way of 
giving that nutritious vegetable to children 
and invalids.* Eggs are good, and if the 
yolks be beaten up with warm milk, with- 
out boiling, they afford the best nourish- 
ment; yet, however they are dressed, never 
suffer children to eat them if the yolks be 
hard. Puddings in general are likewise 
good, but the most simple are best. Tarts 
and fruit-pies may be allowed in mo- 
deration. 
Shell-fish, and indeed most other kinds, 
may, now and then, be given; but the 
firmest are to be preferred. These are the 
most prudent directions that occur to my 
memory; but, after all, those are wisest 
* See Family Physician, p. 26.
Q3 
174 LETTER XI. 
who do not pamper young children with 
too great a variety. 
I shall not trouble you with the cura- 
tive part of diseases incident to children, 
that being altogether the concern of the 
physician; though it would give me a real 
pleasure to see such complaints treated of, 
in a masterly manner, by some accurate 
observer of Nature. This present system of 
nursing is intended only to manage children 
so as to prevent illness; and it has cost me 
no small pains to separate the two provinces, 
Which I hope is effected to the satisfaction 
of my readers. 
As to rhubarb, Gascoign’s powder, mag- 
nesia, &c. every mother’s observations in 
some measure direct a proper use of them;* 
but when disorders do not give way to such 
simple methods, there is no time to be lost. 
I beg leave therefore to caution parents, 
* Those parents who are at a loss upon these points may 
consult the Family Physician—for Rhubarb, see p. 25— 
Gascoign’s Powder, p. 15—Magnesia, p. 19. 175 LETTER XI. 
who can obtain the advice of an experienced 
practitioner, not to depend upon their own 
judgments so far, as to suffer a continuance 
of complaints until they exceed the power 
of relief. Delays are always dangerous, 
with respect to disease, even in grown per- 
sons; but they are much more so in chil- 
dren, because they have not equal strength, 
and consequently sooner sink under bodily 
infirmities.  LETTER XII. 
THE NECESSITY OF CULTIVATING 
THE DISPOSITIONS OF CHILDREN, 
TO RENDER THEM AMIABLE 
AND VIRTUOUS. 
 LETTER XII. 
The necessity of cultivating the dispositons of 
children, to render them amiable and vir- 
tuous. 
CONFESS, ye worthy parents who 
know the height of earthly bliss, what 
temptations in life could prevail upon you, 
after two or three years of age, to part from 
the dear dear offsprings of your mutual 
loves? Ye tender mothers, speak! I gene- 
rously applaud an affection thus fondly ri- 
veted in the female breast, and answer for 
you, ladies, that nothing upon earth could 
prove equivalent to such a loss. Ten 
thousand soft enchantments bind them to 
your very souls. 
This is the time in which their little fond 
endearments begin to operate, their every 
action is wonderfully engaging, and their 
pretty lisping tongues are one universal har- 
mony. How exquisite is the delight to 
view their expanding minds—now catching  
180 LETTER XII. 
found, that quickly rises into sense, beam- 
ing a happy prospect of future understand- 
ing! Here the volume of man begins— 
even at this time the fertile genius glows. 
How transporting is their sweet sensibility! 
O! powerful Nature, how unspeakably 
strong are thy ties! What heart, unless 
strangely perverted, can resist thy impulse? 
Hence arises the unspeakable difference of 
a laudable and virtuous passion, compared 
with an unchaste and vicious life. My 
God! that men should waste their health 
and fortunes in the stews with harlots, 
rioting in obscene and brutal pleasures, 
where the rational being is sunk even be- 
low pity! 
Such conduct in the cooler hours of 
thought, if ever they reflect, must cause 
nothing but anguish and remorse; on the 
contrary, by cultivating a chaste and ho- 
nourable love, such wretched libertines 
might become the joyful parents of little 
smiling families. What an alternative is 
181 LETTER XII. 
this! Be dumb, ye lawless rovers; it 
is an enjoyment beyond your compre- 
hension, for virtuous minds alone can 
relish it. 
What numbers of debauchees, in diffe- 
rent climes and ages, worn out by guilty 
intemperance, mournfully lament their 
cursed sate, in not being blest with an heir 
to succeed to their half-ruined fortunes? 
Considerate Providence! thus to disappoint 
them—for what but impurity and disease 
could they give birth to? Happy, thrice 
happy decree of Nature, that virtue 
alone can claim a finding and a healthful 
progeny! 
This is a theme worthy of an abler pen. 
How often has pratling innocence disarmed 
the rugged fierceness of a brutish nature, 
and melted down the rage of passion into 
more than female softness? How often, I 
say, by these means, is the man of wrath 
insensibly dissolved into tenderness and 
R182 LETTER XII. 
love? I must tear myself away from the 
digression; should I indulge my zealous 
inclination, a volume of panegyric would 
fall short of the subject 
The human mind in its infant opening 
has been justly compared to a blank sheet 
of paper, susceptible of every impression. 
Whence, it may be supposed, children re- 
ceive their prejudices and inclinations from 
the dispositions of those persons to whose 
care they are entrusted, in like manner as 
these letters convey the sentiments of the 
author. 
That any children are born with vicious 
inclinations, I would not willingly believe. 
When I hear parents exclaiming against 
the bad dispositions of their own children, 
I cannot help oftentimes secretly condemn- 
ing the parents themselves for introducing 
such vices into their habits. Instinct, even 
in brutes, produces a tenderness for their 
young a—harmless society amongst their 
neighbours—a passive fear towards their 
183 LETTER XII. 
enemies—and violence seldom is disco- 
vered but against those animals which 
Nature has appointed for their support. 
Can we then imagine that a worse than 
brutish fierceness should be naturally dis- 
cernible in our infant state?— that spite, 
malice, anger, and revenge, such diaboli- 
cal passions, should tyrannize before we are 
capable of self-defence? The very suppo- 
sition seems to me an arraignment of Pro- 
vidence in the noblest part of the creation, 
and appears to be inconsistent with the 
justice of a benevolent Deity. 
It therefore behoves every mother to be 
watchful of her own conduct, and per- 
fectly satisfied of the dispositions of such 
servants as she entrusts with the care of 
her children at this susceptible time of 
life; when even the more affectionately 
these persons treat them, the worse conse- 
quences are to be apprehended, if their own 
tempers are not good: for as children are 
gratefully fond of those who use them 
kindly, they are by far the more likely to 
R2184 LETTER XII. 
imbibe the bad qualities of an indulgent 
attendant; and, on the contrary, to pro- 
fit by good examples. 
Objects that attract the eyes are the 
first delighting. The pleasures from hear- 
ing are the next. From sight and found 
ideas take their gradual rise. Hence, a 
partial fondness is formed by children to- 
wards those whose province it is to attend 
upon them: and for this reason they are 
more fond of their nurses, who are con- 
stantly pratling to them, than of parents 
neglectful of their infancy. 
The want of duty and affection in chil- 
dren towards their parents, so much to be 
censured, and so generally complained of, 
often proceeds from this early mismanage- 
ment. The indifference also of too many 
parents towards their children frequently 
owes its origin to depriving themselves of 
the enjoyments of their little ones at this 
engaging season of life. Even to an unin- 
terested person, the expanding of an infant185 LETTER XII. 
mind is a delightful entertainment; but to 
good parents, the pleasure and attachment 
must certainly prove exceedingly more a-
greeable and lasting. We must indeed pity 
those whom necessity deprives of this happy
solace, but utterly condemn such whose 
inclinations drive their little nurslings from 
them. Unnatural and mistaken persons, 
who, if they are punished with undutiful 
children, suffer only in consequence of 
their own neglect! 
Would you, my tender and considerate 
matrons, wish to see your children truly 
amiable? Be then ever careful, of your- 
selves. Endeavour also as much as possible 
to prevent violent excess of passion in 
your husbands. This is a laudable talk, 
and much more in the power of women 
than they generally imagine. Trust me, 
my fair ones, truly prudent and good 
wives, by bending a little to the rugged, 
head-strong, and boisterous dispositions of 
some husbands, may for the most part 
R3186 LETTER XII. 
civilize them; and by their endearing and 
soothing manners, in spite of early vicious 
habits, compel them to a behaviour of 
tenderness and love. Thus, by the ex- 
ample of an engaging deportment on your 
part, you will soften their tempers, so as 
to render them good husbands, good fa- 
thers, good masters, and valuable mem- 
bers of society. 
While, on the other hand, vindictive 
and peevish women not only forfeit this 
female importance, but too frequently 
estrange their husbands affections from 
them: and need I say that this want of 
harmony and sincere friendship, between 
man and wife, is a dangerous pattern for 
their children? 
From the strong force of example, it be- 
comes in a manner natural to the children 
of such persons to give an unbridled loose 
to every impulse; nay, their emulation is 
soon engaged to become equally tyrannical 
with their parents. On the contrary,187 LETTER XII. 
where no such precedents are before their 
eyes; where impassioned and youthful 
love keeps pace with sentimental friend- 
ship; where the polite and well-bred 
man shews a virtuous inclination towards 
his wife; and they both join in a proper 
regard for their children:—how much 
reason have we to expect that their young 
and tender minds will be impressed with vir- 
tue? Nay, I dare aver, that from this rec- 
titude of behaviour, such parents will gene- 
rally be rewarded with good and dutiful 
children. 
With respect to the management of 
children, how shall we draw the line be- 
twixt indulgence and severity? Although 
they are diametrically opposite to each 
other, it is scarcely possible to be done; 
nay, it cannot be determined so as to admit 
of absolute decision. Children necessarily 
require a different treatment, even from 
their natural disposition, as it is usually 
called. And a conduct indulgent to some, 
will prove the greatest severity to others. 188 LETTER XII. 
Let it therefore be remembered that our 
plan is to subdue the first irregular emo- 
tions in the bud, so to prevent them from 
rising into passions. 
I would then, at all events, earnestly re- 
commend temper and forbearance to those 
who have the government of their infant 
years. Kind treatment, good words, and
a generous encouragement, to most dispo- 
sitions, will prove equal to every thing 
that you require of them; and if they can 
be conquered by such laudable and gentle 
means, you not only carry the first points 
in the most eligible manner, but accustom 
them also to an obliging behaviour, and 
excite their emulation to endeavour to 
please. 
Carefully therefore observe every emotion 
that is praise-worthy, and let a reward ac- 
company it; for the encouragement of 
one virtuous impulse will have a much hap- 
pier effect than the correction of an hundred 
faults. 
189 LETTER XII. 
Such are the impressions necessary to 
form a virtuous mind, and they will cer- 
tainly grow up into their habits. On the 
contrary, where children’s dispositions 
are untoward; if they be subdued by 
harsh words, threats, and chastisement, 
how are their tempers ruffled by such treat- 
ment?—and what is to be expected, but 
that they consider severity and violence as 
the only means for them to obtain any 
point over others, whom they may have 
a future occasion to contend with? What 
a wretched foundation of perpetual dis- 
quietude! 
Where reproof is necessary, mortifica- 
tion is undoubtedly the best means of 
correction, and let an acknowledgment 
of the fault prove the means of recon- 
ciliation. 
“ And next to right pray condescend 
“ T’acknowledge doing wrong, my friend.” 
This humbles them in their own opinions; 
it necessarily begets shame, and before a  190 LETTER XII. 
disposition is hardened into vice, shame will 
always produce amendment. 
Moreover, in this case there is no object
for resentment, that great support of pride, 
consequently it initiates them to consider 
thoroughly their own conduct, and of 
course to dwell upon the cause for which 
they are thus humbled. What, therefore, 
can more thoroughly conduce to render
children amiable as they grow up, than 
the accustoming of them to a retrospec- 
tion of their own behaviour, and to an 
inward condemnation of their faults, of 
which their making a concession is suffi- 
cient proof? 
Even in the most trifling promise a pa- 
rent can make to children, I most earnestly 
recommend that it be religiously adhered to, 
otherwise you teach them a shocking lesson 
of deceit. 
For equivocation and falsity, their mor- 
tifications ought to be exceedingly severe;191 LETTER XII. 
but in every point where you find it neces- 
sary to correct, be sure you make them truly 
sensible of their error: at the same time, in 
every misdemeanour, be thoroughly satis- 
fied that it proceeds from a culpable emo- 
tion before you reprove it; for it sometimes 
falls out, that wrong actions may proceed 
from laudable intentions. 
How often in life does it happen, that 
exceptions are taken against a friend, who 
is at that very time actually meditating the 
angry person’s advantage; and yet, per- 
haps, appearances so blind him that he 
thinks of nothing but revenge, until an 
eclaircissement takes place, when he as 
passionately reproaches himself for his in- 
gratitude? The case is still harder with 
children; for, when they are punished 
wrongfully, it is seldom that they have it 
in their power to clear themselves; and 
further, they may, probably, suppose their 
own good emotions to be the guilty cause, 
and thereby endeavour to suppress a rising 
virtue. 
192 LETTER XII. 
Indulgence over much is liable to pro- 
duce effects equally bad, as extreme seve- 
rity; for as the latter inures them to every 
act of violence, so the former encourages 
the breach of every civil duty that thwarts 
their selfish inclinations. 
But the greatest misconduct of all arises 
from these two opposite ways of manage- 
ment being united together, in the widest 
extreme; when one moment the little crea- 
ture’s bones are almost broken for a fault of 
which it is scarcely sensible, and the next mo- 
ment it is fondly cherished to reconcile it 
to the mistaken parent; and in return, not 
improbably, indulged in exercising its rage 
upon toys, in torturing birds, dogs, cats, 
and such-like domestic animals as infant 
tyranny can lord it over; and permitted 
also at the window to sport with the lives of 
little buzzing infects, that fall a sacrifice to 
wanton cruelty. 
The child who is fondly and foolishly 
indulged, promises only a melancholy pro-193 LETTER XII. 
spect; but where, on the other hand, as is 
too generally seen, an occasional severity 
inures it to cruelty, the disposition is inevi- 
tably ruined. The consequences of such 
severity and such indulgence fill the mind 
with every disagreeable apprehension: and 
indeed, what can they produce but inordi- 
nate desires, brutish rage, and violence?
Those parents who are happy enough to 
subdue their own choler, and thereby set 
their children proper examples, will have 
very little cause for complaint against them. 
On the contrary, such as are perpetually 
quarrelling with each other, with their chil- 
dren, servants, and every body around them, 
cannot expect much peace and comfort 
from their rising families. But if they 
will take this friendly advice, to correct
their own errors only once, for every hun- 
dredth time they chastise others, it will pro- 
bably bring about some amendment in them- 
selves; and the force of their example must 
surely produce the best effect upon their 
houshold. 
S
194 LETTER XII. 
We have now conducted children through 
the different stages of helpless infancy, and 
gradually introduced them, though as yet 
but junior characters, upon the grand 
theatre of life; where the happy effects of 
such careful regulations are generally to be 
distinguished. As to literary improve- 
ments, they properly come under another 
jurisdiction, and therefore claim your future 
consideration. Nevertheless, a condescend- 
ing obligingness, a sweet affability, an un- 
assuming sensbility, and a modest deport- 
ment, ever denote the proper education of a 
female mind. In like manner, prudence, 
abstemiousness, and virtuous dispositions 
in men, most frequently proceed from the 
good impressions of childhood. Severe 
stripes, and harsh usage, add fuel to a 
turbulent and revengeful spirit, and too 
frequently render a fallen boy malicious. 
On the other hand, the indulged and spoiled 
child commonly turns out an abandoned 
libertine. 195 LETTER XII. 
Thus, my fair ones, you may easily dis- 
cover how much society is interested in 
your motherly conduct, at this early time;
“ for as the twig is bent, the tree will 
grow;” and the seeds of iniquity, in those 
dispositions where virtue is not planted, 
unavoidably, as it were, take root, and 
spring up without much cultivation. 
Every notorious vice shews an utter con- 
tempt for the moral duties of life, and the 
man whose character is infamous, seems 
but little to regard the opinion of others: 
therefore the good fame and chastity of wo- 
men become his ridicule and sport. Such 
men are continually assaulting their virtue, 
and aiming at their seduction. Of conse- 
quence, the darling, who has never been 
curbed in the early impulses of erroneous 
inclinations, will prove to be very little ca- 
pable of subduing the tempestuous passions 
of youth; which will not only hurry him 
on to his own ruin, but also too generally 
occasion the disgrace, infamy, and destruc- 
tion of many unfortunate young women.
S2196 LETTER XII. 
Thus it appears, how greatly the happiness 
and prosperity of the fair sex are affected 
by the sensual misconduct of ours; info- 
much that, in the present instance, women 
as well as men must fall degraded. LETTER XIII.
OF MILK—ITS PROPERTIES 
EXAMINED. 
S3 LETTER XIII. 
Of milk—Its properties examined—the dif- 
ferent kinds of milk compared with each 
other—and their particular virtues ex- 
plained. 
MILK has been recommended, in se- 
veral letters, as the proper food for 
infants; and in the fourteenth and fifteenth, 
it is again spoken of, as being equally neces- 
sary for invalids, and aged persons. It shall 
therefore be the business of this letter to 
examine so far into the qualities of milk, 
and into the milk of different animals, as 
may enable us to determine what kind of 
milk is upon different occasions to be pre- 
ferred; which will take in every thing, not 
elsewhere observed, upon this subject 
Milk was before remarked to be a kind 
of white blood, prepared by the mother for 
the support of her young; so far we may 
speak of it in general terms. 
200 LETTER XIII. 
In different animals therefore it is reason- 
able to suppose, and fact confirms our sup- 
position, that the qualities of milk are also 
different; hence, by first examining into 
its general properties, and, from those prin- 
ciples, setting forth the peculiar variations 
in the milk of different animals, we shall 
arrive at the desired conclusion. 
In milk, by stepping into the dairy, we 
may discern three principal component 
parts. After it has remained some time in 
an undisturbed state, the cream floats upon 
the surface; it is the least in quantity, 
though most nourishing, of an oily balsamic 
substance, and inflammable in its nature, 
as the butter which is made from it plainly 
demonstrates.
A lady, before whom I once made some 
experiments, asked me why the cream float- 
ed upon the surface; for being, continued 
she, the thickest part, ought it not rather to 
sink to the bottom? I told her it was the 
thickest part, to be sure, but at the same 201 LETTER XIII. 
time it was also the lightest; specifically so, 
as oil is lighter than water, and therefore 
rises to the top. 
The cream being taken off, the remain- 
ing milk appears bluish, and thinner than 
before; and when thus robbed of its thick 
creamy part, it consequently is not so smooth 
to the palate. 
On the addition of runnet, or indeed any 
acid, a separation of the two remaining 
parts soon takes place, and we discover the 
curd. This being the heaviest, when se- 
parated from the whey, falls to the bottom. 
It is the least valuable part of the milk, glu- 
tinous in its nature, and composed of the 
most earthy particles, being also of an as- 
tringent quality. 
The third and only remaining part, be- 
ing the whey of the milk, is the largest in 
quantity, of a diluting and cleaning pro-
perty. 
202 LETTER XIII. 
Let us now by this standard compare the 
different kinds of milk mostly in use with 
us, and apply them to the purposes for 
which they seem best calculated. 
The human milk, when drawn from the 
breast, has exactly the same bluish appear- 
ance as cows milk when the cream is taken 
off. It affords very little cream, and but a 
small quantity of curd, therefore the whey 
constitutes the chief part; but the more 
healthy the woman is, and particularly if 
between the age of twenty and thirty, the 
more her milk abounds with rich creamy 
balsam, and the more it also contains of the 
curd or earthy particles; probably from her 
constitution being, at this time, in full vi- 
gour, and the digestive powers therefore 
more perfect. 
These observations will point out the 
best substitute where the breast is denied, 
and will likewise direct those who prefer 
wet-nursing in the choice of the properest 
person; for there is, in my opinion, an equal 203 LETTER XIII. 
objection against the milk of a very young 
girl, as against that of a woman almost past 
child-bearing. The cleansing quality, be- 
fore taken notice of, in a breast of new 
milk, will also, together with reason and 
experience, shew the propriety of recom- 
mending those women who have not been 
long delivered. 
Asses milk is generally allowed to be 
the nearest to the human, and according to 
the above experiments we find it so, a- 
bounding mostly with whey, and having 
little of the cream or curd in it. Hence, 
after a severe fit of illness, where the body 
is much emaciated, and the stomach weak, 
or where the blood is loaded with sharp 
acrid humours, the cleansing quality of 
asses milk deserves a preference to that of 
any other animal which is used for this 
purpose. In consumptive cases, or where 
there is a slow habitual fever, it is justly 
to be preferred, until such time as the 
constitution may have gained a little 204 LETTER XIII. 
strength, when the more nourishing ought 
to supply its place. 
Mares milk is esteemed to be much the 
same as asses, but this indeed is in very 
little use. 
Cows milk comes next under consi- 
deration. This appears to be the richest 
and most nourishing of any of the brutes 
milk here mentioned. It abounds with 
a great deal of cream; for, after standing 
twelve hours and being skimmed, it ap- 
pears equal to any other milk. It con- 
tains also a large quantity of curd; and, 
after all, even the whey is by far more 
nutritious than any other. 
We observed that asses milk, in the ex- 
periments, mostly resembles the human. 
Why then not prefer that to cows milk 
for the food of children? I do not to- 
tally deny the use of this milk for that 
purpose; but in our part of the country it 
is very expensive, and cannot be obtained 205 LETTER XIII. 
In any large quantity, for which reason 
it would be impracticable to bring it into 
general use. 
There is likewise another reason which 
inclines me to give a preference to cows 
milk; for, notwithstanding the similarity of 
human milk to that of asses, the first may 
well be supposed most strengthening, since 
women usually feed on animal as well as 
vegetable diet, while the brutes we speak 
of are confined intirely to vegetables. 
Whence, if we substitute asses milk, we 
shall fall short of the nourishment Nature 
designed for us; and therefore for a young 
child, who requires a heartening diet, the 
milk of cows, in my opinion, is preferable, 
as the richness of it is, in some measure, 
adequate to the supposed difference in the 
qualities of human milk, and that of other 
animals. 
The milk of sheep and goats consists 
mostly of the curd, or earthy particles: 
hence, where the blood-vessels are injured 
T206 LETTER XIII. 
by acrid humours, and frequent bleed- 
ings happen from this cause; or where 
children are subject to the rickets, from a 
weakness of the bones, that milk which 
abounds mostly with the curd, or cheesy 
part, seems best calculated to answer the 
intention; its earthy, mucilaginous, and 
astringent property having the greatest 
tendency to heal such ruptured vessels, 
and to give a firmness to the bones: but 
as these milks possess less of the cleansing 
power, it will, in most; cases, particularly 
in bleedings, be proper to use the more 
attenuating kind first. 
We have now examined the different 
milks familiar to us, and from their diffe- 
rent properties, pointed out the end each 
sort seems bed calculated to answer; 
whence every person will quickly be deter- 
mined which to give the preference to in 
particular complaints. 
When any one first begins to eat milk, 
especially if a free liver, it may probably 207 LETTER XIII. 
purge a little, but such inconveniencies 
will most commonly be removed by ac- 
customing the constitution to the use of 
it, and boiling the milk will in a great 
measure prevent this effect. I have al- 
ways remarked that those who, by reason 
of a pampered appetite, complain of milk 
and vegetables being windy, and not 
agreeing with them, are the very per- 
sons who most require such a diet; for 
it is the debauched state of the stomach 
and bowels that occasions their uneasi- 
ness, which this regimen seems the most 
likely to correct. 
I have recommended a little salt to be 
mixed with milk before it is given to 
children, if they are apt to throw it up 
curdled; and shall mention the experi- 
ment which induced me to give that ad- 
vice, since it is equally worthy the atten- 
tion of grown persons, some of whom
make this an objection to their eating 
milk, as I am inclined to believe such 
T2208 LETTER XIII. 
precaution will render it agreeable to most 
constitutions. 
I put two ounces of milk, warm as it 
came from the cow, into a tea-cup, with 
a little common salt. I put the same 
quantity, of the like warmth, into 
another tea-cup, without salt. Then 
dropping a very little distilled vinegar 
into each, a hard curd presently ap- 
peared in that, milk which had no salt in 
it, while the other with the salt was
scarcely altered. 
I tried the same experiment again with 
a large tea spoonful of runnet, and observed 
the milk which had the salt in it to con- 
tinue in its fluid state, while the other 
grew thick and turbid, and almost in- 
stantly separated into curds and whey. 
This last experiment answered the best, 
and is much more to our purpose than the 
former. From these hints it seems rea- 
sonable to conclude, that salt taken with 
milk might equally prevent the too hasty 209 LETTER XIII. 
curdling of it, where there is a great 
acidity in the stomach; in which case, the 
curdled milk, having too quickly assumed 
a solidity, becomes troublesome; and be- 
cause it is not as yet designed to pass into 
the bowels for the office of nourishment, a 
part of this intolerable load is generally dis- 
charged by vomiting. Moreover, the Sti- 
mulating quality of salt will greatly assist a 
weak digestion, and thereby facilitate the 
passage of the milk from the stomach into 
the bowels; and from experience, in re- 
commending it to children who used to 
throw up their milk in a curdled state, I 
am convinced of its utility. 
In all cases where infirmities or age re-
quire a prudent regimen, I have directed a 
similar care to that of dieting children. 
Milk therefore comprehends a very mate- 
rial part of such food, and I am fully per- 
suaded that if it were more universally used, 
the world in general would be greatly be- 
nefited. I do not, however, mean to be 
understood that I debar those from a reason- 
T3210 LETTER XIII. 
able quantity of animal food, who are ca- 
pable of digesting it. But such as are ema- 
ciated by illness, or have the misfortune to 
labour under gouty complaints; such also 
as are consumptively inclined, or those 
who have crazy, infirm constitutions, and 
are subject to an habitual feverish disposi- 
tion, will do right to eat flesh only once 
in the day, and, for the rest of their nou- 
rishment, to live almost, if not altogether, 
upon milk. LETTER XIV. 
THE SICK CHAMBER. LETTER XIV. 
The sick chamber—with directions also for 
invalids. 
WE are now, my dear ladies, enter- 
ing into the sick chamber, in 
which, as well as in the nursery, many 
amiable characters may be drawn. Here, 
the conjugal affection of a wife is laudably 
displayed—the tender love of a mother 
fondly exerts itself—the gratitude and duty 
of a daughter are conspicuous—the good 
sister also endears herself to a worthy bro- 
ther—-and female friendship wears a thou- 
sand additional charms! 
Let us picture a truly tender and good 
wife, in this exalted character! Let us sup- 
pose that she has her deserved recompence, 
by restoring to her chaste and longing arms 
the distinguished choice of her youthful 
love, ennobled by a generous sympathy of 
virtuous inclinations! 214 LETTER XIV. 
Let us imagine this happy man perfectly 
recovered from a dangerous and painful ill- 
ness, to which recovery her unwearied 
attendance proved greatly instrumental: his 
mind, likewise, impressed with every thought 
a consciousness of such an obligation can 
inspire! Behold the husband admiring her 
transcendent excellency, while the honest 
tear, perchance, trickling down his cheek, 
betrays the big emotion of a grateful 
heart. “ She, on her part, with looks of 
cordial love, awhile in silent rapture glows 
—then on bended knees adores her Maker” 
—returns most fervid thanks, for that her 
prayer of sorrow has been heard, that He 
has graciously restored the husband and the 
father! How great must be their reciprocal 
felicity!
I shall now proceed to those instructions 
which are necessary for the proper execu- 
tion of this friendly office. There is a cer- 
tain, impertinence, frequently proceeding 
from laudable motives, which, nevertheless, 
is totally culpable: I mean the desire of our215 LETTER XIV. 
acquaintance to visit a sick chamber. It is 
oftentimes, I acknowledge, the effect of 
tenderness ill-placed, and a real concern 
imprudently expressed. In general, those 
visits should not be permitted. I every day 
experience the ill effects of them. When 
indeed a patient is upon the recovery, and 
capable of sitting up three or four hours at 
a time, the company of a friend, who knows 
how far to engage, with propriety, in con- 
versation, is a sweetly refreshing solace: but 
locks, bolts, or bars, cannot be too strong 
to keep prating gossips, at all times, out of 
a sick chamber. 
During a fever, it is a load sufficient for 
any patient to bear the disease. Quietude 
on his part, and silence on the part of those 
about him, ought universally to be imposed. 
It is not a time for the mind to be en- 
gaged either in the pursuit of business or 
pleasure. 
This leads me to a consideration of the 
utmost importance; and as I am not speak- 216 LETTER XIV. 
ing as a physician, but as a friend, it comes 
properly within that province, and I hope 
it will be seriously attended to by every 
reader. If it is now prejudicial for any one 
to think, even of the common concerns of 
life, how much more injurious must it 
prove, to have the mind engaged in that 
great work of settling, for ever, our worldly 
affairs? 
Would you, my rational friends, wish 
to be freed from an intolerable burden, 
never postpone this important business until 
you are upon a bed of sickness. Not to 
say how incapable the judgment at such a 
time will often prove, perhaps to the de- 
triment of some deserving friend, or not 
unlikely to the confusion of a whole family, 
the very mention of it from any one about 
us, or the conscious necessity in ourselves, 
must exceedingly hurry and depress the 
spirits, when tranquillity and support are 
essentially necessary. For what can such 
an idea convey but death?—A last will 
testament is one of the most solemn 217 LETTER XIV. 
acts of life, and ought never to be post- 
poned till the agonizing moments of death. 
The chamber, proper for a patient, is of 
no small moment. There ought to be a 
free circulation of air, whether it be in the 
summer or winter. I never would have any 
person confined to a room without a chim- 
ney; it is equally necessary in the warmer 
season for the purpose of discharging the 
offensive vapours of disease, as it is in. 
cold weather, by means of a little fire, 
to bring the air to a due temperament, 
which also contributes to remove the like 
offence. 
To you, my female friends, this con- 
cern of nursing belongs. It is an im- 
portant and oftentimes a fatiguing task, 
I would willingly engage you in it upon 
principle, and therefore shall endeavour 
to shew that man and woman were born 
for each other’s support and comfort. Their 
respective dependence upon each other 
U218 LETTER XIV. 
is, undoubtedly, the wise ordination of 
Omniscience. 
I cannot speak of this mutual obligation 
without being mindful of the beautiful 
passage in our immortal Milton’s Paradise 
Lost, book the fourth, where Eve gives 
Adam an account of herself; and I shall 
introduce the description at length, as a 
quotation from this author can never be 
deemed impertinent. Let us attend to the 
mother of mankind!- 
To whom thus Eve reply’d. O thou! for whom 
And from whom I was form’d; flesh of thy flesh; 
And without whom am to no end; my guide. 
And head! what thou hast said is just and right. 
For we to him indeed all praises owe, 
And daily thanks; I chiefly, who enjoy 
So far the happier lot, enjoying thee 
Præ-eminent by so much odds; while thou 
Like comfort to thyself can’st no where find. 
That day I oft remember, when from sleep 
I first awak’d, and found myself repos’d 
Under a shade, on flowers; much wond'ring where, 
And what I was, whence thither brought, and how. 
Not distant far from thence, a murmuring found 
Of waters issued from a cave, and spread 219 LETTER XIV. 
Into a liquid plain, then stood unmov’d. 
Pure as th’ expanse of heav’n: I thither went, 
With inexperienc’d thought, and laid me down 
On the green bank, to look into the clear 
Smooth lake, that to me seem’d another sky. 
As I bent down to look, just opposite 
A shape within the watry gleam appear’d, 
Bending to look on me; I started back, 
It started back; but pleas’d I soon return’d; 
Pleas’d it return’d as soon, with answering looks 
Of sympathy, and love: there I had fix’d 
Mine eyes till now, and pin’d with vain desire, 
Had not a voice thus warn’d me, “ What thou see’st, 
“ What there thou see’st, fair creature, is thyself; 
“ With thee it came and goes: but, follow me, 
“ And I will bring thee where no shadow stays 
“ Thy coming, and thy soft embraces; he 
“ Whose image thou art: him thou shalt enjoy 
“ Inseparably thine, to him shalt bear 
“ Multitudes like thyself, and thence be call’d 
“ Mother of human race.” What could I do. 
But follow strait, invisibly thus led, 
Till I espy’d thee? fair indeed, and tall, 
Under a plantan; yet, methought, less fair, 
Less winning soft, less amiably mild, 
Than that smooth watry image: back I turn’d; 
Thou following cry’dst aloud. Return, fair Eve, 
Whom fly’st thou? whom thou fly’st, of him thou art, 
His flesh, his bone; to give thee being I lent 
Out of my side to thee, nearest my heart, 
Substantial life, to have thee by my side 
Henceforth an individual solace dear:
U2220 LETTER XIV. 
Part of my soul, I seek thee; and thee claim,
My other half!—With that, thy gentle hand 
Seiz’d mine; I yielded; and from that time see 
How beauty is excell’d by manly grace, 
And wisdom, which alone is truly fair. 
To illustrate my argument of our mu- 
tual dependence, I must beg leave to in- 
dulge myself, and hope likewise to enter- 
tain my reader, with another quotation 
from the same author. Adam, desirous of 
retaining the angel Raphael, relates to him 
what he remembers since his own crea- 
tion, and amongst other things, that which 
is to our purpose, his first meeting and 
nuptials with Eve. After recounting his 
dream, wherein he was informed of her 
creation, he proceeds:- 
I wak’d 
To find her, or far ever to deplore 
Her loss, and other pleasure; all abjure. 
When out of hope, behold her! not far off; 
Such as I saw her in my dream, adorn’d 
With what all earth or heav’n could bestow 
To make her amiable; on she came, 
Led by her heav’nly Maker (though unseen) 
And guided by his voice; nor uninform’d 
Of nuptial sanctity, and marriage rites 221 LETTER XIV. 
Grace was in all her steps, heav’n in her eye, 
In every gesture dignity, and love! 
I over-joy’d could not forbear aloud,— 
This turn hath made amends! Thou hast fulfill’d 
Thy words, Creator bounteous, and benign! 
Giver of all things fair! but fairest this 
Of all thy gifts! nor enviest. I now see 
Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh, myself 
Before me: woman is her name; of man 
Extracted: for this cause he shall forego 
Father and mother, and to his wife adhere; 
And they shall be one flesh, one heart, one soul. 
She heard me thus; and though divinely brought,
Yet innocence, and virgin modesty. 
Her virtue, and the conscience of her worth. 
That would be woo’d, and not unsought be won; 
Not obvious, not obtrusive, but retir’d, 
The more desirable: or, to say all, 
Nature herself (though pure of sinful thought) 
Wrought in her so, that seeing me, she turn’d:
I follow’d her; she what was honour knew, 
And, with obsequious majesty, approv’d 
My pleaded reason-To the nuptial bow’r 
I led her, blushing like the morn: all heav’n, 
And happy constellations, on that hour 
Shed their se'ectest influence: the earth 
Gave sign of gratulation, and each hill:
Joyous the birds; fresh gales, and gentle airs 
Whisper’d it to the woods, and from their wings 
Flung rose, flung odors from the spicy shrubs,
U3222 LETTER XIV. 
Disporting! till the amorous bird of night 
Sung spousal, and bid haste the ev’ning star 
On his hill-top, to light the bridal lamp. 
Thus I have told thee all my state, and brought 
My story to the turn of earthly bliss, 
Which I enjoy: and must confess to find 
In all things else delight indeed; but such 
As, us’d or not, works in the mind no change, 
Nor vehement desire; the delicacies 
I mean of taste, sight, smell, herbs, fruits, and flow’rs, 
Walks, and the melody of birds: but here 
Far otherwise! transported I behold, 
Transported touch: here passion first I felt, 
Commotion strange! in all enjoyments else 
Superior and unmov’d: here only weak, 
Against the charm of beauty’s pow’rful glance. 
Or Nature fail’d in me, and left some part 
Not proof enough such object to sustain; 
Or, from my side subducting, took perhaps 
Move than enough: at least, on her bestow’d 
Too much of ornament: in outward shew, 
Elaborate; of inward, less exact. 
For well I understand, in the prime end 
Of Mature, her th’ inferior; in the mind, 
And inward faculties; which most excel: 
In outward also her resembling less 
His image who made both; and less expressing 
The character of that dominion giv’n 
O’er other creatures. Yet, when I approach 
Her loveliness, so absolute she seems, 
And in herself complete, of well to know 
Her own; that what she wills to do, or say,223 LETTER XIV. 
Seems wisest, virtuousest, discretest, best:
All higher knowledge in her presence falls 
Degraded; wisdom in discourse with her 
Loses discountenanc’d, and like folly stews: 
Authority and reason on her wait, 
As one intended first, not after made 
Occasionally: and (to consummate all) 
Greatness of mind, and nobleness, their seat 
Build in her loveliest, and create an awe 
About her, as a guard angelic plac’d. 
How exquisitely charming are these de- 
scriptions! what valuable portraits of the 
first human pair! The lines elegantly 
strong! The colourings beautifully rich! 
Then again the amazingly soft and deli- 
cate touches of this great matter of the 
human feelings, where-ever we call our 
eyes, enchantingly appear! 
What can more fully shew our mutual 
dependence!— so amiably engaging to each 
other, our first parents, in this poem, are 
described, that the labour of either, where- 
by the other was benefited, must prove a 
real pleasure. What an example for the 
encouragement of matrimony!— O that 
we could more generally display the cha- 224 LETTER XIV. 
racter of Adam! Then you, my fair 
ones, would strive more ardently, in 
gentleness and love, to imitate this first of 
women. 
If man would endeavour to curb unlaw- 
ful inclinations, cherishing and comfort- 
ing the wife of his bosom; if he would 
fondly regard her charms and virtues; 
what emulation must such a conduct ex- 
cite in every female breast—to give ho- 
nour and dignity to her husband? Let 
men but begin the reformation, and I will 
be accountable for the right behaviour of 
the generality of your sex. 
Nevertheless, the culpableness of man 
will not excuse the folly of woman; and 
this piece of advice, from a real friend, the 
ladies will do well to observe. 
I know my fair pupils will tell me, that 
although a husband may have follies and 
vices, yet, if he is but a sensible man, they 
can overlook them, and chearfully submit 
to their lord and mailer but who, say 
they, can be governed by a fool? 225 LETTER XIV. 
When once a woman has drawn her lot, 
it is not only her duty, but the height of 
policy, to make the best of it. Let her 
choice prove ever so disagreeable, or sup- 
posing that she was led into such a mar- 
riage by the cruel compulsion of her friends, 
still honour and obedience are required on 
her part. By giving importance to an 
husband, (even those husbands we are 
now speaking of, for others will command 
it) a wife merits, and generally obtains, 
praise and adoration, not only from him, 
but from the whole world. 
On the contrary, the mistaken she, who 
in company degrades, and, upon every oc- 
casion, tauntingly reproaches her husband, 
thus making him, poor man, the con- 
temptible butt to level her triumphant 
shafts at; notwithstanding she imagines 
her own wit and superior talents are happily 
displayed, to the entertainment and admi- 
ration of her friends; believe me, ladies, 
by those very friends she must ever be 
condemned; and let her merits, in other 226 LETTER XIV. 
respects, be ever so great, this culpable 
part of her behaviour they most assuredly 
despise. 
But to return from our present wander- 
ing, which I intentionally followed as an 
encouragement to virtue, a consistency of 
character, and mutual love; being con- 
vinced that these qualifications will make 
even a constant attendance in a sick 
chamber not altogether unpleasing. Now 
then let us pursue our further care, where 
female tenderness can asswage the severest 
bodily pains, and render the greatest mis- 
fortunes of life, at least, supportable. 
In every disorder, physic and good 
nursing ought to go hand in hand; and I 
am the more desirous of giving my opinion 
with respect to good nursing, as I mean to 
oppose it to poor and bad nursing, which has 
been too much the unlucky and mistaken 
practice of the sick chamber: for under 
the vague idea of inflammation, and in- 
flammatory diseases, even bread and water 
have been sometimes accounted too great 227 LETTER XIV. 
a support for the patient. But, with plea- 
sure, we now see physicians act upon more 
rational principles; and I would wish to 
convince you, ladies, whose province it 
is, of the propriety of supporting patients 
under every disease. 
The sick chamber is our subject; but it 
is also to be understood, that the precau- 
tions here laid down will prove equally 
necessary, where invalids are permitted to 
attend to the common affairs of life; 
for, without a prudent regulation in 
our method of living, few constitutional 
or long-existing ails can be removed, or 
even rendered in any degree light, and 
easily to be borne; but I am clearly con- 
vinced, that it is very possible for many 
infirm persons to pass comfortably through 
a tolerable length of life, and, at last, to 
pay an easy debt to nature.* 
* It would be swelling this letter to a very great bulk, 
was I to enter into a particular account of the diet proper 
for invalids. The reader, who is under the necessity of 
observing such a prudent restraint, is therefore referred to 228 LETTER XIV. 
The observations, therefore, upon chil- 
dren and aged persons are equally appli- 
cable to those, who, by ungoverned pas- 
sions and intemperance, have ruined their 
health; for in either of these cases, where 
the bodily powers are enervated, and the 
digestion weakened, a proper, light, and 
nourishing diet is as necessary to restore 
health, as it is to support the young, and 
preserve the aged. 
Every disease is to be considered as a 
deviation from health; and a fever is the 
means made use of by Nature to free the 
body from Something that is noxious. 
Ought we, therefore, to counter-act her in 
this her own great work? Ought we not 
rather cautiously and prudently, like a va- 
luable handmaid, to tend upon her move- 
ments, and generously support her in the 
my observations upon diet in the Family Physician; some 
hints of this kind are there thrown out, which he may 
probably consider as not altogether unworthy of his at- 
tention. 229 LETTER XIV. 
design she aims at? Surely this appears to 
every one reasonable. 
However, where there is a fever, or 
great weakness of the body, or where 
the body itself is emaciated, an altera- 
tion from the common manner of living 
is certainly necessary. To these points, 
therefore, I shall confine my advice, as 
other considerations come under a medical 
direction. 
Few persons are constrained to keep their 
chambers, who are not troubled with great 
loss of strength, or feverish complaints; 
either as the first cause, or as symptoms 
accompanying other diseases. Supposing 
then these circumstances, the constitution 
being thus reduced, or Nature labouring 
to throw off a disease, the body certainly 
requires a nourishment of the most simple 
kind; by simple I mean easy of digestion, 
but let it at the same time be comfortable. 
The stomach and bowels must, of necessity, 
be equally affected with the other parts of 
X230 LETTER XIV. 
the body, and consequently unable to per- 
form their offices upon the common sup- 
ports of life. 
Animal food, therefore, is particularly 
to be forbidden; and I am sorry to be 
obliged to blame the fondness of parents, 
and those who assist in sick chambers, for 
too frequently indulging patients thus un- 
warrantably. Give me leave to observe, 
if flesh be permitted during the existence of 
a fever, or when the body, by illness, is 
exceedingly weakened and emaciated, from 
the incapacity of the digestive faculties, 
the nourishment produced must be imper- 
fect, crude, offensive; and consequently, 
instead of a support, must add an additional 
weight to the disease. 
But, at the same time, let it be remem- 
bered, that as a support is necessary, good 
broths, wine whey, jellies, panado, a be- 
verage of wine and water, &c. are to be 
discretionally permitted; and indeed the 
inclination of the sick person will gene-231 LETTER XIV. 
rally determine the propriety of these 
things; for where they are hurtful, an 
universal loathing of them commonly takes 
place. 
These, and such like sippings, being 
easy of digestion, are not only the proper- 
est for a diseased state of the stomach and 
bowels, but they also supply the body with 
a necessary nourishment to uphold its 
strength under the disorder. It is a point 
at present acknowledged by all good phy- 
sicians. It is, in my opinion, a circum- 
stance minutely to be dwelt upon; for 
woeful experience has often convinced me, 
that the rashness of an obstinate nurse, in 
one unlucky hour, has counteracted the 
operations of a well-regulated, and other- 
wife successful, regimen. 
Although I would debar patients from 
animal food, where there is a feverish com- 
plaint, nevertheless I do most earnestly re- 
commend a generous, but discretionary, 
support of easily digested and comfortable 
X2232 LETTER XIV. 
liquid nourishment, in every fever. I 
mean, that barley-water, mint and 
baum tea, with such like drinks, will not 
sufficiently support the strength of a patient 
under any kind of fever, even for a few 
days, and much less for as many weeks. 
As to the distinctions of inflammatory, 
nervous, and putrid, it is not my busi- 
ness to enter upon them here; but sup- 
posing the fever to be inflammatory, the 
patient is, or ought to be, confined to 
bed, and a breathing sweat encouraged. 
Will not then an already almost digested 
and innocent liquid nourishment answer 
the physician’s aim, at the same time that 
it supports the patient? Experience has 
convinced me of its utility. I cannot help, 
therefore, strongly recommending it, for 
I am too apprehensive that many lives 
are daily, lost for want of this necessary 
support. 
I am labouring to prevent that mistaken 
care, which is commonly called starving a 
disease, and to set aside the dreadful appre-233 LETTER XIV. 
hension that a little innocent nourishment, 
given to a person in a fever, is full adding 
fuel to the fire. By these errors the ablest 
assistance is oftentimes baffled, to the cost 
of the patient, and, not unlikely, to the 
disgrace of a worthy practitioner. Be as- 
sured, that it is more eligible to endeavour 
to support, and build up again, a shaken, 
diseased, and tottering frame, than to at- 
tempt to pull it down. Never let this be 
done but by the express command of wis- 
dom and experience, for it is a serious af- 
fair at all times to deprive a tenement of 
its foundation and strength. It is much to 
be wished, as it surely must prove a general 
advantage, that physicians would more par- 
ticularly direct the regimen of diet in side 
chambers. 
The punctuality of nurses, and those who 
attend upon the sick, in the administering 
of medicines, is of no small import. It is a 
cruel reflection upon the honest part of the 
profession, that practitioners consult the 
number of their sees, or the length of their 
X3234 LETTER XIV.
bills, more than the health of their patients. 
Such iniquity is but very seldom, I hope, if 
ever practised; and as few persons employ 
any but those of whom they entertain a good 
opinion, let me warn you, as a friend, not 
to indulge a suspicion which betrays a mean 
foul, and most probably will, at some time 
or other, produce fatal consequences to 
yourselves. Great relief, nay, oftentimes, 
perfect health, is assuredly to be obtained 
by the help of medicine. Great evil, nay, 
too frequently, certain death, ensues from 
a jealous contempt, or wanton neglect of 
this salutary aid. 
I must speak of another mistake, with re- 
gard to the management of linen. A pa- 
tient cannot be hurt by changing wet, filthy, 
and offensive linen, for that which is clean, 
dry, and comfortable, provided this be done 
with proper care, not to give cold during 
the time of shifting the cloaths. Linen 
which is perfectly dry and clean is, at all 
times, to be preferred to that which has been 
used, for the latter may have absorbed of- 235 LETTER XIV. 
fensive vapours, of which the former must 
be intirely free. Against this observation, 
I am convinced, there are great prejudices;
nevertheless those who employ their reason 
but for a moment, will see the propriety of 
the present caution. 
A free succession of air is essentially ne- 
cessary, not only to carry off the offensive 
vapours of but also to the recovery 
of the patient; nay, even to the preserva- 
tion of those who attend upon the sick. It 
is true that a fire is proper in cold weather, 
for reasons before given, but at the same 
time the chamber ought to be no more than 
comfortably warm; for where this degree of 
heat is exceeded, faint sweats are likely to 
exhaust the patient’s strength, whereby he 
sinks, perhaps, under a disease, through 
which, probably, he might otherwise have 
been supported. 
Having now cautioned you against the 
most material errors which, at present, 
occur to my memory, I will beg leave to 236 LETTER XIV. 
observe what poor creatures men in general 
ure, when necessity confines them to a sick 
chamber! If we reflect upon this scene, 
ought we to complain of the spirits of wo- 
men? I scarcely ever find a man, in sick- 
ness, support himself so well as a woman 
does. Men are, for the most part, de- 
pressed in their spirits to the greatest degree 
when they are ill. Be it then with grati- 
tude remembered, that in a sick chamber, 
the pleasing vivacity, and, let me add, the 
true philosophy, of a kind female friend, 
prove essentially necessary. A good nurse 
will, in a great measure, alleviate our 
bodily infirmities, by supporting our spirits 
in time of sickness. 
A man by striking and superior abilities, 
industry, and good fortune, is sometimes 
lucky enough to raise himself, aggrandise his 
family, and bring to his wife conveniences 
far beyond her expectations. But what are 
all these things, compared to the comfort, 
and tender support, which she in return can 
largely bestow upon him; at a time too 237 LETTER XIV. 
when the infirmities of nature will not suf- 
fer such an exalted favourite of fortune to 
relish any one enjoyment of life? Ask this 
very darling, when he is stretched on the 
bed of sickness and rendered helpless by dis- 
ease;—let us fancy him too almost expiring 
under excruciating agonies, and now put 
the question to him, Which is more eli- 
gible, fortune or health? He will assuredly 
answer, that one moment’s ease is more 
desirable than all the splendid advantages 
he may have obtained. 
In like manner, the truly affectionate and 
sympathising concern, the delicate deport- 
ment, and careful attendance of a good 
wife, in these scenes of painful sufferance, 
more than over-balance every thing that 
is in the power of the most successful hus- 
band to bestow upon her; and it is a truth 
which truly generous minds will ever grate- 
fully acknowledge. 
A man under these circumstances, with 
some regard to his accustomed manner of 238 LETTER XIV. 
living, and the particular disease, is to be 
considered as a child; and consequently 
ought to be submitted to female manage- 
ment. Your care, therefore, will of course 
direct you to seek the assistance of able and 
experienced physicians. May their skill 
conquer the disease, while you generously 
support his strength and spirits; and there- 
by greatly contribute to restore again the 
invalid to a healthy and vigorous consti- 
tution! 
LETTER XV. 
OLD AGE—BY VIRTUE RENDERED 
TRULY HONOURABLE. 
 LETTER XV. 
Old age—by virtue rendered truly honourable. 
The steps by which we mounted into life, 
shewn to be the easiest and best paths to de- 
scend into the grave. 
SPRING, summer, and autumn, have 
their various and engaging charms; 
and there is something peculiarly pleasing 
in each transition; but stern winter can 
boast of nothing besides the fruits of the 
preceding seasons. 
The life of man is often, with propriety, 
compared to the progressive year; and the 
only happiness that can be expected in old 
age, must arise from the reflections of a well- 
spent life; at which time, being likewise 
the winter of our days, every person may 
generally reap the fruits of a past virtuous 
conduct:— For, although the benumbed 
limbs deny the body their usual support, and 
the hoary head trembles on its withered 
Y242 LETTER XV. 
shoulders, there are valuable comforts yet 
in store for those who, like the industrious 
ant, have been wise enough to treasure 
them at the proper season. 
Such a good man or woman, one would 
hope, has wherewithal to procure the in- 
dulgencies their years require, and a suffi- 
ciency to requite the attendance of a faith- 
ful servant. Join to these a further bless- 
ing that, perchance, kind heaven has be- 
stowed, a dutiful and good daughter to sup- 
port their infirmities, and by her affec- 
tionate tenderness, fully to repay them for 
the pains of her education, and that pa- 
rental anxiety, which must necessarily have 
been sustained during her youth. Here, I 
say, the wisdom and tender indulgence of 
a kind parent is amply rewarded, by the 
softering care of a truly virtuous and affec- 
tionate child. These are inestimable com- 
forts; and such is the easy decline that Pro- 
vidence intended to old age—thus to close 
life with a not unhappy period. 243 LETTER XV. 
Let us, my amiable friends, picture a 
worthy and aged man in his second infant 
state. Let us with composure attend him 
to the gates of death, there to deliver him 
up into the bosom of his Creator! Let us 
indulge a rational sorrow, but at the same 
time support that calmness and serenity 
which denote a religiously informed mind. 
Let us consider this as a debt which we all 
must assuredly pay, and that it puts an ever- 
lasting period to the calamities of life!
Whence may be drawn this comfortable 
conclusion, that if to the uttermost of our 
power we have contributed to the great end 
for which we were created, our future state 
of existence must be happier than the 
present. 
Come then, ye tender and sympathising 
fair, let us approach the chamber of death!
Let us advance to the bed of this good pa- 
rent, and behold his calm and resigned 
countenance! Although we shall find it a 
solemn scene, yet there is nothing so ter— 
Y2244 LETTER XV. 
rible in this sight as the world generally 
imagine. But draw the contrary character, 
that of a wicked man in his last moments; 
and it must be shocking indeed. 
As ripened and mellow fruit drops, un- 
touched, from the tree to its mother 
earth;so the good old man falls peaceably 
into the grave, and mingles again with 
the common dust from which he originally 
sprang. 
It is the vicious alone that have reason 
to be terrified at the thoughts of death; but 
we are describing the upright man, not un- 
likely taking a last and affectionate farewell 
of his lovely and dutiful daughters; exhort- 
ing them to the practice of virtue, and re- 
counting the rewards attendant upon it. 
The eldest, perhaps, in her willing arms 
supports the expiring fire, while the youngest 
administers some refreshing cordial to de- 
tain, for a moment, the sleeting spirit. 
Mean while the tranquil parent, peradven- 
ture, gently rebukes the falling tear, pro- 245 LETTER XV. 
phetically foretelling that their last moments 
shall be peaceable like his—and blesses 
them with his dying lips.
For such characters, delineated more at 
large, and which are worthy of our admi- 
ration and reverence, I must refer my gentle 
readers, for the female one, to that great 
master of human feelings, Mr. Richardson, 
in his history of Sir Charles Grandison. 
How beautifully is honourable age exem- 
plified in the character of Mrs. Shirley! 
The account there given of the latter part 
of her life will assuredly delight and in- 
struct everyone. The death of lady Gran- 
dison, how inexpressibly interesting! Al- 
though her temples were covered with un- 
timely snow, yet, in the character of wife, 
parent, and christian, her exalted virtue had 
shone unrivalled; and when the awful pe- 
riod approached, behold her departure, like 
the setting sun,—leaving husband, children,
and a world of friends, to mourn the eter- 
nal absence of her chearing rays! 
Y3246 LETTER XV. 
The whole work contains a noble system 
of morality, and is highly to be recom- 
mended to all young persons. These useful 
lessons will be still more instructive, when 
read in the company of those who are 
capable of making proper remarks. This 
being premised, virtuous emulation will 
ever be most excited in young minds from 
characters which appear real, because ex- 
ample always proves stronger than precept. 
Thus entertainment, and improvement, 
will go hand in hand. 
For the other character, I mean that of 
a good old man, no one has excelled the in- 
genious and learned Dr. Armstrong, in his 
Essay upon Health. The whole poem, in- 
deed, is written in a masterly stile, and 
conveys many useful instructions, truly 
worthy of perusal; but his description of 
honourable age is inimitable, and although 
very concise, nevertheless it contains a 
volume of panegyric. I shall beg that gen- 
tleman’s leave to transcribe it.— 
247 LETTER XV. 
How to live happiest; how avoid the pains. 
The disappointments, and disgusts of those 
Who would in pleasure all their hours employs
The precepts here of a divine old man 
I could recite. Tho’ old, he still retain’d 
His manly sense, and energy of mind. 
Virtuous and wife he was, but not severe; 
He still remember’d that he once was young;
His easy presence check’d no decent joy. 
Him even the dissolute admir’d; for he 
A graceful looseness when he pleas’d put on. 
And laughing could instruct. Much had he read. 
Much more had seen; he studied from the life, 
And in th’ original perus’d mankind. 
Such characters render old age desirable, 
lovely, and truly honourable. The odium 
of peevish and morose vanishes, while our 
reverence and admiration stand alone en- 
gaged. Who would not wish to be that 
old man, whole calm tranquillity far sur- 
passes the transient and passionate enjoy- 
ments of youth? Happy children blest with 
such happy parents! 
From this description I hope to interest 
the tender passions of my fair readers, so 
as to make them chearfully contribute to248 LETTER XV. 
the comforts of their aged parents, while 
they yet live. A dutiful daughter must ever 
make a good wife and tender mother; and 
to a prudent, discerning man, it is certainly 
one of the greatest recommendations in the 
choice of a companion for life.
On the other hand, a cruel and unduti- 
ful child is the most odious and unnatural 
monster upon earth; insomuch that the 
Chinese are said to punish such crimes with 
the greatest severity. It is recorded in their 
history, that if a son should be known to 
kill, or so much as to strike his father, not 
only the criminal, but his whole family, 
would be rooted out; their dwelling razed 
to the ground, and its foundation sown 
with salt; nay, Le Compte adds, that the 
inhabitants of he place where he lived 
would be put to the sword; as they con- 
clude there must have been a total depra- 
vation of manners in that clan, or society
of people, who could have bred up among
them so horrid an offender.249 LETTER XV. 
How beautifully has our inimitable 
Shakespeare drawn the two contrasted cha- 
racters, in his description of Lear and his 
three daughters; where the two elder ap- 
pear like Satan’s evil angels, while Cordelia, 
the poor Cordelia, is an exalted example of 
filial tenderness and affection! 
To your peculiar province, ye amiable 
fair, is this last great duty consigned; to 
instruct you, therefore, in the proper exe- 
cution of it, a few useful observations may. 
not be unseasonably introduced. 
In a former letter, we likened infancy 
to a tender plant; where we taught the best 
method of rearing it, so as to make it 
flourish in the garden of the world. The 
summer having produced you, the fair 
fruit of this goodly tree; and the autumn 
of your parent-stock having ripened your 
understanding; it is but meet that such 
knowledge should direct you, at this frozen 
season, to cherish the decaying root from 
whence you sprang. 250 LETTER XV. 
We have taken notice of the helpless 
state of childhood, before the body has ac- 
quired strength sufficient to prepare its own 
nourishment. We have shewn the time 
when instinct; and reason direct us to 
provide for ourselves; and particularly ob- 
served, that animal food was never designed 
for our use until we had teeth given us to 
eat it. 
Let us continue these speculations, and 
regard the natural growth of our bodies, 
together with the encreasing strength of our 
constitutions. Behold the child, whom you 
lately fondled in your arms, now contend- 
ing with his play-fellows in boyish sports. 
Again, observe him who lately returned 
from school with his satchel in his hand, 
now panting foremost in the chace. And 
now see manhood stamped upon the downy 
cheek. Let us likewise remember the 
equally gradual declension. At length the 
sturdy son supports his feeble fire. For he 
who, in his youth, was swiftest in the 
race, is now scarcely able to uphold his 251 LETTER XV. 
tottering limbs. The man of war, whose  
sturdy arm wielded the blood-thirsting 
sword of battle, is now bending under the 
weight of his own body. Behold, his 
sinews are dried up, and the purple current 
that bounded in his veins now heavily and 
scarcely creeps along. In every part alike 
the powers of this wonderful machine de- 
cay. The teeth, designed both for use 
and ornament, robbed of their beautiful 
enamel, become unsightly, and drop out 
of their sockets. The penetrating eye, 
that searched into the very abyss of 
thought, is altogether useless, or but dimly 
discerns the rays of light. Manly forti- 
tude is now no more; and wisdom itself 
retires from the decayed mansion.—Such 
is the almost universal condition of old age, 
properly called our second childhood; and 
plain are the inferences to be drawn from 
hence. 
If a light and easily digested nourish- 
ment was necessary before our bodies had  252 LETTER XV. 
obtained their proper strength, surely a 
siimlar method of living is the most proper 
when they have lost it; and therefore—the 
steps by which we mounted into life, are
the easiest and best paths to descend into 
the grave. 
The digestive powers of age are equal- 
ly enfeebled with the members of the 
body; and, undoubtedly, the same reason 
that forbad the use of flesh, before we had 
teeth, points out the necessity of gradually 
declining it as they decay. There are, in- 
deed, some few persons toothless who are 
not far advanced in life; but such consti- 
tutions are generally feeble, and therefore 
the precautions are not unapplicable to 
them. 
These arguments being rightly under- 
stood, there will be little occasion to en- 
large upon this subject, as the directions 
for the management of children, from the 
time of weaning them, until they may be 253 LETTER XV. 
entrusted to the care of themselves, com- 
prehend every necessary instruction for the 
regimen of old age; and those persons act 
wisely who consider it as a second child- 
hood. 
I need not be more particular on this 
head, as few, I am persuaded, will suppose 
this period to commence with themselves,
before it is necessary for them to conform
to these rules. 
Age, undoubtedly, requires indulgence, 
but at the same time indolence creeps on it 
imperceptibly. Those persons suffer least 
from pain, who rouze themselves to a state of 
activity; and there are exercises well adapted 
even to advanced life: an additional warmth 
of covering is at this time necessary, yet those 
act most prudently who do not accustom 
themselves to very warm cloaths, and very 
warm rooms, while they are capable of en- 
during the variations, of their natural 
climate.
Z254 LETTER XV. 
Nevertheless, one remark must not escape 
our observation; I mean the happy effect 
of temperance through life: it not only 
prevents disease as we are upon our journey, 
but enables us to receive the intended 
benefit, and cordial support, of wine, and 
other comfortable sippings, in this time 
of need. Nature, in a temperate person, 
obtains fresh vigour and spirits from such 
exhilarating juices; but where the consti- 
sution has been accustomed to excess, no 
advantage, in the decline of life, can be 
derived from their use. 
I have now fulfilled my present design; 
and through every letter have aimed at 
conveying my observations in a rational 
and amusing manner; calculated, I hope, 
to please, at the same time that I wish to 
instruct. It is a topic which in different 
parts of it has been handled by very able 
men; and yet has generally I believe been 
esteemed a dry subject, particularly by the 
ladies, to whom it essentially belongs.255 LETTER XV. 
This dislike seems, probably, to have arisen 
from the stile not being sufficiently void of 
terms of art; for the taste, as well as 
judgment, must be pleased, when we mean 
to encounter prejudices, and to correct long 
established errors. 
It will give me a particular satisfaction,
if I have so far succeeded in my undertaking, 
as that the present collection of letters may 
deserve a place in the ladies library; and 
perhaps this little volume may sometimes 
prove the companion of the nursery and 
sick chamber, or even afford an hour’s 
amusement in a carriage. 
It is intended, my fair, to render your 
characters truly amiable; and I trust will 
be received as a present from a sincere 
friend to the sex. Where tenderness, good 
nature, sense, and virtue, are beautifully 
blended in a female form, our admiration 
and love are equally engaged; and where 
this proves to be the case, every man is,256 LETTER XV. 
surely, desirous of contributing to the ser-
vice of perfections so irresistibly engaging- 
such, at least, is the resolution of.
Ladies, 
Your devoted 
Humble servant. 
March 20,1774. 
HUGH SMITH. 
FINIS.