UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
WASHINGTON,  D.C.
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     DISCOURSES AND LETTERS

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       LOUIS JCORNARO,

                ON A

 SOBER  AND TEMPERATE LIFE?

               WITH A

    BIOGRAPHY OF THE AO'lHOR,

         BY PIERO MARONCELLI.

                AND

     NOTES AND AN APPENDIX,

                 BY

         JOHN BURDELL.

        TWENTY* FIFTH THOUSAND.



  FOWLERS  AND WELLS, ^BLISHERS,
        NO. 308  BROADWAY.
  In l!ntiTOSf :                   Phiukiiii'iiii :
1*9 W,Mt.iiixt. n ^irr»li               >'<. v«l Arch Sirc»t, 
W-z-

1842,
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the jcar 184^,
             By JOHN BURDELL,
in the (Ilf-V? Office "*' the District Court for tho Soolb-
            em District of New-Yeil;
Stcifpotypea Dy Viincf.kt L. Diil,
123 Fulton-street, New-Yorr 
  Ma.n is placed in Hie scale of creation at the head of
the anin al kingdom, and endowed, firs  with a mererial
nature, in which lie comes under laws common  to the
whole material world.   lie has also an organic nature,
likewise an animal nature, an intellectual nature, and a
moral nature.
  ()CJ- Whoever breaks  any of the laws which  govern
these natures, must be subject to the penalties annexed
to them.   The higher the nature, the greater the pen-
alty.
  Dr. Johnson says, " Health is so necessary to all the
duties, as well as to all the pleasures of life, that the
crime of squandering it is greater than the folly; and he
that for a short gratification brings weakness and dis-
ease upon himself, and for the pleasure of a few years,
condemns the maturer and more experienced part of his
life to the chamber and the couch, may be justly re-
proached, not only as a spendthrift of his own happi-
ness, but as the robber of the public,—as a wretch thai
has voluntarily disqualified himself for the business oi
his station, ind refused that part which Providence as
signs him  in tne general task of human nature." 
CONTENTS.
Cornaro's Treatise en a Sober Life  -----    3
    "    Compendium of a Sober Life -  -  -   -    59
    "    Earnest Exhortation  ----.-    79
    "    Letter to the Right Rev. Barbaro   -   -    9G
    "    Letter to Sperone Speroni   -  -  -   -    11
Letter from Cardinal Cornaro to Lewis Cornaro -   119
Letter from Bernardin Tomitano to the Right Rev.
    Cornelius...........   123
Biography of Cornaro.........127
Notes on a Sober and Temperate Life  -  -  -   -   1 •'>•')
Notes on the Biography   --......175
Introduction to the Appendix  ------   1S2
Appendix    -------..---   183
Original Food of Man.........1S3
Digestion, and a Drawing of the Human Stomach   199
Man when Civilized—Sleep—and Fans   -  -   -   20-1
Comparative Anatomy.........205
Drawing of a Child's Jaw and Teeth  -  -  -   -   2(M
     "     an Orang Outang's  ------   208
           Hog's  ----«.  %.  ...   21C
     "     Panther's  ---"--..-   21.
 Opinions of various Authors  .......   212
 Tea and Coffee ; its effects, &c. ......   216
 Tight Dress, and tha results.....*   -   219 
PREFACE.
   The Discourses  of Cornaro have been



great  favorites  with  the  reading public,



ever since they first  appeared ; and have



been translated into most foreign languages.



In this country, in especial, they have been



sought  after with  great eagerness;  and



hardly a year elapses without the appear-



ance of a reprint;  which is almost imme- 
VI              PREFACE.




diately exhausted.   This  fact  serves  to




indicate,  that  the sound  principles  and




maxims of temperance of the  " old  man



eloquent" are, though centuries  have elap-




sed since his decease, still efficient in turn-



ing men to a sober and temperate life ; and



in connection  with the great reformation



now taking place  among us, in  relation  to



temperance, demonstrates the utility of his




precepts, by si cw'.ng us the fruit of them.



  The former editions of  the  Works  of




Cornaro,  which  have  appeared  in  this




country, are mere reprints  of the English




translation of  1768, and contain but  four




of his " Discourses," as they are termed 
                 PREFACE.              Yll




 by  the  English editor.   The short  and



 meagre  notice of the Author, which is pre-




 fixed to the English edition, has also been




 servilely copied, with all  its errors and de-



 ficiencies, in all the  American reprints.




   Wishing  to give to the world an edition,




 which might, in  some respects, at least, be




 superior to  its predecessors, I requested of




 Signor Piero Maroncelli, a gentleman of




 great learning and  ability, a Biographical



 Memoir  of  Cornaro.  Signor  Maroncelli



 acceded  to  my  request, and the  reader



will perceive, upon a perusal of his Sketch



of the Life of Cornaro, that he has per-



formed the  task  with great fidelity and ac- 
Till             PREFACE.


curacy;  having procured  his information


from  the  most authentic sources, and en«


riched his memoir with copious and learned


Notes.  His Biography of Cornaro,  must


necessarily,  in my opinion, be the  founda-


tion of all future  ones, since he  has too


clearly shown the errors and misstatements


of all  those previous, to entitle them to any

          i
credit.


  Besides this valuable Life of Cornaro, I


have  been enabled to enrich this  edition


with an interesting letter from Bernardin


Tomitano to Cardinal  Cornaro, which ap-


peared as a dedication to  the first edition


of Cornaro's Discourses, published  during 
                PREFACE.              IX




the life of the Author, and under his direc-




tion, in 1558 ; and also with two very valu-



able and interesting letters  from Cornaro



himself  to  the Cardinal Cornaro, and to



Sperone Speroni;  the last of which merits



the appellation  of a Fifth  "Discourse."




These letters  have been translated from




the original Italian expressly for this  edi-




tion, and are to be  found in no other.



  From the above it  will appear, that the



additions and  improvements in this edition




are such as to  render  it superior  to  any



other which has yet been published.



  The Notes and Appendix consist of such




matters as  seemed  to  me  relevant,  and 
 X               PREFACE.




 to have an important bearing upon the sub-



 ject of Dietetics.   I V»r them, I, of course,



 hold  myself solely responsible;  and  al-



 though I  may  seem to some readers to



 wander, at times, in my illustrations;  a se-



 cond perusal will, 1 feel confident, be  suffi-




 cient to show  the pertinency of my  re-




 marks.  Believing, as I firmly do,  that the



 habitual excesses in eating and drinking,




over which Cornaro so  pathetically mourns,



as cutting  off thousands in the flower of




youth, are committed  to  an equally de-




plorable extent, at this day, with  all the




superadded light which science and experi*




ence have  furnished as a beacon  to deter 
                PREFACE.               XI




the unwary from the course of vicious in-




dulgence, I have felt it my duty to enforce




the arguments of our Author, by examples



afforded by the present advanced state of



physiological research, which have, to my




mind, the force of mathematical demonstra-



tion.  The scr-ptural illustrations, tending




to confirm the deductions of science and




reason, cannot be deemed  foreign to the




subject; since the commands of God to his



chosen people, to abstain from  forbidden



meats, are clearly based upon philosophical




grounds, which render them equally appli-




cable to  all  mankind, extrinsic of  Divine




authority 
tli              "REFACE.




  In conclusion, 1 take the opportunity to



state that the engraving of Cornaro, pre-



fixed to this edition, is an exact copy of Chat



to be found  in the standard Italian edition,




publrshed  under  the  superintendence  of




Bartolommeo Gamba.



                       John Burdell




  Ncvh York, January 1th, 1842. 
A
              TREATISE

                   ON  A

          SOBER   LIFE.
  WRITTEN AT THE AGE OF 83, IN THE YEAH 1530.


   *'■ It is a thing past all doubt, that custom,
by time, becomes a second nature, forcing
men to use  that, whether  good or bad, to
which  they  have been  habituated: nay, we
see habit, in many things, ge-t the better of
reason.  This is so undeniably true, that
virtuous men, by conversing with the  wick-
ed, very often fall into the  same vicious
course of life.   The contrary, 'likewise, we
see sometimes  happen; viz. that, as good
morals easily change to bad, so bad morali
  * Notes and  drawings at the end of the work, denot
ed by the figures in the text 
4
CORNARO'S TREATISE
change again to good.  For instance : let a
wicked man, who was  once virtuous, keep
company with a virtuous man, and  he will
again become virtuous; and this alteration
can be attributed to  nothing but the force
of habit,  which  is,  indeed,  very  great
Seeing many examples of this; and besides,
considering  that, in  consequence of  this
great force  of  habit,  three bad customs
have  got  footing in  Italy within  a  few
years, even  within my own memory ; the
first  flattery and ceremoniousness;  the
second Lutheranism,1  which  some have
most preposterously  embraced; the third
intemperance.   And that these three vices,
like so many cruel monsters, leagued, as
indeed they are, against mankind,  have
gradually  prevailed so far, as to rob  civil
life of its sincerity, the  soul of its piety, and
the body of its health : I have resolved to
treat of the last of these vices,  and prove
that it is  an abuse, in order to extirpate it,
if  possible.  As to the second, Lutheran-
ism,  and the first, flattery, I  am certain,
that some great genius or anothe- will soon 
             ON A SOBER LIFE.            5

undertake the task of exposing their defor-
mity, and  effectually  suppressing  them.
Therefore, I  firmly hope, that, before I die,
I shall  see these three abuses  conquered
and  driven out of Italy ;  and this country
of course  restored to its  former laudable
and virtuous  customs.
  To come then to that abuse, of which I
have proposed to speak, namely, intemper-
ance ; I say,  that it is a pity it should have
prevailed so much, as entirely to banish so-
briety.  Though all  are  agreed, that  in-
temperance is the offspring of gluttony, and
sober living of abstemiousness ;  the former,
nevertheless,  is considered as a virtue and
a mark of distinction, and  the latter,  as dis-
honorable and the badge of avarice.   Such
mistaken notions are entirely owing to the
power of custom, established by our senses
and irregular appetites; these have blinded
and  besotted men  to such a degree, that,
leaving  the paths of virtue, they have fol-
lowed those of vice, which lead them  before
their  time  to an old age, burdened with
strange  and mortal infirmities, so as to ren«
              1* 
6          CORNARO'S TREATISE
der them  quite decrepid before forty, con-
trary to the effects of sobriety, which, be
fore it was banished by  this destructive
intemperance, used to keep men sound and
hearty to the age of eighty ana upwards.
O wretched  and unhappy  Italy ! do not
you  see, that intemperance murders every
year more of your subjects, than you cou'd
lose  by the most cruel  plague,  or by fire
and  sword in many  battles ?  Those truly
shameful feasts, now so much in  fashion,
and so intolerably profuse, that  no tables
are large enough to hold the dishes, which
renders it necessary to heap them one upon
another;  those  feasts, I say, are so many
battles: and how  is it possible  to  support
nature by such  a  variety of contrary and
unwholesome foods?  Put a stop to this
abuse, for God's sake, for there is not,  I am
certain of it, a vice more abominable  than
this  in the eyes  of the Divine  Majesty.
Drive away this new kind of death, as you
have banished the plague,  which, though it
formerly used  to make such  havoc, now
does little  or  no mischief, owing to  the 
ON A SOEER LIFE.
7
 audable practice of attending more to the
goodness of the  provisions brought  to our
markets.  There are means still left to ban-
ish intemperance, and such means too, that
every man may have recourse to them with-
out any assistance.  Nothing more is requi-
site for this purpose, than to live up to  the
simplicity dictated by nature, which teaches
us to be content with little, to  pursue  the
medium of holy abstemiousness and  divine
reason, and to accustom ourselves to eat no
more than is absolutely necessary to support
life ; considering, that what exceeds this, is
disease  and death, and  merely gives the
palate  a satisfaction, which,  though  but
momentary, brings on the body a long and
lasting train of disagreeable sensations and
diseases, and  at length  destroys it along
with the soul.   How many friends of mine,
men of the finest understanding and most
amiable disposition, have  I seen carried off
by this plague  in the flower of their youth?
who,  were  they now living, would be an
ornament to the public, and whose com- 
8           CORNARO'S TREAT. BE

pany I should enjoy with as much pleasure,
as I now feel concern at their loss.
  In  order, therefore, to put a stop to so
great  an evil, I have resolved by this shorl
discourse to demonstrate, that intemperance
is an abuse which may be easily removed,
and that the good old sober living may be
substituted in its stead ; and this I undertake
the more readily, as many young  men of
the best understanding, knowing that it is a
vice,  have  requested  it  of  me,  moved
thereto by  seeing their  fathers  drop off in
the flower of their youth, and me so sound
and hearty at the age of eighty-one.  They
express a desire to  reach  the same term,
nature not forbidding us to wish  for  lon-
gevity: and old age being, in fact,  the time
of life in which prudence can be  best ex-
ercised, and the fruits of all the  other  vir-
tues enjoyed with less opposition, the pas-
sions being then so subdued, that man gives
himself up entirely to  reason.   They be-
seeched  me to let them know the method
pursued by me to attain it; and  then  find-
ing them  intent on so laudable  a pursuit, I 
             ON A SOBER LIFE.             9

have  resolved to treat of that method, in
order to be of service not only to them, but
to all those who may be willing to  peruse
this discourse.  I shall, therefore, give my
reasons for  renouncing  intemperance, and
betaking myself to a sober course of life ;
declare freely the method pursued  by me
for that purpose;  and then set forth the ef-
fects of so good an habit, upon me ; whence
it may be  clearly gathered, how easy it  is
to remove the abuse  of intemperance.   I
shall conclude, by showing how many con-
veniences and blessings are the consequen-
ces of a sober life.
  I say then, that the heavy train of infir-
mities, which had not  only  invaded,  but
even made great inroads in my constitution,
were my motives for  renouncing intempe-
rance, to which I had been greatly  addict-
ed ; so that, in consequence of it, and  the
badness of  my  constitution, my stomach
being exceedingly cold  and moist,  I was
fallen into different kinds of disorders, such
as pains in my stomach, and often stitches,
»*d spices of the gout;  attended by, what 
10
CORNARO'S TREATISE
was still worse, an almost continual  slow
fever, a stomach generally out of order, and
a perpetual thirst.  From these natural and
acquired disorders, the best delivery I had
to hope for was death, to put an end to the
pains and miseries of  life; a  period  very
remote  in the  regular course of  nature,
though  I had  hastened it by  my irregular
manner of  living.  Finding  myself,  there-
fore, in such  unhappy circumstances be-
tween  my  thirty-fifth and  fortieth  year,
svery thing that could be thought of having
ooen tried to no purpose to relieve  me, the
physicians  gave  me  to understand, that
there was but  one method left to  get the
better of my complaints, provided I  would
resolve to use it, and patiently  persevere in
it.  This was  a  sober  and  regular  life,
which they assured me would be still of the
greatest service to me, and  would  be as
powerful in  its effects, as the  intemperate
and irregular one had been, in reducing me
to the  present low condition: and  that  I
might be fully satisfied of its salutary ef-
fects, for though by my irregularities I was 
ON A SOBER LIFE.
II
become Infirm, I was not reduced so low,
but that  a temperate life, the opposite in
every respect to an intemperate one, might
still entirely  recover me.  And  besides, it
in fact appears, such a regular life, whilst
observed, preserves men of a bad constitu-
tion, and far  gone in years, just as a con-
trary course  has the  power to  destroy
those of  the best constitution, and in  their
prime ; for this plain reason, that different
modes of life are attended by different ef-
fects ; are following, even herein, the steps
of nature, with equal power to correct nat-
ural vices and inperfections.  This is ob-
vious in husbandry and the like.  They ad-
ded, that if I did not immediately have re-
course to such a regimen, I  could receive
no benefit from it in  a few months, and that
in a few more I must resign  myself to
death.
  These solid  and  convincing arguments
made such an impression on me, that, mor-
tified as  I was besides, by the thoughts of
dying in  the prime of life, and at the same
time perpetually tormented  by various dis- 
 12          COBNARO'S TREA738E

eases,  I  immediately  concluded,  that the
foregoing contrary effects could not be pro-
duced but by contrary modes of living; and,
therefore, full of hopes,  resolved,  in order
to avoid at once both death and diseases, to
betake myself to a  regular course of life.
Having,  upon this, inquired of them whal
rules I should  follow, they  told me, that I
must not use any food, solid or liquid, bul
such as, being generally  prescribed to sick
persons, is, for that reason, called  diet, and
both very  sparingly.  These  directions, to
say the truth, they had  before given  me;
but it was at a time  of life when, impatient
of such restraint, and finding  myself satia-
ted, as it were, with  such food, I could not
put up with it, and therefore  eat  freely of
every thing I liked best; and likewise, feei-
 ng myself in a manner  parched up by the
heat of  my disease, made  no scruple  of
drinking, and in larg'3 quantities, the wines
that best pleased my pale«te.   This indeed,
like all other patients, I  kept a secret from
my physicians.   But, when  I  had once re-
solved to live  sparingly, and  according to 
ON A SOBER LIFE.           13
the dictates of reason, seeing that it was no
difficult matter, nay, that it was my duty as
a man to do so, I entered with so much re-
solution upon this new course of life, that
nothing has  been since  able to divert me
from it.  The consequence was,  that in a
few days  I began to perceive, that such a
course agreed with me very well;  and by
pursuing it, in less than a year, I found my-
self (some persons, perhaps, will not believe
it) entirely freed from all my complaints.
  Having thus recovered my health, I  be-
gan seriously to consider the power of tem-
perance, and say to myself, that if this vir-
tue had efficacy enough  to subdue  such
grievous disorders as mine, it must have still
greater to preserve me in health, to help my
bad constitution, and comfort my very weak
stomach.   I  therefore applied  myself dili-
gently to discover what kinds of food suited
me best.  But, first, I resolved to try, whe-
ther those, which pleased my palate, agreed
or disagreed with my stomach, in order to
judge for myself of  the  truth of that pro-
verb, which I once held for true, and is uni-
              2 
14          CORNARO'S TREATISE

versally held as such in the highest degree,
insomuch that epicures, who give a loose to
their appetites, lay it down as a fundamental
maxim.   This  proverb  is,  that whatever
pleases  the  palate, must agree with the
stomach, and nourish the body; or what-
ever is palatable must be equally wholesome
and nourishing.  The issue was, that I found
it to be false: for, though rough and very
cold  wines,  as likewise  melons and other
fruits, salad, fish, and pork,  tarts, garden-
stuff, pastry, and the like, were very pleasing
to my palate, they disagreed  with  me not-
withstanding.  Having thus convinced my-
self, that the proverb in question was false,
I looked upon it as such; and, taught  by
experience,  I gave over the use  of such
meats and wines, and likewise of ice , chose
wine suited to my stomach, drinking of it but
the quantity I knew I could digest.3   I did
the same by my meat, as  well in regard to
quantity as to quality, accustoming myself
never to cloy my stomach with eating or
drinking; but constantly rise from table with
a disposition to eat and drink still more.  In 
             ON A SOBER LIFE.           15
this I conformed to the proverb, which says,
that a man, to consult his health, must check
his  appetite.  Having in this  manner, and
for  these reasons, conquered intemperance
and irregularity, I betook myself entirely to
a temperate and regular life : which effected
in me the alteration already mentioned, that
is, in less than a year  it rid me of all those
disordcr.s which had taken so deep a root in
me; nay. as  I have already observed, had
made such a progress, as to be in a manner
incurable.  It had likewise this other good
effect, that I  no longer experienced those
annual fits of sickness, with which I used to
be afflicted, while I followed a different, that
is, a sensual course of life; for then 1 used
to be attacked every year with a strange
kind of feven, which sometimes brought me
to death's door.  From this disease then, I
also freed myself, and  became exceeding
healthy, as I have continued from that time
forward to this very day; and for no other
reason than that I never trespassed against
regularity, which by its infinite efficacy has
been the cause, that the meat  I constantly 
16
CORNARO'S TREATISE
eat, and the wine I constantly drank, being
such as agreed  with  my constitution,  and
taken in proper quantities, imparted all theil
virtue to my body, and then-left it without
difficulty, and without  engendering in it any
bad humours.
  In consequence therefore  of my taking
such methods, I  have always enjoyed, and
(God be praised) actually enjoy, the best of
healths.  It is true, indeed, that, besides the
two foregoing most important rules relative
to eating and drinking, which I  have ever
been very scrupulous  to observe; that is,
not to take of any thing, but as much as my
stomach can easily digest, and to use those
things  only, which agree with me ; I  have
carefully avoided heat, cold, and extraordi-
nary fatigue, interruption of my usual hours
of rest, excessive venery, making any  stay
in bad air, and exposing myself to the wind
and sun ; for these, too, are great disorders.
But then, fortunately,  there is no great diffi-
culty in avoiding them, the love of life and
health having more sway over men of under-
standing, than any satisfaction they could 
             ON A 80BER LIFE.           1?

find in doing what must be extremely hurt-
ful to their constitution.   I  have likewise
done all that lay in my power to avoid those
evils, which we do not find  so easy to re-
move ; these  are  melancholy, hatred, and
other violent passions, which  appear to have
the  greatest  influence over our bodies.
However, I have not been able to guard so
well against either one or the other kind of
those disorders, as not to suffer myself now
and then to be hurried away by many, not
to say, all of  them ; but I have reaped the
benefit of knowing by experience that these
passions have, in the main, no great influ-
ence over bodies governed by the two fore-
going rules  of eating and  drinking, and
therefore can do them but very little harm;
so that it may with great truth be affirmed,
that whoever observes  these two  capital
rules, is liable to very little  inconveniency
from any other excesses.   This, Galen, who
was an eminent physician, observed before
me.   He affirms, that so long as he follow-
ed these rules relating to eating and drink-
ing, he  suffered but little from other disor-
              2* 
18          JORNAHO's TREATISE
ders, so little, that  they never gave  him
above a day's uneasiness.  That what he
says is true, I am a living witness, and so
are many others, who know me, and  have
seen how often I have been exposed to heats
and colds,  and  such  other  disagreeable
changes of weather; and  have,  likewise,
seen me (owing to various  misfortunes,
which have  more than once befallen  me)
greatly disturbed in mind.  For they can not
only say of me,  that such disturbance of
mind has done me very little harm, but they
can aver, of many others, who did not lead
a sober and regular life, that it proved very
prejudicial to them,  amongst whom was a
brother of my own, and others of my family,
who trusting to the g'odness of their con-
stitution, did not foil jw my way of living.
The consequence hereof  was a great  mis-
fortune to them, the perturbations of the
mind having thereby acquired an extraordi-
nary influence over their bodies.  Such, in a
word was their grief and dejection at seeing
me involved in  expensive  law suits, com-
menced against me by great and powerful 
ON A SOBER LIFE.
19
men, that,  fearing I should be cast, they
were seized with that melancholy humour,
with  which  intemperate  bodies  always
abound ;  and these humours had such an
influence over them, and increased to such
a degree, as to carry them off before their
time: whereas I suffered  nothing on the
occasion, as I had in me no superfluous hu-
mours of that kind.   Nay, in order to keep
up  my spirits, I brought  myself to think,
that God had raised up these suits against
me, in order to make me  more sensible of
my strength of body and  mind; and that 1
should  get  the better of them with honour
and advantage, as it, in fact, came to pass:
for, at last, 1 obtained  a decree  exceeding
favourable  to my fortune and my character,
which, though it gave me the highest plea-
sure, had not the power to do me any harm
in other respects.  Thus it is  plain, that
neither melancholy nor any other affection
of the mind can hurt bodies governed  with
temperance and regularity.
  But I must go a step further, and say, that
even misfortunes themselves can do but very 
20         COh.JNAft.Ob aaATISB
little mischief, or cause but very .ittle pain
to such bodies ; and that this is true, I have
myself experienced  at the age of seventy.
[ happened, as is often the case, to be in a
coach, which, going at a pretty smart rate,
was overset, and in that condition drawn a
considerable way  by  the  horses, before
means could be found to stop them ; whence
[ received so many shocks and bruises, that
I was taken out with my  head  and all  the
rest of my body terribly battered, and a dis-
located leg and arm.   When I was brought
home, the family immediately sent for  the
physicians,  who, on their arrival, seeing me
in so bad  a plight, concluded  that within
three days  I should die; nevertheless, they
would try what good  two things would do
me ;  one was to bleed me, the other was to
purge me; and thereby  prevent my hu-
mours altering, as they every moment ex-
pected, to  such a degree, as  to  ferment
greatly, and bring on a high fever.  But I,
on the contrary, who knew, that  the sober
 life I had led  for many years past, had so
 well  united, harmonized, and disposed my 
             ON A 30BER LIFE.           21
humours, as not to leave it in their power
to ferment to such a degree, refused to be
either bled or  purged.  I just caused my
leg and arm to be set, and  suffered myself
to be rubbed with some  oils, which  they
said were proper on  the occasion. Thus,
without using any other kind of remedy, I
recovered, as 1 thought I  should, without
feeling the least alteration in myself, or any
other bad effects from the accident; a thing
which appeared miraculous even in the eyes
of the  physicians.  Hence we are to infer,
that whoever leads a sober and regular lite,
and commits no excess in his diet, can sufte;
but very little  from disorders of any other
kind, or external accidents.  On the  con-
trary, I conclude, especially from the  late
trial I have had, that excesses in eating and
drinking are fatal. Of this I convinced my-
self four years ago, when, by the  advice of
my physicians, the instigation of my friends,
and  the importunity of my own  family, I
consented  to such an excess, which,  as  it
will appear hereafter, was attended with far
worse consequences than could naturally bo 
32         CORNARo's TREATISE
expected. This excess consisted in increas-
ing the quantity of food  1  generally made
use of; which increase alone brought on me
a most cruel fit of sickness.   And as it is a
case so much in point to the subject in hand,
and  the knowledge of it may be useful to
some of my readers, I  shall take the trouble
to relate it.
  I say, then, that my dearest friends  and
relations, actuated by the warm and laud-
able affection and regard  they have for me,
seeing  how little I eat, represented to me, in
conjunction  with my physicians, that the
sustenance I took could not be sufficient to
support one so far advanced in years, when
it was  become  necessary not only to pre-
serve  nature,  but to increase its  vigour
That, as this could not be done without food
it was  absolutely incumbent upon me to eat
a little more plentifully.   I,  on the othei
hand, produced my reasons  for not  comply
ing with their  desires.   These were,  that
nature is content with little, and that with
this little I had  preserved myself so many
years ; and that, to me, the habit of it  was 
             ON A SOBER LIFE.           23

become a second  nature;  and that it was
more agreeable to reason that, as I advanced
in years and lost my strength, I should ra-
ther lessen than increase the quantity of my
food.   Farther, that it was but natural to
think, that the powers of the stomach grew
weaker from day to day ; on which account
I could see no reason to make such an ad-
dition.  To  corroborate my arguments,  I
alledged those  two natural and  very true
proverbs; one, that  he, who has a mind to
eat a great deal, must eat but little ; which
is said for no other reason than this, that
eating little makes a man live very long; and
living very long he  must eat  a great deal.
The other proverb was, that what we leave
after making a hearty meal, does us more
good than what we have eat.  But neither
these proverbs, nor any other arguments I
could think of,  were able  to prevent  their
teasing me  more than ever.  Wherefore,
not to appear obstinate, or affect to know
more than the physicians themselves;  but,
above all, to please my family, who  very
earnestly desired it, from a persuasion thai 
24
CORNAR; 's TREATISE
such an  addition to my usual allowance
would preserve my strength, I consented to
increase the quantity of food, but with two
ounces only.  So that, as before, what with
bread, meat, the yolk of an egg, and soup, I
eat as much as weighed  in all twelve ounces,
neither more nor less, I now increased it to
fourteen ; and as before I drank but four-
teen ounces of wine, I  now  increased it to
sixteen.   This increase and irregularity had,
in eight day's time, such an effect upon me,
that, from being cheerful and brisk, I began
to be peevish and melancholy, so  that no-
thing could please me:  and was constantly
so strangely disposed, that I  neither knew
what to say to others, nor what to do with
myself.   On the twelfth day, I was attack-
ed with  a most violent pain  in  my side,
which held me twenty-two hours, and was
succeeded  by a terrible fever, which con-
tinued thirty-five days and as many nights,
without  giving  me  a  moment's  respite;
though, to say the truth, it began  to abate
gradually on the fifteenth.  But  notwith-
standing such abatement,! could not,during 
ON A SOBER LIFE.          25
the whole time, sleep half a quarter of an
hour  together, insomuch that  every one
looked upon me as a dead man.  But, God
be praised, I recovered merely by my for-
mer regular course  of life, though then  in
my seventy-eight year, and in  the coldest
season of a very cold year, and reduced to
a mere skeleton ;  and I am positive that it
was the great regularity I had observed for
so many years, and that only, which rescued
me  from the jaws of death.  In all that time
I never knew what sickness was, unless  I
may call by that name some slight indispo-
sition  of a day or two's  continuance; the
regular life I had led, as I  have already
taken  notice, for so many years, not having
permitted any superfluous or  bad  humours
to breed  in  me; or, if they did, to acquire
such strength and malignity, as they gener-
ally acquire in the superannuated  bodies of
those  who live without rule.   And as there
was not any old malignity in my  humours
(which is the thing that  kills people,) but
3nly that, which my new irregularity had
>ccasioned, this fit of sickness,  though ex-
             3 
 26         CORNARO'S TREATISE

 ceeding violent, had not strength enough to
 destroy me.  This it was, and nothing else.
 that saved my life ;  whence may be ga-
 thered, how great is the power and efficacy
 of regularity; and how  great, likewise, is
 that of irregularity,  which in a few days
 could bring on me so terrible a fit  of sick-
 ness, just as regularity had preserved me in
 health for so many years.
  And it appears to me a no weak argument,
 that, since the world, consisting of the four
elements, is upheld by order ; and  our life,
as to the body, is no other than an harmo-
nious combination of the same four elements,
so it should be  preserved and  maintained
by the very same order ; and, on the other
hand, it must be worn out  by sickness, or
destroyed  by death, which are produced by
the contrary effects.  By order, the  arts are
more  easily learned ; by order, armies  are
rendered victorious; by  order, in  a word,
families, cities, and even states are maintain-
ed.   Hence I concluded, that orderly living
is no other than a most  certain cause and
foundation of health  and long life; nay, I 
ON A SOBER LIFE.
cannot help saying, that  it is the only
true medicine ;  and" whoever  weighs
matter well, must also conclude, that thh  is
really the case.  Hence  it is, that whet, a
physician comes to visit a patient, the first
thing he  prescribes, is to  live regularly.  In
like manner, when a physician  takes leave
of a patient, on his being recovered, he ad-
vises him, as he tenders his health, to lead a
regular life.  And it is  not to  be doubted,
that, were a patient so recovered to live in
that manner, he could never be sick again,
as it remc ves every cause of illness; and so,
for the future,  would never  want either
physician ox  physic.  Nay, by attending
duly to what 1 have said, he would become
his own physician, and, indeed,  the best he
could have ; since, in fact, no man can be  i
perfect physician to any one but himse f.
The reason of which is, that any man may,
bv repeated trials, acquire a perfect know-
ledge of his own constitution, and the most
hidden qualities of his body ; and what wine
and food agree with his stomach.3   Now, it
is so far from being an easy malter to know 
28*
CORNARO'S TREATISE
these things  perfectly of another, that we
cannot without much trouble discover them
in ourselves, since a great deal of time and
repeated trials arc requisite for that purpose
   These trials are, indeed, (if I may say it)
more than necessary, as there is  a greater
variety in the natures and  constitutions of
different men, than in their persons.   Who
could believe, that old wine, wine that had
passed its first year, should disagree with my
stomach, and new wine agree with it ? and
that pepper, which is looked upon as a warm
spice, should  not  have a warm effect upon
me, insomuch that I find myself more warm-
ed and  comforted by cinnamon ?  Where
is the physician, that could have  informed
me of these two latent qualities, since I my-
self, even by a long course of observation.
could scarce discover them ?  From all these
reasons  it follows, that it is impossible to be
a  perfect physician  to  another.    Since.
therefore, a man cannot have a better phy-
sician than  himself, nor any physic  better
than a regular life, a regular life he ought
to embrace. 
            ON A SOBER LIFE.            29

  I do  not, however, mean, that  for the
knowledge and cure  of  such discrders, as
often befal those who  do  not live regularly,
there is  no occasion for a physician, and that
his assistance ought to be slighted.  For, if
we are  apt to receive such great  comfort
from friends, who come to visit us in our
illness, though they do no more  than testify
their concern for us, and bid us be of good
cheer ; how much more regard ought we to
have for the physician, who is a friend that
comes to see us in order  to relieve us, and
promises us a cure ?   But for the bare pur-
pose of  keeping us in good health, I am of
opinion, that we should consider as a physi-
cian this  regular  life, which, as we  have
seen, is  our natural and proper physic, since
it preserves men, even those of a bad con-
stitution, in health ; makes  them live sound
and hearty to the age of one hundred and
upwards ; and prevents their dying of sick-
ness, or through a corruption of their hu-
mours, but merely by a dissolution of their
-adieal moisture, when quite exhausted; all
which effects several  wise men  have  attri-
             3* 
10          CORNARO'S TREATISE
outed to potable gold, and the elixir, sought
for by many, but discovered by few.  How-
ever, to confess the truth, men, for the most
part, are very sensual and intemperate, and
love to satisfy their appetites, and to com-
mit every excess ; therefore, seeing that they
cannot avoid being greatly injured by such
excess, as often as they are guilty of it, they
by way of apologizing for their conduct, say,
that it is better  to live ten  years less, and
enjoy  themselves;  not considering of what
importance  are  ten  years  more of life,
especially a healthy life, and at  a maturer
age ; when  men  become  sensible of their
progress in knowledge and virtue,  which
cannot attain to any degree of perfection
before this  period of life.
  Not to speak, at present, of many other
advantages, 1 shall barely mention  that in
regard to letters and the sciences ; far  the
greatest number of the best and most cele-
brated books extant, were  written  during
that period of life, and those ten years, which
some  make  it their business to undervalue,
in order to give a 1 >ose to their  appetites,. 
            ON A SOBER LIFE.           31

Be that as it will, I would not act like them.
I rather coveted to live these ten years, and
nad I not done so, I should never have finished
those tracts, which I have composed in con
sequence  of my  having been  sound and
hearty these ten  years  past; and which I
have the  pleasure to think will be of service
to others.   These sensualists  add, that  a
regular life is such as no man can lead.  To
this I answer, Galen, who was  so great  a
physician, led such a life, and chose it as the
best physic.  The same  did Plato, Cicero.
Isocrates, and many other great  men of for-
mer times ;  whom, not to tire the reader, I
shall forbear naming: and, in our own days,
Pope  Paul  Farnese led it, and Cardinal
Bembo ;  and it was for that reason  they
lived  so  long;  likewise our  two doges,
Lando and Donato ; besides many others of
meaner condition, and  those who live  not
only in cities, but also in  different parts of
the country, who  all found great benefit by
conforming to this regularity.   Therefore,
since  many have led this  life, and many
actually lead it, it is not such a life but that 
32
CORNARO'S TREATISE
every one may conform to it; and the more
so, as no great difficulty attends it; nothing,
indeed, being requisite but to begin in good
earnest, as the above-mentioned  Cicero af-
firms, and  all those who now live in  this
manner.   Plato, you  will  say,  though  he
himself lived very regularly, affirms, not-
withstanding, that, in republics, men cannot
do so, being often obliged to expose  them-
selves to heat, cold, and several other kinds
of hardship, and other things, which are all
so many disorders, and incompatible with a
regular life.  I answer, as  I  have already
observed, that these are  not disorders at-
tended with any bad consequence, or which
affect either  health  or life, when the man,
who undergoes them, observes the rules of
sobriety, and  commits  no excess  in the two
points concerning diet, which a  republican
may very well avoid, nay it is requisite  he
should avoid ; because, by so doing, he may
be sure either  to escape those  disorders,
which, otherwise, it would be no easy mat-
ter for him to escape while exposed to these
hardships ; or, in case he could not escape 
ON A SOBER LIFE.
33
them, he may more easily and speedily pre-
vent their bad effects.
   Here it may be objected, and some actu-
ally object, that he, who leads a regular life.
having constantly, when well, made use  of
food fit for the sick, and in small quantities.
has no resource left in case of illness.  To
this 1 might, in the first place, answer, that
nature, desirous to preserve man  in good
health as long as possible, informs him, her-
self, how he is to act in time  of illness; for
she immediately deprives him, when sick, of
his appetite, in order that he may  eat but
little ;  because nature (as I  have  said al-
ready) is satisfied  with little ; wherefore, it
is  requisite, that a man, when sick, whether
he has  been a regular or irregular liver.
should use no meats, but such as are suited
to his disorder; and of these even in a much
smaller quantity than he was wont to do,
when in health.   For were he  to eat  as
much as he  used to do, he would die by it;
because it would be only adding to the bur-
den, with which  nature was  already op-
pressed, by giving  her a greater quantity of 
34          CORNARO'S TREa MSE
food, than she can, in  such circumstances,
support; and  this,  I  imagine, would  be a
sufficient caution to any sick person.  But,
independent of all this, I might answer some
others, and still better, that whoever  leads
a regular life, cannot be sick; or, at  least,
but seldom, and for a short time ; because,
by living regularly, he extirpates every seed
of sickness;  and  thus, by  removing the
cause, prevents the  effect; so that he, who
pursues a  regular course of life,  need not
be apprehensive of illness, as he need not be
afraid of the effect, who has guarded against
the cause.
  Since it therefore appears that a  regular
life is so profitable  and virtuous,  so lovely
and so holy, it ought to be universally fol-
lowed and embraced ;  and the more so, as
it does not clash with the means  or duties
of any station, but is easy to all; because,
to lead it, a man need not tie himself down
to eat so little as I  do, or not to eat  fruit,
fish, and other things of that  kind,  from
which I abstain, who eat little, because it is
sufficient for my puny and weak stomach; 
ON A SOBER LIFE.
35
and fruit, fish, and other things of that kind;
disagree with  me, which is  my reason foi
not touching them.  Those, however, with
whom such things agree, may, and ought to
eat them ;  since they are not by any means
forbid the  use  of such  sustenance.  But,
then,  both they, and all others, are forbid to
eat a  greater quantity of any kind of  food,
even of that which agrees with them, than
what  their stomachs can easily digest; the
same  is to be understood of drink.  Hence
it  is that those, with whom nothing  disa-
grees, are  not bound to observe any rule
but that relating to the quantity, and not to
the quality, of their food : a rule which they
may,  without  the least difficulty  in the
world, comply with.4
  Let nobody tell  me, that there  are num-
bers, who, though they live most irregular-
ly, live in health and spirits, to those remote
periods of life, attained by the most sober;
for, this argument being grounded on a case
full of uncertainty and hazard, and which,
besides, so  seldom occurs, as to look more
like a  miracle than the work  of nature, men 
36
CORNARO'S TREATISE
should not suffer themselves to be thereby
persuaded to live irregularly, nature having
been too liberal to those, who did so without
suffering by  it;  a favor,  which very few
have any right to expect.  Whoever, trust-
ing to his youth, or the strength of his con-
stitution, or the goodness of  his stomach,
slights these  observations, must expect  to
suffer greatly by so doing, and live in con-
stant danger of disease and death.  I there-
fore affirm, that an old man, even of a bad
constitution, who leads a regular and sober
life, is surer of a long one, than a young man
of the best constitution, who leads a disor-
derly  life.  It is not to be doubted, however,
that a man blessed with a good constitution
may, by living temperately, expect to live
longer than one whose constitution is not so
good ; and that God and nature can dispose
matters so, that a man shr«l bring into the
world with him so  sound  a constitution, as
to live long and  healthy, without observing
such strict rules ; and then die in a very ad-
vanced age, through  a  mere dissolution of
his elementary parts; as was  the case, in 
             ON A SOBER LUE.            37

Venice, of the procurator, Thomas Conta-
rini; and, in Padua, of the cavalier Antonio
Capo di Vaica.  But it is hot one man in a
thousand, that so much can be said of.   If
others have a mind to live long and healthy
and  die without sickness of body or  mind,
but by mere dissolution, they must submit
to live regularly, since  they cannot other-
wise expect to enjoy the fruits of such a life,
which  are  almost  infinite in number, and
each of them, in particular, of infinite value.
For, as such regularity keeps the humours
of the body cleansed and purified ; it suffers
no vapors to ascend from the  stomach  to
the head ; hence the brain of him, who lives
in that manner, enjoys such a constant  se-
renity, that he is always perfectly master of
himself.6  He, therefore, easily  soars  above
the low and grovelling concerns of this life,
to the exalted and beautiful  contemplation
of heavenly things, to his exceeding great
comfort and satisfaction ; because  he,  by
this  means, comes  to consider, know, and
understand that, which otherwise he would
never  have considered, known, o.r  under-
              i 
38          COKNARo's TREATBi
stood ;  that is, how great is the power, wis-
dom, and goodness of the Deity.  He then
descends to  nature, and acknowledges her
for the daughter of God ;  and sees, ana
even feels with his hands, that which in any
other age, or with a perception less  clear,
he could never have seen or felt.  He then
truly discerns the brutality of that vice into
which they fall, who know not how to sub-
due their passions, and those three importu-
nate lusts, which, one would imagine, came
all together into the world with  us, in order
to keep us in perpetual anxiety and disturb-
ance.  These are, the lust of the flesh, the
lust of honors, and the lust of riches ; which
are apt to increase with years in such old
persons as do not lead  a  regular life ; be-
cause, in their passage through the stage of
manhood, they did not, as they ought, re-
nounce sensuality and their passions; and
take up with  sobriety and reason ; virtues
which  men of a regular life did not neglect
when  they  passed through the  above men-
tioned  stage.  For, knowing such passions
and such lusts to be  inconsistent with rea- 
ON A SOBER LIFE.           89
son, by which they are entirely governed ;
they, at once, broke loose from all tempta-
tions to vice ;  and, instead  of being  slaves
to their inordinate  appetites,  they applied
ihemselves to virtue and good works;  and
by these means, they altered their conduct,
and became men of good and  sober lives.
When,  therefore, in process  of time, they
see themselves  brought by a long series of
years to their dissolution, conscious that,
through the singular mercy of God, they had
so sincerely relinquished the paths of vice,
as never afterwards  to enter them ;  and
moreover hoping, through the merits  of our
Saviour Jesus Christ,  to die in his  favor,
they do not suffer  themselves to be cast
down at the thoughts of death, knowing that
I hey must die.  This is particularly the case,
when,  loaded  with  honor,  and sated with
life, they see themselves arrived at that age,
which not one in many thousands of those,
who live  otherwise, ever attains.   They
have still the greater reason  not  to  be de-
jected at the thoughts  of death, as it does
not attack  them violently and  by surprise, 
40         CORNARO'S TREATISE

with a bitter and painful turn of their li!i
mors, with feverish  sensations,  and sharp
pains, but steals upon them insensibly, and
with the greatest ease and gentleness ; such \
an end, proceeding entirely from  exhaustion
of the radical moisture, which  decays by
degrees like the oil of a lamp ; so that they
pass gently, without any sickness, from this
terrestrial and mortal to a celestial and eter-
nal life.
  O holy and truly happy regularity !  How
holy and  happy should  men, in  fact, deem
thee, since the opposite  habit is the cause of
such guilt and misery, as evidently appears
to those  who  consider the opposite effects
of both I  so that men should  know thee by
thy voice alone, and thy lovely  name ; for
what a glorious name,  what a noble thing,
is an orderly and sober  life ! as, on the con-
trary, the bare mention of disorder and in-
temperance is offensive to our ears.   Nay,
there is  the  same difference  between the
mentioning these  two  things, as be!ween
the uttering of the words angel  and devil.
   Thus  I have assigned  my reasons for 
             ON A 80BER LIFE            41
abandoning intemperance, and betaking my-
self entirely to a sober life ;  with  the me-
thod I pursued in doing so, and what was
the consequence of it; and, finally, the ad-
vantages and  blessings, which a sober life
confers upon those who embrace it.  Some
sensual, inconsiderate persons affirm, that a
long life is  no blessing; and that the state
of man, who  has passed his seventy-fifth
year, cannot really be called life, but  death.
but this is  a great mistake, as I shall fully
prove; and it is  my sincere wish,  that  all
men would endeavour to attain my age, in
order that  they too may enjoy*that  period
of life, which of all others is the most de-
sirable.
  1 will therefore give an  account of my
recreations, and the relish which I find at
this stage of life, in order to convince the
public (which may likewise be done by all
those who  know me) that the state I have
now attained to is by no means death, but
real life ; such a life, as by many is deemed
happy, since it abounds  with all the felicity
that can be enjoyed in this world.  And this
             4* 
42
CORNARO'S TREATISE
 testimony they will give, in  the first place,
 because they see, and not without the great-
 est amazement, the good state of health and
 spirits  I enjoy;  how I mount  my horse
 without any assistance, or advantage of situ-
 ation ;  and how I not only ascend a single
 flight of stairs, but  climb  up an hill from
 bottom to top, afoot, and with the greatest
 ease and unconcern ; then how gay, pleas-
 ant, and good-humored I am ;  how free
from every perturbation of mind, and every
disagreeable thought; in lieu of which, joy
and peace have so  firmly fixed their resi-
dence in my bosom, as never to depart from
it.  Moreover, they know  in what  manner
I pass my time, so as not to find life a bur-
den ; seeing I  can contrive to spend every
 hour of it with  the greatest delight and
 pleasure, having frequent opportunities of
 conversing with many honorable gentlemen
 men valuable for their good sense and man-
 ners, their acquaintance with  letters, and
 every other good quality.  Then,  when  1
 cannot enjoy their conversation, I  betake
 myself to the reading of some good book. 
ON A SOBER LIFE.
43
When I have read as much as I like, I write;
endeav aring, in this as in every thing else,
to be of service to others, to the utmost of
my power.  And all these things I do with
the greatest ease to myself, at their  proper
seasons, and in my own house ; which, be-
sides  being  situated  in the most  beautiful
quarter of this noble and learned city of
Padua, is,  in itself, really convenient and
handsome, such, in a word, as it is no longer
the fashion to build; for, in one part of it,
I can shelter  myself from extreme  heat;
and. in the other, from extreme cold,  having
contrived  the apartments according to the
rules  of architecture, which teach us what
is to be observed in practice.
  Besides this  house, I have my several
gardens, supplied with running waters; and
in which I always find something to do, that
amuses me.  iTiave another way of divert-
ing myself, which is going every April and
May, and,  likewise, every September and
October, for some days, to enjoy an emi-
nence belonging to  me in the Euganean
mountains, and  in the most beautiful part of 
44
CORNARO'S TREATISE
them, adorned with fountains and gardens s
and, above all, a convenient and handsome
lodge ; in  which place  I likewise now and
then make one in some hunting  party suit-
able to my taste and age.  Then  1 enjoy for
as many days my villa in the plain, which is
laid out in regular streets, all terminating  in
a large square, in the middle of which stands
the church, suited to  the condition of the
place.  This villa is divided by a wide and
rapid branch of the  river Brenta, on both
sides of which there is a considerable extent
of country, consisting entirely of fertile and
well-cultivated  fields.   Besides, this district
is now, God be praised, exceedingly well in-
habited, which it was not at first, but rather
the reverse ; for it was marshy ;  and the air
so unwholesome, as to make it a residence
fitter for  snakes than men.  But, on my
draining off the waters, the  air mended, and
people resorted to it so fast, and increased
to such a  degree, that  it  soon acquired the
perfection in which it now  appears  : hence
I may say with truth, that I have offered in
this place an altar and  a  temple to God, 
ON A SOBER LIFE.           45
 vith souls to adore him:  these  are things
which afford  me infinite pleasure, comfort,
and satisfaction, as often as I go to see and
enjoy them.
  At the same  s-easons every year, I revisit
some of the  neighboring  cities, and enjoy
such of my friends as live there, taking the
greatest pleasure in their company and con-
versation ;  and by their means I also enjoy
the conversation of other men of parts, who
live in the same places ; such as architects,
painters, sculptors, musicians, and husband-
men, with  whom  this age most certainly
abounds.   I visit their new works; I revisit
their former ones ; and 1 always learn some-
thing, which  gives  me satisfaction..   I see
the palaces, gardens, antiquities; and with
these, the squares and other  public places,
the churches, the fortifications,  leaving no-
thing unobserved, from whence 1 may reap
either entertainment  or  instruction.   But
what delights me most, is, in my journeys
backwards and forwards, to contemplate
the  situation  and  other  beauties  of the
places  I  pass through; some in the  plain, 
46
CORNARO'S TREATISE
others on hills, adjoining to rivers or foun-
tains; with a great many fine houses and
gardens.  Nor are my recreations rendered
less agreeable and  entertaining by my not
seeing well, or not hearing readily every
thing that is said to  me ; or by any other of
my faculties not being perfect; for they are
all, thank God, in the  highest  perfection ;
particularly my palate, which  now relishes
better the  simple fare  I  eat, wherever I
happen to be, than it formerly did the most
delicate dishes, when 1 led an irregular life.
Nor does the change of beds give me  any
uneasiness,  so that I  sleep  everywhere
soundly  and  quietly, without experiencing
the least disturbance;  and all  my dreams
are pleasant and delightful.
   It is likewise with the greatest pleasure
and satisfaction I  behold the success of an
undertaking  so important  to  this state, I
mean that  of draining  and improving so
many uncultivated pieces of ground, an un-
dertaking begun within my memory ;  and
which I  never thought  I should live to see
completed;   knowing how slow republics 
ON A SOBER IIFE.          47
are apt to proceed in  enterprises  of great
importance.  Nevertheless, I have lived  to
see it; and was even in person,  in these
marshy places, along with those appointed
to superintend the draining of them, for two
months together, during the greatest heats
of summer, without ever finding myself the
worse for the fatigues or inconveniences I
suffered ; of so much efficacy is that orderly
fife, which I everywhere constantly lead.
   What is more, I am in the greatest hopes,
or rather sure,  to see the beginning and
completion of another undertaking of no
less importance, which is that of preserving
our estuary or port, that last and wonderful
bulwark of my  dear country, the preserva-
tion of which (it is not to flatter my vanity
I say it, but merely to do justice to truth)
has been  more than once recommended by
me to this republic, by word of mouth, and
in writings  which cost me many  nights'
study.  And  to this dear country  of mine,
as I am bound  by  the laws of nature to do
every thing, fron: which it  may reap any
benefit, so I most ardently wish perpetual 
48
COhNARo's TREATISE
duration, and  a long  succession of  every
kind of prosperity.  Such are my genuine
and no trifling satisfactions; such  are the
recreations and diversions  of my old age;
which is so much the more  to be valued
than the old age, or even youth, of other
men, because being freed, by God's  grace,
from  the  perturbations of the mind, and
the infirmities of the  body, it no longer ex-
periences any of those contrary emotions,
which torment a number of young men, and
many old ones destitute of  strength and
health, and every other blessing
   And if it be lawful to compare little mat-
sers, and such  as are esteemed trifling, to
affairs of importance, I will further venture
to say, that such are the effects of this sober
life, that at my present age of eighty-three,
I have been able to write a very entertain-
ing comedy, abounding with innocent mirth
and pleasant jests.  This species of compo-
sition is generally the child and offspring of
youth, as tragedy is that of old age ; the for-
mer being by its facetious and  sprightly turn
suited to the bloom of life, and the latter by 
   %         ON A SOBER LIFE.          49

its gravity adapted to riper years.   Now
if that good old man,* a Grecian  by birth,
and a poet, was so much extolled for having
written  a tragedy at the age of seventy-
three, and on that account alone, reputed of
sound memory and understanding,  though
tragedy be a grave and melancholy poem ;
why should I be deemed less happy, and to
have a smaller share of memory and under-
standing,  who have, at  an age ten years
more advanced than his, written a comedy,
which, as every one knows, is a merry and
pleasant kind of composition ?  And, indeed,
if I may be allowed to be an impartial judge
in my own cause, I cannot help thinking,
that I  am now of sounder memory  and
understanding, and heartier, than he  was
when ten years younger.
   And, that no comfort jnight be wanting
to the  fullness of my years, whereby my
great age may be rendered less irksome, or
rather  the number of my enjoyments in-
creased, I have the additional comfort of
  * Saphoclea
5 
50         CORNARO'S TREATISE
seeing a kind of immortality in a succession
of descendants.  For, as often as I return
home. I  find there, before me. not one or
two, but eleven grandchildren, the oldest of
them eighteen, and the youngest  two; all
the offspring of one father and one mother;
all blessed with the best health ; and, by
what as yet appears, fond of  Learning, and
of good parts  and morals.   Some of  the
youngest I always play with ; and, indeed,
children from three to five  are only fit for
play.  Those above that age I make com-
panions  of;  and,  as  nature  has bestowed
very fine voices upon them, I amuse myself,
besides,  wilh seeing and  hearing them sing,
and play on various  instruments.  Nay,  I
sing myself, as I have a better voice now,
and a clearer and louder pipe, than at any
other period of life.   Such  are the recrea-
tions of my old age.
   Whence it appears, that the life I lead  is
cheerful, and not  gloomy, as some persons
pretend, who know no better ; to whom, in
order that it  may appear what value I set
on every other kind of life, I must declare, 
ON A SOBER LffE.          51
that I would not exchange my manner of
living or my grey hairs with  any of those
young men, even of the best constitution,
who gfve way to their appetites ; knowing,
as  I do, that such are  daily, r.Tay. hourly
subject, as I have already observed,  to a
thousand  kinds  of ailments  and  deaths.
This is, in fact, so obvious, as  to require no
proof.   Nay, I  remember perfectly  well,
how I used to behave at that time of life.
I know how inconsiderately that  age is apt
to act, and how foolhardy young men, hur-
ried on by the heat of their blood, are wont
to be; how apt  they are to  presume too
much on their own strength in all their ac-
tions ; and how sanguine they are  in  their
expectations; as well  on account of the
little experience they have had for the time
past, as by reason of the power they enjoy
in their own imaginations over the time to
come.  Hence they expose themselves rash-
ly to every kind  of danger ; and, banishing
reason, and bowing their necks to the yoke
of concupiscence, endeavour  to gratify all
their appetites, not minding, fools  as  they 
 52         CORNARo's TREATISE

 are, that they thereby hasten, as I have se-
 veral times observod, the approach of what
 they  would most  willingly  avoid, I mean
 sickness  and death.  Of these  two evils,
 one is troublesome and  painful,  the other
 above all things dreadful and  insupport-
 able ; insupportable to every man, who has
 given himself up to his sensual appetites, and
 to young men in particular, to whom it ap-
 pears a  hardship  to die  an early death;
 dreadful  to those, who reflect on the errors
 to which this mortal life  is subject, and on
 the vengeance wJiich the justice of God is
 wont  to  take on sinners, by  condemning
 them  to  everlasting punishment.  On the
 other hand, I, in my old age, (praise to the
 Almighty,) am exempt from both these ap-
 prehensions ; from  the one, because I am
 sure and  certain that I cannot fall sick, hav-
 ing removed  all the causes of illness by my
 divine medicine; from the  other, that of
death, because from so many years' experi-
ence I have learned to obey reason; whence
I not  only think it a great piece of folly to
 fear that which cannot be avoided, but like- 
ON A SOBER IIFE.
53
wise firmly expect some consolation, from
the grace of Jesus Christ, when 1 shall ar-
rive at that period.
  Besides, though I am sensible that I must,
like others, reach that term, it is yet  at so
great a distance, that I  cannot discern it,
because I know I shall  not die except by
mere dissolution, having already, by my re-
gular course of life, shut up all the  other
avenues of death, and  thereby prevented
the humors of my body from making  any
other war upon me, than that which I must
expect from the elements employed in  the
composition of this mortal frame.  I am not
so simple as not to know, that, as I was born,
so I must die.  But that  is a desirable death,
which nature brings on  us by way of disso-
lution.  For nature, having herself formed
the union between our body and soul, knows
best in what manner it  may be most easily
dissolved, and grants us a longer day to do
it,  than we  could  expect from  sickness,
which is violent.  This  is the death, which,
without speaking like a poet, I may call, not
death, but  life.   Nor can it be otherwise
             5* 
54         COBKABO'I TREATISE
Such a death does not overtake one till after
a very long course of years, and in conse-
quence of an extreme  weakness; it being
only by slow degrees  that men grow too
feeble  to walk, and unable to reason, be-
coming blind, and deaf, decrepid, and  full
of every other  kind  of infirmity.  Now I,
(by God's blessing) may be quite sure that
I am at a very great distance  from such a
period.   Nay, I have reason to think, that
my soul, having so agreeable a dwelling in
my body, as not to meet with any thing in
it but peace, love, and harmony, not only
between  its  humors, but  between my rea-
son and the  senses, is  exceedingly content
and well pleased with her present situation:
and of course, that a great length of time
and many years must  be requisite  to  dis-
lodge  her.  Whence it must be concluded
for certain, that I have  still a series of years
to live in health and  spirits, and  enjoy this
beautiful world, which  is, indeed, beautiful
to those, who know how to make it so, as I
have done, and likewise expect to be able
to do, with God's assistance,  in  the next j 
             ON A SOBER LIFE.            55

 and all by the  means  of virtue, and that
 divine  regularity of  life,  which  I  have
 adopted,  concluding an  alliance with my
 reason, and declaring war against my sen-
 sual appetites;  a thing which every man
 may do, who desires to live as he ought.
   Now, if this sober life be so happy ; if its
 name be so desirable and delightful;  if the
 possession of the blessings which attend it,
 be so stable and  permanent, all I have still
 left to do, is to beseech (since I cannot com-
 pass my desires by  the powers of oratory)
 every man of a liberal disposition, and sound
 understanding, to embrace with open arms
 this most  valuable treasure of a long and
 healthy life ; a treasure, which as it exceeds
all the  other  riches and blessings of this
world, so  it deserves above all things to be
cherished, sought after,  and  carefully pre-
served.   This is that divine sobriety, agree-
able to the De4ty, the friend of nature, the
daughter of reason,  the sister of all the vir-
tues, the  companion of temperate  living,
modest, courteous, content with little, regu-
lar, and perfect  mistress of all her opera- 
©€          CORNARO1* TREATISE
tions.  From her, as from their proper root,
spring life, health,  cheerfulness, industry,
learning, and all those actions and employ-
ments worthy of noble and generous minds.
The laws of God and man  are all in her
favor.   Repletion,  excess,  intemperance,
superfluous humors, diseases, fevers, pains,
and  the  dangers of death,  vanish, in her
presence, like clouds before the sun.  Her
comeliness  ravishes  every  well-disposed
mind.  Her influence is so sure, as to pro-
mise  to all a very long and agreeable exist-
ence ; the facility of acquiring her is  such,
as ought to induce every one  to look for her
and share in her victories.  And, lastly, she
promises to be a mild and agreeable guard-
ian  of life ; as well of the rich as of i the
poor; of the male  as  of the  female  sex ;
the old as of the young;  being that which
teaches  the rich, modesty;  the poor, fru-
gality ; men, continence ; women, chastity ;
the  old, how to ward off the  attacks of
death; and bestows on youth firmer and
securer hopes of life.  Sobriety renders the
senses clear, the body light, the understand- 
ON A SOBER LIFE.
67
ing lively, the soul brisk, the memory tena-
cious, our motions free, and  all our actions
regular and  easy.   By means of sobriety,
the soul delivered, as it were, of her earthly
burthen, experiences  a  great deal of  her
natural liberty : the spirits circulate gently
through the arteries;  the blood runs freely
through  the  veins;  the  heat of  the  body,
kept mild and temperate, has mild and tem-
perate effects : and, lastly, our faculties, be-
ing under  a perfect regulation, preserve a
pleasing and agreeable harmony.
   O most  innocent  and holy sobriety,  the
sole refreshment of nature, the nursing mo-
ther of human life, the true physic of soul
as well as  of body.   How ought men to
praise thee, and thank thee for thy princely
gifts!  since  thou bestowest on  them  the
means of  preserving  this blessing, I mean
life and health, than which it has not pleas-
ed  God we stiould enjoy a greater on  this
side of the grave, life and existence being a
thing so naturally coveted, and willingly pre-
served by every living creature.   But, as I
do no. intend to write a panegyric on this 
58  CORNXRO'S TREATISE ON A SOBER LIFE

rare and excellent virtue, I shall put an end)
to this discourse, lest I should be guilty of
excess, in dwelling so long on so pleasing a
subject.  Yet as numberless things may still
be said off it, 1 leave off, with an intention
of setting forth the rest of its praises at a
more convenient opportunity. 
              CORNARO'S

       COMPENDIUM

                  OF A

           SOBER  LIFE.

 warrrEw at t*ie age of eighty-six, in the yeae
                  1553.


  My treatise on a sober life has begun to
answer my desire, in  being of service to
many persons born  with a weak constitu-
tion, who every  time  they committed the
least excess, found themselves greatly indis-
posed, a thing which it must be allowed does
not happen to robust people,  several of
these persons of weak constitutions, on see-
ing the  foregoing treatise,  have betaken
themselves to a regular course of life, con-
vinced by experience of its utility.  In like 
 60        CORNARO'S COMPENDIUM

 manner, I should be glad to be of service
 to those, who are born with a good consti-
 tution, and presuming upon  it, lead  a dis-
 orderly life ; whence it comes to pass, that,
 on their attaining the age of sixty or  there-
 abouts, they are attacked with various pain9
 and diseases ; some with the gout, some with
 pains in  the side, and others with pains in
 the stomach, and the like, to which they
 would not be subject, were they to embrace
 a sober life, and as  most of them  die be-
 fore  they attain  their eightieth year, they
 would live to a hundred, the time allowed
 to man by God and nature.  And, it  is but
 reasonable  to believe, that the intention of
 this our mother is, that we should all  attain
 that  term, in order that we might all taste
 the sweets  of every state of life.   But, as
our birth is subject to the revolutions of the
heavens, these have great influence over it,
especially in rendering our constitutions ro-
bust  or infirm ; a thing, which nature can-
not  ward against; for,  if she could, we
should all bring a good constitution with us
into  the world.  But then the hopes, that 
OF A SOBER LIFE.           61
man, being endowed with reason and under-
standing, may of himself compensate, by
dint of art, the want  of that, which  the
heavens have  denied him; and, by means
of a sober life, contrive to mend his infirm
constitution, live to a great age, and always
enjoy good health.8
  For man, it is not to be  doubted, may by
art  exempt himself in part from the influ-
ence of the heavens; it being the common
opinion, that the heavens give an inclination,
but do not impel us; for which reason  the
learned say, that a wise man rules the stars.
I was born with  a very choleric disposition,
insomuch that there was no living with me;
but I  took notice of it, and considered, that
a person swayed by his  passion,  must at
certain times be no better  than a madman;
I mean at those  times, when he suffers his
passions to  predominate,  because  he then
renounces his reason and understanding. I,
therefore, resolved to make my choleric dis-
position give way to reason;  so that now.
though born choleric, I never suffer anger
entirely to overcome me.  The man, who
             6 
62         CORNARO'S COMPENJITTM

is naturally of a bad constitution, may, in
Hke manner, by dint of reason,  and a sober
life, live to a great age and in good health,
as I  have  done,  who  had  naturally the
worst, so that  it was imposible 1 should live
above forty years, whereas I now find my-
self sound and hearty at the age of eighty-
six ; and were  it not for the long and violent
fits of illness  which I experienced in my
youth to such  a degree,  that the physicians
gave  me over, and which robbed me of my
radical moisture, a loss absolutely ir re pair-
able,  I might  expect to attain  the  above-
mentioned  term of  one hundred.  But I
know for good reasons that it is impossible;
and, therefore, do not think of it.    It is
enough for me, that  I have  lived forty-six
years beyond  the tei in I had a  right to ex-
pect ; and  that, during this so long a respite
all my senses have continued perfect;  and
even my teeth,7 my voice, my memory, and
my strength.   But what is still more, my
brain  is more itself now than ever it was;
nor do any of  these  powers abate as  1 ad-
vance in years; and this because, as I grow 
If A SOBER LIFE
65
older, I lessen the quantity of my solid food.*
  This retrenchment is necessary, nor can
it be avoided, since it is impossible for a man
to live for ever; and, as he draws near hip
end, he is reduced so low as to be no longei
able to take any nourishment, unless it be to
swallow, and  that  too  with difficulty, the
yolk of an egg  in the four and twenty hours,
and thus end  by mere  dissolution, without
any pain or sickness, as I expect will be my
case.8  This is a blessing of great  import-
ance ; yet may  be expected by all those,
who shall  lead a sober life, of whatever de-
gree or condition, whether high, or middling,
or low; for we are all of the same  species,
and composed of the same four elements.
And, since a long and healthy life ought to
be greatly coveted by every man, as I shall
presently show, I conclude, that every man
is bound in duty to exert himself to obtain
longevity,10 and that he cannot promise him-
aelf such a blessing without temperance and
sobriety.
  Some alledge, that many, without leading
such a life, have lived to an  hundred, and 
b4        CORNARO'S COMPENDIUM
that in  constant  health, though they eat a
great deal, and used indiscriminately every
kind of viands and wine ; and, therefore,
flatter themselves, that they shall be equally
fortunate-  But in  this they are guilty oj
two mistakes ;  the first is, that it is not one
in an hundred thousand that ever attains
that happiness; the other mistake is, that
such, in the  end, most assuredly contract
some illness, which  carries them  off: nor
can they ever be sure of ending their day«
otherwise : so that the safest way to obtain
a long and healthy life is, at least after for-
ty, to  embrace sobriety.   This is no such
difficult affair, since history informs us of so
many who in former times lived  with the
greatest temperance; and I know that the
present age  furnishes us with  many such
instances, reckoning myself one of the num-
ber : we are all human beings, and endow-
ed with reason," consequently we are mas-
ters of all our actions.
   This  sobriety is  reduced to two things,
quality  and  quantity.  The  first,  namely,
quality, cons'sts in  nothing, but not eating 
             OF A SOBER LIFE            65

food, or drinking wines, prejudicial to the
stomach.  The second, which is quantity,
consists in not eating or drinking more than
the stomach can easily digest; which quan-
tity and quality every man should be a per-
fect judge of by the time he is forty, or fifty,
or sixty ; and, whoever observes these two
rules, may be said to live a regular and sober
life.  This is of so much virtue and efficacy,
that  the humors of such a man's body be-
come most homogeneous,  harmonious, and
perfect;  and, when thus improved, are  no
longer liable to be corrupted or disturbed  by
any  other  disorders  whatsoever, such  as
suffering excessive heat or cold, too much
fatigue, want of natural rest, and the like,
unless in the last degree of excess. Where-
fore, since the  humors  of persons, who ob-
serve these two rules relative to eating and
drinking, cannot possibly be corrupted, and
engender acute diseases, the sources of  an
untimely death, every man is bound to com-
ply with them : for whoever acts otherwise,
living a disorderly instead  of a regular life,
is constantlv exposed to disease and mortal-
             ft* 
66        C0RNAR0*8 COMPENDIUM
ity, as well in consequence of such disorders
as of others without number, each of which
is  capable of producing the same destruc-
tive effect-   It  is,  indeed, tree, that even
those, who observe  the two rules relating
to diet, the observance of which constitutes
a sober life, may, by committing any  one of
the other irregularities,  find  himself the
worse for it, a day or two ; but not so as to
breed a fever.ia  He may, likewise, be af-
fected by the revolutions of the  heavens;
but neither the  heavens, nor  those irregu-
larities, are capable  of corrupting the hu-
mors of a temperate person ; and it is but
reasonable and  natural it should be so, as
the two irregularities of diet  are interior,
and the others exterior.
   But as there  are  some persons, stricken
in years, who  are, notwithstanding, very
gluttonous,  and alledge  that  neither the
quantity Or quality of their diet makes any
impression upon them, and therefore eat a
great deal, and  of every thing without dis-
tinction, and  indulge themselves equally in
point of drinking, because they do not know 
OF A SOBER Lie H.           67
in what part of their bodies thei/ atcmaohs
are situated;13 such, no doubt. ».e beyond
all measure sensuaJ, and slaves to gluttony.
To these  I answer, that what they say is
impossible in the nature of things, because
it is impossible that every man, who comes
into  the world, should not bring with him
a hot, a cold, or  a temperate  constitution;
and  that hot foods should agree with hot
constitutions, cold with  cold  ones;  and
things  that are not of a temperate nature,
with temperate ones, is likewise impossible
in nature.  After  all, these  epicures  must
allow, that they are now and then out of
order; and that they  cure  themselves by
taking  evacuating medicines and observing
a strict diet.  Whence  it appears, that their
being out of order is  owing to their  eating
too much, and of things disagreeing with
their stomach.
  There are other old gluttons, who  say,
that it is necessary they should eat and drink
a great deal, to keep up their natural heat,
which  is constantly diminishing, as they ad-
vance  in  years; and  lhat it is, tnerefore, 
68        CORNARO'S COMPENDIUM

necessary to eat heartily, and of such things
as please  their palate, be they hot, cold, or
temperate ; and  that, were  they to  lead a
sober life, it would be a short one. To these
I answer, that our kind  mother, nature, in
order that the old  men  may live still to a
greater age, has contrived matters so, that
they should be able to subsist on little, as I
do; for, large quantities of food cannot be
digested by old and feeble stomachs.   Nor
should such persons be afraid of shortening
their  days by eating too little, since when
they happen to be indisposed, they recover
by lessening the quantity of their food; for
it is a trifle they eat, when confined to a re-
gimen, by observing which they get rid of
their disorder.  Now, if  by reducing them-
selves to a very small quantity of food, they
recover from the jaws  of death, how can
they doubt but that with an increase of diet,
still consistent however with sobriety, they
will be able to support nature when in per-
fect health ?
  Others say, that it is better for a man to
suffer every  year three  or  four returns of 
Or L SOBER LIFE.           69
his usual disorders, such as the gout, pain in
the side, and the like, than be tormented the
whole  year by not indulging his  appetite,
and eating every thing his palate likes best;
since, by a good regimen alone, he is sure
to get  the better of such attacks.   To this
I answer, that our natural heat growing less
and less, as we advance in years, no regimen
can retain virtue sufficient  to  conquer the
malignity, with which disorders of repletion
are ever attended; so that he must die, at
last, of these periodical disorders,  because
they abridge life, as health prolongs it.
  Others pretend, that it is much better to
live ten  years less, than not indulge one's
appetite.'*  To this I answer, that longevity
ought to be highly valued by men  of parts:
as to others, it is no great matter if it is not
duly prized by them, since they are  a dis-
grace to mankind, so  that their death is ra-
ther of service  to the public.'5  But  it is a
great misfortune, that men of  bright parts
should be  cut off in  that manner, since he
who is already a cardinal, might,  perhaps,
by living to eighty, attain the papal crown; 
 70        CORNARO'S COMPENDIUM
 and in the state, many, by living some years
 extraordinary, may acquire the duca dig-
 nity ;  and so in regard  to letters, by which
 a man may rise so as to be considered as a
god upon earth; and the like in every other
 profession.
  There are others, who, though their sto-
 machs become weaker and weaker with re-
spect to  digestion, as they advance in years,
cannot,  however, be brought  to  retrench
the quantity of their food, nay they rather
increase it.   And, because they find  them-
selves unable to digest the great quantity of
food, with which they must load their sto-
machs, by eating  twice in  the  four and
twenty hours, they make a  resolution  to eat
but once, that the long interval between one
meal and the other may enable them  to eat
at one sitting as  much as they used to do
in two :  thus they eat  till their  stomachs,
overburthened with much food, pall, and
sicken, and change the superfluous food into
bad humors, which kill  a  man before his
 time.  I  never knew any  person, who led
 that kind of life, live to be very old.  All 
OF A SOBER LIFE.           71
these  old men I  have been speaking of
wou.d  live long, if, as they advanced in
years,  they lessened the  quantity of their
food, and eat oftener, but little  at a time ;u
for old stomachs cannot digest  large quan-
lities'of  food;  old  men  changing, in  that
respect, to children, who eat several times
in the four and twenty hours.
   Others say, that temperance may, indeed.
keep a man  in health, but that it cannot
prolong his life.   To this I answer, that ex-
perience proves the contrary; and  that  I
myself am a living instance of it.   It  can-
not be said, that sobriety  is apt to shorten
one's days, as sickness does; and  that the
latter  abbreviates  life,  is  most certain.
Moreover, a constant succession of good
health is preferable to frequent sickness, as
the radical moisture is thereby preserved.
Hence it may be fairly concluded,  that holy
sobriety is the true parent  of health  and
longevity.
   O thrice holy sobriety, so useful to  man,
by the  services  thou  renderest him 1  thou
prolongeBt his days, by  which means he 
72
CO. NARO'S COMPENDIUM
greatly improves his understanding, and by
such improvement he avoids the bitter fruits
of sensuality, which are an enemy to reason;
man's peculiar privilege: those bitter fruits
are the passions and perturbations  of the
mind.  Thou,  moreover, freest him from
the dreadful thoughts of death.  How great-
ly is thy faithful disciple  indebted to thee,
since by thy assistance he enjoys this beau-
tiful expanse of the visible world, which is
really  beautiful to such  as know how to
view it with a philosophic eye, as thou hast
enabled me to do.  Nor could I, at any other
time of life, even when I was young, but
altogether debauched by an  irregular  life,
perceive its beauties, though  I spared  no
pains or expense to enjoy  every season of
life.   But  I found that all  the pleasures of
that age had their  alloy; so  that I  never
knew till I grew old, that  the world was
beautiful.   O truly happy life, which, over
and  above all these  favors  conferred  on
thine old man, hast  so improved  and per-
fected his stomach, that he has now a bet-
ter  relish  for his  dry bread, than he  had 
OF A SOBER LIFE.
73
 ormerly in his youth, for the most exquisite
dainties: and all this he has compassed  by
acting  rationally ;  knowing, that bread is.
above all things, man's proper food,17 when
seasoned by a good appetite; and, whilst a
man leads a sober life, he may be sure of
never wanting that natural sauce ; because,
by always eating little, the stomach, not  be-
ing much burthened, need not wait long to
have an appetite.  It is for this reason, that
dry bread relishes so well with me ; and 1
know it from experience, and can with truth
affirm, I find  such sweetnes*  in it, that 1
should be afraid of sinning against temper-
ance, were it not  for my being convinced
of the absolute  necessity of eating it, and
that we cannot make use of a more natural
food.  And thou,  kind parent Nature, who
actest so lovingly by thy aged offspring, in
order  to prolong  his days, hast contrived
matters so in his favor, that he can lite  up-
on very little ;  and, in order to  add to  the
favor, and do him still greater service, hast
made him  sensible, that, as in his youth he
used to eat twice a day, when he arrived at
              7 
   "4        CORNARO'S COMPENDIUM

   old age,  he  ought to divide  that food, of
   which he was accustomed before to  make
   but two  meals,  into  four;  because,  thus
   divided, it will be more easily digested ; and,
   as in his youth he made but two meals in
   the day, he should, in his old age, make four,
   provided  however he lessens the quantity,
..  as his years increase.  And that is what I
   do, agreeably to  my own experience ;  and,
   therefore, my spirits, not oppressed by much
  Tood, but  barely kept up, are always brisk;
   especially after eating, so that I  am accus-
   tomed then to sing a song, and  afterwards
   to write.
     Nor do I ever find  myself the  worse for
   writing immediately after meals; nor is my
   understanding ever clearer; nor am I apt
   to be drowsy; the food I take being in too
   small a quantity to  send up any jfuwie* to
   the brain. O, how advantageous it is to an
   old man  to eat but little 1  Accordingly, I,
   who know it, eat but just enough to  keep
   body and soul together; and the things I
   eat are  as follow:   First,  bread, panado,
   some broth with an egg in it, or such other 
OF A SOBER LIFE.           75
good kinds v./ soup or spoon meat.  Of flesh
meat  I eat veal, kid, and  mutton.   I  eat
poultry of every kind.  I eat patridges, and
other birds, such as thrushes.  I likewise eat
fish ; for instance, the goldney and the like,
amongst sea  fish; and the pike, and such
like, amongst  fresh water  fish.18  All these
things are fit for an old man; and, therefore,
he orght to be content with them, and con-■
sideling their number and  variety, not han-
ker after others.  Such old men, as are too "
poor to allow themselves provisions of  this
kind, may do very well  with bread, panado,
and cg£s ; things which no  poor man  can
want, unless it be common beggars, and, as
we call them, vagabonds,  about whom we
are not bound to make ourselves uneasy,
since they have brought themselves to that
pass by their  indolence ; and had better be
dead than alive; for they are a disgrace to
human nature.   But, though a  poor man
should eat nothing but bread, panado, and
eggs, there is  no necessity for  his eating
more than his stomach can digest.   And
whoe> er does not trespass in point of either 
76        CORNARO'S COMPENDIUM

quantity or quality cannot die but by mere
dissolution.18  O, w hat a difference there is
between  a regular  and an  irregular life!
One gives longevity and health, the other
produces diseases and untimely deaths.
  O unha-ppy, wretched life, my sworn ene-
my, who  art good for  nothing but to mur-
dei  those, who follow thee !   How many of
my dearest relations and friends hast thou
robbed me of, in consequence of their not
giving  credit to me;  relations and friends,
whom  I should  now enjoy.   But thou hast
not been able  to destroy me, according to
thy wicked intent and  purpose.   I am still
alive in spite  of thee,  and  have attained to
such an age,  as to  see around me eleven
grandchildren, all of fine understanding, and
amiable dispositions; all given to learning
and virtue ;  all beautiful in  their persons
and lovely in their manners ; whom, had  1
obeyed thy dictates, I should never have be-
held.  Nor should 1  enjoy those beautiful
and convenient apartments  which  I have
built from the  ground, with such a variety
of gardens, as required no small time to at 
OF A SOBER LIKE.           77
tain their present degree of perfection.  No I
thy nature is  to destroy those who  follow
thee,  before they can  see  their houses or
gardens so much as finished ; whereas, I, to
thy no small confusion, have already enjoy-
ed mine for a great number of years.  But,
since  thou art so pestilential  a vice, as to
poison and destroy the whole world ;  and
I am determined to use my utmost endeavors
to extirpate thee,nat least  in part; I have
resolved  to counteract thee  so, that my
eleven grandchildren shall  take pattern af-
ter me ; and thereby expose thee, for what
thou really art, a most wicked, desperate,
and mortal enemy of the children of men.
  I, really, cannot help admiring, that men
of fine parts, and such  there are, who have
attained a  superior rank in letters or any
other  profession, should not betake  them-
selves to a regular life, when they are ar-
i ived at the age of fifty or sixty; or as soon
as they find themselves attacked by any of
the foregoing disorders, of which they might
easily recover ; whereas, by being permit-
ted to get ahead, they become incurable. 
 78  CORNARO'S COMPENDIUM OF A SOBER LIFE.

 As  to young men, 1 am no way surprised at
 them, since,  the passions  being strong  at
 that age, they are of course the more easi-
 ly overpowered by their baleful influence.
 But after fifty, our lives  should, in every
thing, be governed by reason, which teach-
es us, that the  consequences of gratifying
our palate and our appetite are disease and
death.   Were this  pleasure  of the  palate
lasting, it would be soii^e excuse ; but it is
so momentary, that there  is  scarce  any
distinguishing between  the  beginning and
the  end of it; whereas the diseases  it pro-
duces are very durable.   But it must be a
great contentment to a  man  of sober life,
to be able to  reflect that, in  the manner  he
 lives, he is sure, that what  he eats, will keep
 him in good  health, and be  productive  of
 no disease or infirmity.
  Now I was willing to make this short ad-
 dition to my  treatise, founded on new rea-
 sons ; few persons caring to  peruse long-
 winded discourses;  whereas short tracts
 have a chance of being read  by many ; and
 I wish that many may see this addition, to the
 end that its utility may be more extensive 
       EARNEST EXHORTATION;
Wherein the Author uses the strongest arguments to
  lersuade all men to embrace a regular and sober life,
  in order to attain old age, in which they may enjoy all
  the favors and blessings, that God, in  his goodness,
  vouchsafes to bestow upon mortals.
     written at  the age of ninety-five.


  Not to be wanting  to my duty, that duty,
incumbent upon every man ; and not to lose
at the same time the satisfation I feel in be-
ing  useful to others, I have resolved to take
up  my pen,  and  inform those,  who, for
want of conversing wiih me, are strangers
to what those know and  see, with whom I
have the pleasure of being acquainted.  But,
as certain things may appear, to some per-
sons, scarce credible, nay impossible, though
actually fact,  I shall not fail to relate them 
80
CORNARO'S
for the benefit of the public.   Wherefore,
I say, being (God be praised) arrived at my
ninety-fifth year,  and still  finding myself
sound and hearty, con'ent  and cheerful, 1
never cease  thanking the  Divine Majesty
for so great a  blessing; considering  the
usual fate of other old men.  These scarce
attain the age of seventy,  without losing
their health and spirits; growing melancholy
and  peevish ; and continually  haunted by
the thoughts of death ; apprehending their
last hour from one day to another, so  that
it is impossible to  drive  such  thoughts out
of their mind ; whereas such things give me
not the least uneasiness; for, indeed, I  can-
not, at all, make  them the object of my at-
tention, as I  shall  hereafter more plainly
relate.   I  shall, besides, demonstrate  ihe
certainty I have of living to  an hundred.
But, to render this  dissertation more me-
thodical, I  shall  begin by considering  man
at his birth; and from thence  accompany
him through every stage of life to his grave.
  I, therefore, say, that some come into the
world with the stamina of life so weak, that 
EARNEST EXHORTATION.
81
mey live  but  a few  days, or  months, or
years;  and it  cannot be clearly known, to
what such shortness of  life is owing; whe-
ther to  some defect in the father or the  mo-
ther, in begetting them ; or to the revolutions
of the  heavens; or  to the defect of nature,
subject, as she is, to the celestial influence.
For, 1 could never bring myself to believe,
that nature, the common parent of all, should
be partial to any of her children.30   There-
fore, as we  cannot assign the causes, we
must be  content with reasoning from the
effects, such  as they daily  appear to our
view.
  Others are  born sound, in-doed, and fuil
of spirits ; but, notwithstanding, with a poor
Weakly constitution ; and of these some live
to the age of ten ; others to twenty ; others
to thirty  and forty ; yet they do not live to
extreme old age.   Others, again, bring into
the world a perfect constitution, and live to
old age; but it is generally, as I have already
said, an old age full of sickness and sorrow;
for which they are to thank themselves ; be-
cause  they most  un -easonably presume on 
82
CORNARC S
the goodness of their constitution ; and can-
not by  any means be brought to  depart,
when grown old, from the mode of life they
pursued in their younger days; as if they
still retained all their prmitive vigor.  Nay.
they intend to live  as irregularly when past
the meridian of life, as  they did all the time
of their youth ; thinking they shall never
grow old,  nor  their constitution be ever im-
paired.  Neither do they consider, that their
stomach hast lost its natural heat; and that
they should, on that account, pay a greater
regard to  the quality of what they eat, and
what  wines  they drink; and likewise to the
quantity of  each, which they ought to les-
sen :  whereas, on the contrary, they are for
increasing it;  saying, that, as w«e lose our
health and vigor by gn wing old, we should
endeavor  to repair the  loss  by increasing
the quantity of our food, since it is by sus-
tenance that man is preserved.
  In this, nevertheless,  they are greatly mis-
taken, since, as the natural  heat lessens as a
man grows  in years, he should diminish the
quantity of his  meat  and drinl;;  nature, 
EARNEST EXHORTATION.
83
especially at that period, being content with
little.  Nay, though they have all the reason
to believe  this  to be the case, they are so
obstinate as to think otherwise, and still fol-
low their usual disorderly  life.  But were
they to relinqjish'k in due time, and betake
themselves to a regular and  sober  course,
they would not grow infirm in their old age,
but would  continue, as  I  am, strong  and
hearty, considering how good and perfect a
constitution it has pleased  the Almighty to
bestow upon them;  and would live to the
age of one  hundred and twenty.21 This has
been the case of others, who, as we read in
many authors, have  lived a sober life,  and,
of course, were born with this perfect  con-
stitution ; and had it been  my lot to enjoy
such a constitution, I should make no doubt
of attaining the same age.  But, as I was
born with feeble stamina, I  am afraid I  shall
not outlive an hundred.  Were others, too,
who are also born with an infirm constitu-
tion, to betake themselves  taa regular life,
as I have done, they would attain the age of
one hundred and upwards, as wil be my case. 
84
CORNARO 9
  And this certainty of being able to live a
great age is, in my opinion, a great  advan-
tage, and highly to be valued ; none being
sure to live even a single hour, except such
as adhere to the rules of temperance.  This
security of life is  built on good and true
natural  reasons,  which can never  fail;  it
being impossible in the nature of things, that
he, who leads a sober and regular life, should
breed any sickness, or die of an unnatural
death, before the time, at which it is abso-
lutely impossible he should live.  But sooner
he cannot die, as a sober  life  has the virtue
to remove all the  usual causes of sickness)
and sickness cannot happen without a cause;
which cause being  removed, sickness is,
likewise, removed ; and sickness being re-
moved, an untimely and violent death must
be prevented.88
  And  there is no doubt, that temperance
has the virtue and efficacy to remove such
causes; for since  health  and sickness, life
and death, depend on the good or bad quali-
ty of the humors, temperance corrects their
vicious tendencies, and renders them per 
EARNEST EXHORTATION.        85
feet, being possessed of the natural power
of making them unite and hold together, so
as to render them inseparable, and incapa-
ble of alteration or  fermenting;  circum
stances, which engender cruel fevers, and
end  in  death.  It  is true, indeed, and  it
would be a folly to deny it, that, let our hu-
mors be originally ever so good, time, which
consumes  every thing, cannot fail to  con-
sume and exhaust them ; and  that man, as
soon as  that happens, must die of a natural
death ; but yet without sickness, as will  be
my case, who shall die at my appointed time,
when these humors shall be consumed, which
they are not at present.   Nay, they are still
perfect; nor is it  possible they should  be
Jtherwise  in my present condition, when I
find myself hearty and content, eating with
a  good  appetite,  and  sleeping  soundly.
Moreover, all  my faculties are as good as
ever, and in the highest perfection ; my un-
derstanding clearer  and brighter than ever;
my judgment  sound ;  my  memory tenaci-
ous ; my spirits good;  and my voice, the
first thing which is apt to fail others, grown
             8 
86
CORNARO'S
so strong and  sonorous, that I cannot help
chanting out loud my prayers morning and
night, instead of whispering and muttering
them to myself, as was formerly my custom.
  And these are all st> many true and sure
signs and tokens, that my humors are good,
and cannot waste but with time, as all those
who converse with me conclude.  O, how
glorious this life of mine is like to be, replete
with all the felicities which man can enjoy
on this side of the grave ; and even exempt
from  that sensual  brutality which age has
enabled my better reason to banish ; because
where reason resides,' there is  no room for
sensuality, nor for  its bitter fruits, the pas-
sions, and perturbations  of the mind, with
a train of disagreeable apprehensions. Nor
yet can the thoughts of death  find room in
my mind, as  I  have no sensuality to nourish
such  thoughts.  Neither  can the death of
grandchildren and other relations and friends
make any impression on me, but for  a mo-
ment or two; and then it  is over.  Still less
am I liable  to be  cast down  by losses in
point of fortune (as many have seen to their 
          EARNEST EXHORTATION.        87

no small surprise.)  And this is a happiness
not to be expected by any but such as at-
tain old age by sobriety, and not in conse-
quence of a strong constitution; and  such
may moreover expect to spend their  days
happily, as I do mine, in a perpetual round
of amusement and pleasure.  And how is
it possible a man should not enjoy himself,
who meets with  no crosses or  disappoint-
ments in his old age, such as youth is con-
stantly plagued with, and from which, as I
shall presently show, I have the happiness
of being exempt ?
   The first of these  is to do service to mv
country.   O !  what a glorious amusement,
in which 1 find infinite delight, as 1 tlrereby
show her the means of improving her im-
portant estuary or harbor  beyond the pos-
sibility of its filling for thousands of years
to come, so as to secure to Venice her sur-
prising and miraculous title of a maiden city,
as she really  is; and the  only one in the
whole world :  she will, moreover,  thereby,
add to the lustre of her great and excellent
Burnamc of queen of the  sea: such is my 
 88              CORNARO'S
             k
 amusement; and nothing is wanting to make
 it complete.   Another amusement of mine,
 is that of showing this maid and queen, in
 what manner she may abound with provi-
 sions, by improving large tracts of land, as
 well marshes, as barren sands, to great pro-
 fit.   A  third amusement, and an amuse-
 ment, too, without any alloy, is the showing
 how Venice, though already so strong as to
 be in a manner impregnable, may be ren-
dered still stronger; and, though extremely
beautiful, may  still  increase  in  beauty;
 though rich, may acquire more wealth, and
may  be  made  to  enjoy  better air, though
her air is excellent.  These three amuse-
ments, all arising  fiom the  idea  of public
utility, I enjoy jn the highest degree.  And
 who can say, that they admit of any alloy,
as in fact they do not ?   Another comfort
 I enjoy,  is, that  having lost  a considerable
part of my income, of which'my grandchil-
dren had been  unfortunately robbed, I by
mere dint of thotrght, which never sleeps,
and without any fatigue of body, and very
little of mind, have found a  true and infal- 
          EARNEST EXHORTATION.         89

lible  method of  repairing such loss more
than double, by the means of  that most
commendable of arts, agriculture.  Another
comfort I still enjoy is  to think, that  my
treatise  on temperance, which I  wrote in
order to be useful to others, is really so, as
many assure me by word of mouth, men-
tioning that it has proved extremely useful
to them, as it in fact appears to have been,
whilst others inform me by letter, that, un-
der God, they are indebted  to me for  life.
Still another comfort I enjoy, is that of be-
ing able  to write with my own hand;  £br,
I write  enough to be of service to others,
both on  architecture and agriculture.   I
likewise, enjoy another satisfaction, which
is ,that of conversing with  men  of bright
parts and  superior  understanding, from
whom, even at this  advanced period of life,
I learn something.  What a comfort is this,
that, old as I am, I should be able, without
the least fatigue, to study the most  import-
ant, sublime, and difficult subjects !
   I must farther add, though it may appear
impossible to some, and may be so in some
             8* 
90
CORNARO'S
measure, tnat at this age  I  enjoy, at once,
two  lives;  one terrestrial, which I possess
in fact; the other celestial, which I possess
in thought; and this thought is equal to ac-
tual enjoyment, when founded upon things
we arc sure to attain, as I am sure to attain
that celestial life, through the infinite good-
ness  and mercy of God.  Thus, I enjoy this
terrestrial life,  in consequence of  my so-
briety and temperance, virtues so agreeable
to the Deity ; and  1  enjoy, by the grace of
the same Divine Majesty, the celestial, which
he makes me anticipate in thought; a thought
so lively, as to  fix me entirely on  this ob-
ject,  the enjoyment  of which  1 hold  and
affirm to be of  the utmost certainty.   And
1 hold that dying, in the manner I expect,
is not really death, but a passage of the soul
from this earthly life to a celestial, immor-
tal, and infinitely perfect existence.  Neither
can it be otherwise :  and this thought is so
superlatively sublime, that it can no longer
stoop to low and worldly objects,  such as
the death of this body, being entirely taken
up with the happiness of living a  celestial 
          EARNEST EXHORTATION.        91

and divine Jife; whence it is, that I enjoy
two lives.  Nor  can the terminating s/ so
high a gratification, which I enjoy in  this
life, give  me any concern ; it rather affords
me infinite pleasure, as it will be only to
make room for another, glorious and immor-
tal life.
  Now, is it  possible, that any one should
grow tired of so great a comfort and bless-
ing, as this which I really enjoy; and which
every one else might enjoy by leading the
life I  have led ?  an example which every
one has  it in his  power to follow; for I am
but a mere man, and no saint; a servant of
God, to whom  so regular a life is extremely
agreeable.
  And, whereas, many embrace a spiritual
and contemplative  life, which is holy  and
commendable, the  chief  employment of
those who lead  it being to celebrate  the
praises of God; O,  that they would, like-
wise, betake themselves entirely to a regu-
lar and  sober  life !  how much more agree-
able would they  render  themselves  in  the
sight of God !  What a much greater honor 
92
CORNARO'S
and ornament would they be to the world I
Tl^y would  then be considered as saints,
indeed, upon earth, as those primitive Chris-
tians were held, who joined  sobriety to so
recluse a life.   By living, like them, to the
age of one hundred and twenty, they might,
like them, expect, by the power of God, to
work numberless miracles ;M and they would
besides, enjoy constant health and spirits,
and be always happy within themselves;
whereas they  are now, for  the most part,
infirm, melancholy, and dissatisfied.  Now,
as some of these people think, that these are
trials sent them  by God Almighty, with a
view of promoting their salvation, that they
may do penance, in  this life, for their past
errors, I cannot  help saying, that, in my
opinion, they are greatly mistaken.94  For
I  can by no means believe, that it is agree-
able to the Deity, that man, his  favorite
creature,  should  live  infirm, melancholy,
and  dissatisfied;  but  rather enjoy  good
health and spirits, and be always content
within himself.  In this manner did the holy
fathers live, and by such conduct did  they 
          EARNEST EXHORTATION.         93

daily render themselves more acceptable to
the Divine Majesty, so as to work the great
and surprising miracles we read in history.
How beautiful, how glorious a scene should
we then behold ! far more beautiful than in
those ancient times, because we now abound
with so many religious orders and monas-
teries, which did not then exist; and were
the members of these communities to lead
a  temperate life, we  should then behold
such a number of  venerable old  men, as
would create  surprise.   Nor would  they
trespass  against their rules;  they would
rather  improve  upon them;  since every
religious  community  allows  its   subjects
bread, wine, and sometimes eggs  (some of
them allow meat) besides soups made with
vegetables, sallets, fruit,  and cakes, things
which often disagree  with  them, and even
shorten their lives.  But, as they are allow-
ed such  things by their rules, they freely
make use of them ; thinking, perhaps, that
it would  be wrong  to abstain from them,
whereas  it would not.  It  would rather be
commendable, if, after the age of thirty 
94              CORNARO'S
they abstained from such food, and confined
themselves to bread, wine, broths and eggs:
for this  is the true  method  of preserving
men of a bad constitution ;  and  it  is a life
of more indulgence than that  led by the
holy fathers  of the  desert, who subsisted
entirely on wild fruits and roots, and drank
nothing but pure water; and, nevertheless,
lived, as I have already mentioned, in good
health and spirits, aud always happy, within
themselves.26  Were those of our  days to
do the same,  they would, like them, find the
road to heaven much easier; for it is always
open to every faithful Christian, as our Sa-
viour Jesus Christ left it, when he  came
down upon earth to shed his precious blood,
in order  to deliver us from the tyrannical
servitude of the devil; and  all through his
immense goodness.

  So that, to make an end of this discourse,
I say, that since length of days abounds
with so many favors and blessings, and I
happen to be one of those who are  arrived
at that state,  I cannot (as I  would not wil- 
EARNEST EXHORTATION.
95
lingly  want charit\) but give testimony in
favor  of it, and solemnly assure all  man-
kind, that 1 really enjoy a great deal more
than what I now mention; and that I have
no other reason for writing, but that of de-
monstrating the  great  advantages which
arise from  longevity, to the end that their
own conviotion may induce them to observe
those excellent rules of temperance and so-
briety.  And therefore  I never  cease to
raise  my  voice,  crying  out to you,  my
friends: may your days be  long, that you
may be the better servants to the Almighty! 
 
LETTER
                FROM

     SIGNOR LEWIS COMAkO,

               TO THE

RIGHT REVEREND BARBARA

      PATRIARCH ELECT OF AqUILEIA a8
  My Lord,—The  human understanding
must certainly have  something divine in its
constitution and  frame.   How divine the
invention of  conversing with an absent
friend by the help of writing!  How divinely
is it contrived  by nature, that men, though
at a great distance, should see one another
with the intellectual  eye, as I now see your
lordship!  By means of this contrivance, I
shall endeavor to entertain you with matters
of the greatest moment.  It  is true, that I
             9 
W         CORNARO'S LETTER TO
shall speak of nothing but what I have al-
ready mentioned ; but it was not at the age
of ninety-one, to which  I have now attain-
ed ; a thing I cannot help taking notice of,
because as I advance in years, the sounder
and heartier  I grow, to the amazement of
all the world.   I, who can account for it,
am bound to show, that a man may enjoy a
terrestrial paradise  after eighty; which I
enjoy; but it  is not to  be obtained except
by temperance and  sobriety, virtues so ac-
ceptable to the Almighty, because they are
enemies to sensuality, and friends to reason.
  Now, my lord, to  begin, I  must tell  you,
that, within these few days past, I have been
visited by many of  the  learned doctors of
this university, as well physicians as philo-
sophers, who were well acquainted with my
age, my life, and manners :  knowing  how
stout,  hearty, and gay 1 was; and in what
perfection all  my faculties still  continued;
likewise  my  memory, spirits, and  under-
standing ; and even my voice  and teeth.
They  kwew, besides, that I constantly em-
ployed eight  hours  every day  in  writing 
        THE PATRIARCH OF AQUILEIA.      99
treatises, with my own hand, on  subjects
useful to mankind, and  spent many hours in
walking and singing.   O, my lord, how me-
lodious my voice is  grown! were you to
hear me chant my prayers ; and that to my
lyre, after the example of David, I am cer-
tain  it would give you great pleasure, my
voice is so musical.   Now, when  they told
me that they had been already acquainted
with all these  particulars, they added, that
it  was, indeed, next to a miracle, how I
could write so much, and upon subjects that
required  both judgment and spirit.  And,
indeed, my lord, it is incredible, what satis-
faction and  pleasure I have in these com-
positions. But, as I write to be useful, your
lordship may easily conceive what pleasure
I enjoy.  They  concluded by telling me,
that I ought not to be looked upon as a per-
son advanced in years, since all my occupa-
tions were those of a young man ; and, by
no means, like those of other aged persons^.
who, when  they  have  reached eighty, are
reckoned decrepid.   Such,  moreover, are
subject, some to the gout, some to the  scia- 
100        CORNARO'S LETTER TO
Uca, and  some  to other  complaints, to be
relieved from which they must undergo such
a number of painful operations, as cannot
but render life  extremely disagreeable.
And, if, by chance, one of them happens to
escape a long  illness, his faculties  are im-
paired and he cannot see or hear so well;
or else fails in some  one or other of the
corporeal faculties, he  cannot walk, or  his
hands shake;  and, supposing him  exempt
from  these bodily infirmities,  his memory,
his spirits, or his understanding fail him ; he
is not cheerful, pleasant, and happy within
himself, as I am.
  Besides all  these blessings, 1  mentioned
another,  which I  enjoyed ;  and  so  great a
blessing,  that  they were all amazed  at it,
since  it is altogether beside the usual course
of nature.  This blessing is, that I had al-
ready lived  fifty years, in spite of a most
powerful and morud enemy, which I can by
no means conquer, because  it is natural, or
an occult quality implanted  in my body bv
nature;  and this is, that every year, lVoin
the beginning of July till the end of August, 
THE PATRIARCH (F AQUILEIA.
101
I cannot drink any wine of whatever  kind
or country ;  for, besides being during these
two months quite disgustful to my palate, it
disagrees with my stomach.  Thus losing
my milk, for wine is, indeed, the milk of old
age; and having nothing  to drink, for no
change or preparation of waters can have
the virtue of wine, nor of course do me any
good; having nothing,  I say, to drink, and
my stomach being thereby disordered, I can
eat but very little ; and this spare diet, with
the want of wine, reduces  me, by the mid-
dle of August, extremely low;  nor is the
strongest capon broth, or any other remedy,
of service to me; so  that  I am ready,
through mere  weakness, to sink  into the
grave.  Hence they inferred, that were not
the  new wine, for I always take  care to
have some ready by the beginning of Sep-
tember, to come in  so soon, I should  be a
dead man.   But what  surprised them still
more was, that this new wine should have
power sufficient to  restore me, in two or
three days,  to that degree of health and
strength, of which the old wine had robbed
             9* 
 102        CORNARu's LETTER TO
 me f a fact, they  themselves  have been
 eye-witnesses of, within  these  few  days;
 and which a man must see to believe  it; in-
 somuch that they could not help crying out:
 "Many of us,  who are  physicians, have
 visited him annually for several years past:
 and ten years ago, judged it impossible for
 him to live a  year or two longer, consider-
 ing what a mortal enemy he carried  about
 him, and  his advanced age ; yet we do not
find him so weak at present as  he used to
be."   This singularity, and  the many other
 blessings  they see me enjoy, obliged them
to confess, that  the joining of such a num-
ber of favors was,  with  regard to me, a
 special grace  conferred on me, at my birtn,
 by nature, or by the stars; and  to  prove
 this to be a good conclusion, which it really
 is not (because not grounded on strong and
 sufficient reasons, but merely on their own
opinions) they  found themselves  under a
necessity to display  their eloquence, and to
9ay a  great many very fine things.  Certain
 it is, my lord, that eloquence, in men of bright
 parts, has  great power; so great, as to in- 
        THE PATRIARCH OF AQUILEIA.      Oj
duce people to believe  things which have
neither actual nor possible existence. I had,
however, great pleasure and satisfaction in
hearing them ;  for, it must, no doubt, be a
high entertainment to hear such men talk in
that manner.
  Another satisfaction,  without  the least
mixture of alloy, 1 at the same time enjoyed,
was to  think, that age and experience  are
sufficient to make a man learned, who with-
out them would know nothing; nor is it sur-
prising they should, since length of days is
the foundation of true knowledge.  Accord-
ingly, it was by means  of it  alone I dis-
covered their conclusion to be false.  Thus
you see, my lord, how apt men are to  de-
ceive themselves in theu* judgment of things,
when such judgment is not built upon a solid
foundation.  And,  therefore,  to undeceive
them, and set them  right, I made answer,
that their conclusion was false, as I should
actually convince them by proving, that  the
happiness  I enjoyed was not confined to me.
but common to  all  mankind, and that every
man might equally enjoy it; since I was  but 
104        CORNARO'S LETTER TO
a mere mortal, composed, like all others, of
the four elements ; and endued, besides  ex-
istence and life, with rational and intellectual
faculties, which  are common  to all  men.
For it has pleased the Almighty to bestow
on his favorite creature man these extraor-
dinary blessings and favors above other ani-
mals, which enjoy only the sensible percep-
tions; in order that such blessings and favors
may be  the  means  of keeping him long in
good health;  so  that length of days  is an
universal favor granted  by the  Deity, and
not by nature and the stars.
  But man, being in his youthful days more
of the sensual, than of the rational animal,
is apt to  yield to sensual  impressions ; and,
when he afterwards  arrives at the age of
forty or fifty, he ought to consider, that he
has attained the noon of life, by the  vigor
of youth, and a good tone of stomach ;  na-
tural blessings, which favored him in ascend-
ing the hill; but that he must now think of
going down, and approaching the grave,
with a heavy weight of years on his back;
and that old age is the reverse of youth, as 
         THE PATRIARCH OF AQUILEIA.     105
much as order is the reverse of  disorder.
Hence it is requisite he should alter his mode
of life in regard to the articles of eating and
drinking, on which health and longevity de-
pend.  And as the first part of his life was
sensual and irregular, the second should be
the reverse ; since nothing can subsist with-
out order, especially the  life of man, irre-
gularity being without all  doubt prejudicial,
and regularity advantageous to  the human
species.
  Besides, it is impossible in the nature of
things, that the man, who is bent on indulg-
ing his palate and his appetite, should not be
guilty of irregularity.  Hence it was that to
avoid this vice, as soon as  I found myself
arrived at maturer years, I embraced a re-
gular and sober life.  It is, no doubt, true,
that I  found somo difficulty in compassing
it;  but in order to conquer this difficulty,  I
beseeched the  Alnwghty to grant me the vir-
tue of sobriety; well  knowing,  that he
would  graciously hear my prayer.  Then,
considering, that when a man  is  about to
undertake any thing of importance, which 
 /06        CORNARO'S LETTER TO
he, knowrs he can compass, though not with-
out difficulty, he may make it much easier
to himself by being steady in his purpose;
I pursued the same course.   I  endeavoreo
gradually to relinquish a disorderly life, and
to accustom  myself insensibly to the rules
of temperance:  and  thus  it came  to pass
that a sober and regular life no longer proved
uneasy or disagreeable ; though, on  account
of the weakness of my constitution,  I tied
myself down to such strict rules  in regard
to the  quantity and quality of what  I  ate
and drank.
  But others, who happen to be blessed with
a stronger temperament, may eat many other
kinds of food,  and in greater  quantities;
and so of wines; whereas, though their lives
may still be sober, they will not be so con-
fined as mine, but much more free.  Now,
on hearing these arguments, and examining
the  reasons on which  they were founded,
they all agree that I had advanced nothing
but what was true.  Indeed the youngest
 of them said, that  though he could not but
 allow the  favor or advantages, I had been 
        THS PATRIARCH OF AQUILEIA.     107
speaking of, to be common to  all mankind,
yet I  enjoy the special grace of being able
to relinquish with ease one kind of life, and
embrace another ; a thing which he knew
by experience to be feasible ; but as difficult
to him as it had  proved easy to me.
  To  this I replied, that, being a mortal like
himself,  I likewise found it a difficult  task;
but it did  not become a person  to shrink
from a glorious but practicable undertaking,
on account of the  difficulties attending it,
because  in proportion to these difficulties, is
the honor he acquires by it in the eye of
man,  and  the merit in the sight  of  God.
Our beneficent Creator is desirous, that, as
he originally favored  human nature  with
longevity, we should  all  enjoy the full ad-
vantage of his intentions; knowing, that,
when a  man has passed eighty, he is entire-
ly exempt  from  the bitter fruits of sensual
enjoyments, and  is entirely governed by the
dictates  of reason.   Vice and immorality
must  then leave  him;  hence God is willing
he should  live to a full maturity of years;
and has ordained that whoever reaches his 
108
CORNARO'S LE1TER TO
natural term, should  end his  days without
sickness  by mere dissolution, the natural
way of quitting  this mortal  life to enter
upon imiTiortality, as will be my case.  For
I am sure to die chanting my prayers, nor
do the dreadful thoughts of death give me
the least uneasiness, though, considering my
great age, it cannot be far distant, knowing,
as I do,  that I was born to  die, and reflect*
ing that  such numbers  have departed this
fife without reaching my age.
  Nor does that other thought, inseparable
from the former, namely, the  fear of those
torments,  to which wicked  men are here-
after liable, give me any uneasiness; be-
cause  I  am a good Christian,  and bound to
believe, that I shall be saved  by the virtue
of the most sacred blood of  Christ, which
he  has vouchsafed to shed,  in order to free
us from  those  torments.   How beautiful
the life  I lead 1 how happy my end !  To
this, the  young gentleman, my antagonist,
had nothing to reply, but that -he was re-
solved to embrace a sober life, in order  to
follow my example ;  and that he had taken 
        THE PATRIARCH OF AQU1LEIA.     109

another, more important, resolution, which
was, that, as  he had been always very de-
sirous  to  live to be  old,  so he was  now
equally impatient to reach that period, the
sooner to enjoy the felicity of old age.
  The great  desire I had, my lord, to con-
verse with you at this distance, has forced
me to be prolix, and still obliges me to pro-
ceed ; though not much further. There are
many sensualists, my lord, who say, that I
have thrown  away my time and  trouble in
writing a treatise on Temperance, and other
discourses on the same subject, to induce
men  to lead a regular life; alledging, that it
is impossible  to conform  to it, so that my
treatise must answer as little purpose as
that  of Plato on government, who took a
great deal of  pains to recommend a thing
impracticable ; whence they inferred, that
as his  treatise  was  of no use,  mine  will
share the same fate.  Now this surprises me
the  more, as  they may see by my treatise,
that I had led a sober life for many years
before I had composed it; and that I should
never have composed it, had I not previous-
             10 
no
CORNARO'S LETTER, ETC
 ly been convinced, that it was such a life as
 a man might lead ; and being a virtuous life,
 would he of great service to him; so that 1
 thought myself  under an obligation  to re-
 present it in a true light.  I have the satis-
 faction now to hear, that rumbers, on seeing
 my treatise, have embraced such a life ; and
 I have read, that many, in times  past, have
 actually  led it; so that  the  objection, to
 which Plato's treatise on government is lia-
 ble, can be of no force against mine.  But
 such  sensualists, enemies to reason, and
 slaves to their passions, ought to think them-
selves well off, if, whilst  they study  to in-
dulge their  palate and  their appetite, they
do no.t contract  long  and painful diseases,
 and are not, many of them, overtaken by
 an untimely death. 
          LETTER

             FROM

     ALVISE  CORNARO

              TO

SPERONE SPERONI.
  Most excellent Signor S'perone.  I would
that you, who know so many things, and are
continually making discoveries of the causes
and reasons of their origin, could find what
I have long sought for in vain; and thus
make me perfectly happy.  I am endeavor-
ing  to devise some method, whereby my
friends can be brought to believe,  that the
irregularities of living to which they *ub-
ject themselves, cause them to die in their
youth.   I preach this to them continually,
but  they do  not  believe me, and  continue
to fall  victims to  their  excesses.   These 
112
CORNARO'S LETTER TO
events keep me in a state of unhappincss,
which is now more trying  to me  than the
grief I felt at the death of our dear friend,
Ruzzante, which of itself would have caused
my death, if such  an event could kill an ab-
stemious man, at  less than ninety years of
age.   But it did not suffice to kill me, since
regularity in living has made me, in a niea-
sure, immortal; and has given me the  vi-
gor of thirty-five, at the age of fifty-eight;
and every day demonstrate s the fact, that
this system  of itself, is enough to restore a
Bick man  to health.  I preach  and  insist
upon  these  things every day;  but all con-
tinue  incredulous ;  which alone  would be
enough  to  render me  miserable, were 1
otherwise the happiest man in the world.
  To  the  end, therefore, that you may be-
lieve me,  and endeavor to furnish me with
the means of solving this difficulty, the pur-
pose of which wilt be known to God alone
listen, and learn whether any thing else is
wanting to  complete my  felicity.   I was
weakly  at my birth, and of a very  feeble
constitution  which I  further  injured  by 
            SPER0NE SF3EON1.         113
great  irregularities.   Being convinced of
my errors, I commenced by reforming my-
self, as respected those most hurtful to me, ,
and continued to shun disorderly courses,
until I acquired the perfect health which I
at present enjoy.  I then regained the rank
of a noble  in my native country, although
my ancestors  had  forfeited their's, so that
it was  no advantage to me that they had
been Senators and Princes, and had filled
the highest offices of the state.  I have, by
my own  exertions, made myself rich;  al-
though born without wealth, and although
my family had formerly been very wealthy.
My wealth, furthermore, has been acquired
by the pursuit of means the most laudable
and beneficial  to my fellow-men;  since it
has been drawn from agriculture, and has
not been  amassed by means of  warlike
achievements, rapine, and plunder ;  nor by
traversing the seas, at  the eminent  hazard
of death ; nor by any other means attended
with similar dangers and vicissitudes; but
has been entirely obtained by this one laud-
able occupation.  At the same time, I have
             10* 
114        CORNARO'S LETTER TO
 incurred large expenses, and have never
 withheld the expenditures, nor denied my-
self the enjoyments  and recreations which
 are  suitable  to  the  rank of  a  noble, but
 which are  forborne by those who are desti-
 tute of property, or desire solely to accu-
 mulate it.   My liberal expenditures  have,
 however, been incurred in the erection of a
 church, and  the  dedication of it  to  God;
 and, furthermore, in giving to myself, and
 also to God, the people whom I have been
 the  means of bringing into  the world, by
 dissipating the unwholesome vapors and ex-
 halations,  which formerly existed around
 my villa, and rendered it impossible to rear
 children.   I have drained off' the stagnant
 waters, and  have thus caused the accession
 of a numerous population;  and  while in-
 creasing my own property, I have also con-
 tributed to enrich numbers, who have been
 my agents and tenants.  I have, likewise,
 used my means to promote the liberal arts;
 and have  been the patron and protector of
 literary men, musicians, architects, painters
 and sculptors; and while creating all this 
SPERONE SPERONI.
115
wealth,  I  have expended thousands upon
thousands of crowns, in constructing splen-
did edifices, and laying out beautiful gar-
dens.   Consider, then, whether I have not
a right to term myself happy; and when I
am in possession of these  three blessings,
health, nobility, and wealth ; with the added
consolation, that the latter has been acquired
by the most honorable of pursuits, and used
with a becoming liberality.   But there are
still other reasons  why I should deem my-
self most happy; since I have been blessed
with exceeding good fortune in the selec-
tion of  a son-in-law,  who  seems to have
been created on purpose to enhance  my
happiness and that of my daughter.   He is
attached to  the court, and  has brought me
three  grandchildren, little  angels in minia-
ture.
  All these  blessings  I enjoy, in perfect
health, and inhabiting the commodious man-
sions and beautiful gardens of my own crea-
tion ; which rarely  falls to the lot of any
one, since those who construct them seldom
live to enjoy them ; but I enjoy them, and 
116
CORNARO .. LETTER TO
shall continue  to do  so, years upon years.
With all this, how do you conceive it pos-
sible that  I should  not be happy?  I am
nappy, and my happiness will be complete
if you can only devise some method of re-
moving this single  annoyance.   Do  not
think  that I have had to encounter other
obstacles  to my felicity, heretofore  ; and
that, therefore, I have  not cause to be re-
lieved  from this till  now.   It is true, that
every trifling  misadventure tends to make
us unhappy; and you well know that I lost
many thousand crowns through the family
of the Cardinal.   Though  this was an act
of great injustice, it has been no cause of
sadness to me  ; but, on  the contrary,  rather
a source of gi atification ; since, if this wrong
had not been  committed, the world  would
not have believed, that after enriching my
agents  and servants, I still had enough re-
maining to  give  a fortune to  a Cardinal.
So, also, when I  sustained  such great da-
mage by the acts of the Comptrollers of the
 Waters, I assure  you that  I felt  much re
 oiced ; since  that event caused me to turn 
SPERONE SPERONI.
117
my attention to a subject of vast public im-
portance, and  to become, in a manner, the
saviour of my country ; this injury done me,
having been the occasion of my discovering
a mode of preserving the Lagune, and thus
saving my country.  In this manner,  nei-
ther of the  above events ruffled my mind,
but, on the contrary, showed  to  the world
that I possess as much fortitude and  equa-
nimity in adversity, as foresight, prudence,
and gayety in prosperity ; a circumstance,
which, by the  rule of contraries, had been
deemed  an impossibility, while  I enjoyed
uninterrupted good fortune.  Nevertheless,
I have  been  put to the   test,  and have
proved to all, that I can turn misfortune to
advantage,  and  derive  additional  benefit
from reverses.  To close the recital of my
troubles,  I  have remaining only one cause
of unhappiness, the continual loss of friends
by death, which keeps me constantly miser-
able.  Wherefore, to revert to my opening
request, devise some remedy, I pray you.
  I know that you have promised yourself
much pleasure, in witnessing Signor Agno- 
 118       CORNARO S LETTER, ETC.

Io's representation of your admirable tra-
gedy; and I assure you, that you may not
think me wanting in friendly offices, that as
soon as I come  to Padua, which will  be
soon.  I  shall be  with you.  I  commend
myself to your favor.a9
                     A LVISE CoRNABO
  CodovAco, April 2nd, 1542. 
            I* BB T T E R

               FROM

   THE  CARDINAL  CORNARO

                TO

SIGNOR LUIGI CORNARO
  I will not occupy any space in telling
how precious your letters are to me; pre-
ferring that your Excellence should feel it,
in the  love you  bear to me, rather  than
from any words  of mine.   By  this, also,
you will, at the same time, know how much
I. am bound to love and honor you, what
reasons I have to be rejoiced on receiving
good news  of you, and with what interest
I  regard  all that  concerns you.  I would
furthermore  say  to your Excellence, that
though  all your letters are highly prized by
\ 
120    CARDINAL OORNARO'S LETTER TO

me, the last has been, above all  others, a
source of pleasure and consolation.  By it
I learn, in  the  first place,  that you enjoy
greater health  and prosperity  than ever;
and, in  the next place, that, although at an
age which  few are enabled to  reach,  you
possess so clear, acute, and sound an intel-
lect, that the world may expect  yet  further
profit and instruction  from  your labors, to
the  perpetual  honor  and  glory  of your
name and house.
  This I gather from your letter upon the
three excellent works  written by you, upon
Architecture, Agriculture, and  upon a So-
ber  and Temperate  Life;  which  will be
awaited  by me with great  anxiety;   not
only for the pleasure of a perusal, but  that
I may put them, as much as in me  lies, in
practice.
   I  shall most  willingly follow your autho-
rity and example, as regards rules of living,
not only in order to imitate one who is in
all  respects worthy of imitation;  but be-
cause, also, this world  presents to me  as
 well as to yourself man ' and varied attrac- 
SIGNOR LUIGI CORNARO.
121
tions, and  because  it  is  an  incalculable
blessing to live a long life, in uninterrupted
health.
  As regards your Treatise upon Architec-
ture, since I am proprietor of a fine estate,
{una bella vigna) I shall have an opportu-
nity  to  avail  myself of your experience,
and make a practical trial of your scientific
discoveries and suggestions.
  With respect to Agriculture, although, at
present, I cannot practice upon your rules,
on account of my slender means, I do not
despair  of eventually deriving great satis-
faction  and  benefit  from this  part  also of
your labors ;  the more  especially, since, in
length of time, riches are generally attend-
ant upon the exalted station, to which God
in his benignity, has  raised me;  and I have
the  greater reason to hope for them, when
I shall have  acquired  from  you the art of
prolonging my life.
  I therefore  most earnestly entreat your
Excellence,  to  hasten  to  put the finishing
hand to  these works ; that the world may
the   better  appreciate  vour  virtue  and
             11 
122   CARDINAL CORNARO's LETTER, ETC.
worth; and  that all may offer prayers to
God  for the  preservation of the life of so
useful and benevolent a man.
  Remember that I am your loving son,
and continue to love me, as you do.   Fare
well.
         Your's affectionately,
                          as a Son,
                  Cardinal Cornaro.
  Rome, January 21th.  1554. 
              &ETTEH

                FROM

   BERNARDIN  TOMITANO

               TO THE

RIGHT REVEREND CORNELIUS,

           BISHOP OF DITONTO.
  The unbounded  reverence and  esteem
which Signor Luigi Cornaro feels for your
Reverence, have caused  me to execute the
present design of giving to the  world, under
his honored name, this little treatise, no less
interesting and delightful, than useful to all.
  Knowing the  praiseworthy desire of the
Author, on the one hand, and his very great
modesty, on the  other, I have been anxious
to fulfil his  wishes  with  this trifling testi-
monial of gratitude ; and  to dedicate a part 
124
TOMITANo's LETTEH TO
of his labors to you; since upon none other
could  they be  more  worthily  bestowed.
Wherefore, I pray of you to hold this offer-
ing as dear as if he and I conjointly laid it
before your Reverence.   To you, in truth,
this  tribute is due ; to you, especially, is it
proper to dedicate this Narrative of a So-
ber and Temperate Life; your Reverence,
with your other distinctions, in part the gift
of nature, and in part of election, present-
ing the excellent example of a life of sobri-
ety and  temperance.  Of  this, the unim-
peded workings of your intellect are indeed
a proof;  since not in the least borne down
by  bodily infirmities, nor tyrannized over
by the seductions  of the appetite ;  nor, in
fine, controlled  by the universal  longings
for luxurious food, it constantly exhibits the
example  of  unintermitted  labors;  which
have formerly tended  to the advancement
of the most illustrious studies of Italy, and
are  now employed  for the benefit  and
adornment of an Holy Church.  I arn com-
forted in the belief, that your  Excellence
has  with the Divine aid, in no other way 
THE BISHOP OF BITONTO.
m
maintained your bodily health,  (very for-
tunately, in my opinion, if we consider the
long vigils and labors your slight and dimin-
utive frame has endured,) than by observing
the utmost temperance and method in diet;
wherefore, it adds no little confirmation and
authority to  this Treatise, to give the testi-
monial of your life, and of  the energies  so
long and so well protected by you against
all dangers and accidents.   It is, however,
proper that all who read this should know,
that I do not  publish this little treatise as a
physician, nor as a medical work, since the
Author was never enrolled as a  member of
the profession; neither was it his intention
to endeavor to add the contribution of his
little streamlet to the rich ocean of medical
lore ;  since he well knew, that many of the
most  illustrious  writers  of antiquity have
devoted themselves to enlarge its limits.
  It  has been my special purpose, in this
work, to spread far and wide the knowledge
of the virtues and worth of a native of a
free  city; his constancy in resisting  the
seductions of the passions ; his perseverance
             11* 
 126       TOK-TANo's LETTER ETC
 in abstaining from viands, the most luscious
 and tempting to the palate ;  his abstemious-
 ness in not gratifying his appetite,  to  the
 full extent, even  upon  wholesome  foodl
 and, finally, the victory, his  life exhibits, of
 sobriety over luxury, which  has been con-
 tinually presenting its  attractions, and  at-
 tempting to enslave him.  By this it will be
 seen what important secrets are sometimes
disclosed by nature to a favored individual,
 without  the  assistance of art;  and how
 useful  to all is the knowledge  and experi-
ence of only one.  But not to become  too
 tedious to your Reverence, I pray of you,
 upon this occasion, to accept all  that  the
 noble  mind of Signor Luigi, as well as  my
 small abilities, can offer ; we  both uniting in
 wishing to your Reverence all manner of
 felicity.
        Your Reverence's
           most affectionate servant,
                 Bernardin Tomitano.
   Padua, \0ih November, 1563. 
        BiogRAPnr
              )F

ALVISE  CORNARO.
   Alvise29 the same as Luigi or Ludovico,
 Cornaro, of the noble Venetian family of
 that name, was born  in Padua, in 1467;
 and died in 1565, in the 99th year of his
 age.  Th« place of his nativity, the year of
 his birth, and his death, the loss and resto-
 ration of his nobility, are matters which de-
 mand explanation, which have been erro-
 neously stated in all foreign works.
   The Universal Biography, published  at
 Paris in 1833, states that Cornaro was born
 in Venice.
  The Preface of the  London Edition, of
 1768, commits the same error, as will be
aeen, and  states, furthermore, that  he  at- 
128
BIOURAPHf OF
     tained above  one hundred years of  age,
     and expired in an elbow chair, on the 26th
     of April, 1566.
      The  German Encyclopedia  states,  that
     Alvise,  or  as  it terms him, Ludovico,  was
     descended  of a family which had already
»     given several  Doges  to the Republic ;  and
     that he died in  Padua, in 1566, at the age
     of one hundred and four years.30
      The  Encyclopedia Americana,  simply
     copies the German.
      With regard  to his loss of nobility, the
     editor  of  the  London  Edition, entitled
     " Discourses on a sober and temperate  life,
     by Lewis Cornaro," says, " that by the ill
     conduct of some of his relations, he had the
     misfortune  to  be deprived of the dignity of
     a nobleman,  and  excluded  from all  the
     honours and  public   employments in  the
     State.   Chagrined at this unmerited  dis-
    grace, he retired to Padua."
      The facts, as above stated, are not  true ;
    and we, having  drawn from original and
    authentic sources,  have documents before
    us to correct them, as follows :—
      The family  of Alvise Cornaro, called in 
ALVISE CORNARO.          129
the Latin and Italian, the Cornelian family;
in the dialect of  the  country, " Corner?
and from that corruptly changed into " Cor-
naro, gave three Doges to the Republic.
  The first was Marco Cornaro, who, after
having filled with distinction several impor-
tant embassies, occupied  the Ducal  chair
from 1365  till his death, in  1368.  During
his Dogeship, he completed the subjection
of the Island of Candia, which had rebelled
under his predecessor.   The Venetian his-
torians hold him in  high estimation for his
eloquence and wisdom.
   The second was Giovanni Cornaro, who
succeeded the Doge F. Contarini, in  1623,
and died in 1629.   Under  his  administra-
tion, the Council of Ten was deprived of
the power which it had arrogated to itself
of annulling the decrees of the Senate.
   The third and last  Doge of this family
was Giovanni Cornaro II.,  who succeeded
the Doge  L. Mocenigo, in  1709.  A few
years after his election, the Turks assailed
the possessions of Venice out of  Italy, and
in 1714, conquered  the  Morea.  This war 
190           BIOGRAPHY OF
was terminated by the treaty of Passaro«
witz.   Doge Giovanni Cornaro II. died in
1722, aged 75 years.
  It is stated in the  History of the Noble
Families of Venice,  by Marco  Barbaro,
Book  iii. MS.  chap.  72: and repeated by
Apostolo Zeno, in his Annotations upon the
Library of the  Fontanini, that Rigo  Cor-
naro, son of the Doge Marco, was, for the
crime of murder, banished from Venice and
all the territories of the Republic,  and de-
prived of his nobility; and that his property
was  confiscated.   After wandering many
years  in different places, he settled in Pa-
dua, then subject to the Dukes of Carrara ;
and then, having first taken the precaution
to change his  name to Antonio Right, es-
poused Agnesina da Legname, or da Leg-
namine, a lady of noble birth, and in posses-
sion of a rich dower. By her he had a son,
Jacopo, surnamed also from the Righi,  or
from the Legname.  Jacopo was the fathei
of Luigi I., and Antonio the father of the
subject of our narrative, whom we  will caH
Luigi  II., to distinguish him from  the for- 
ALVISE CORNARO.
131
«*er.  In  the mean while a daughter of
Rigo, Caterina by name, married, in 1458,
Giacomo Lusignan, King  of Cyprus, legi-
timate son of Giovanni Lusignan.
  The Venetian senate^in favor of  this al-
liance, having revoked  the sentence of ex-
ile, pronounced against the father of Cate-
riha, adopted her publicly, and declared her
" a daughter  of  San Marco."  Becoming
a widow, in 1473, and yielding to the solici-
tations of Giorgio Cornaro, her brother, who
*ras  a secret partizan of the  senate, she
abdicated, in  favor of the Republic,  a king-
dom which she had governed, in  the midst
of the most trying internal dissensions, for
more than fourteen years ;  and retiring to
Venice, died there, in 1510; having retained
the title of Queen, and a small court.31
  Thus the first step taken  by the  Repub-
lic toward  readmitting to citizenship  the
family of Cornaro,  was in  favor  of  the
daughter of  Rigo.   The second was in fa-
vor  of his nephew, Luigi I., who, in 1490,
produced before the Court of Registration
luthentic proofs of his legitimate  descent 
 132            BIOGRAPHT OF
from Rigo Cornaro, son of the Doge Mar-
co. Whereupon, his name was r< inscribed
in the Golden Book, the sole register of Ve-
netian nobility,  and his rank  made  heredi-
tary in his posterity.38   Luigi II., who is our
Alvise, stimulated by the example and good
fortune of his  uncle, found  means  of pro-
curing his own  restoration also  to  his an.
cient nobility; or, to quote the words used
by himself in his letter  to Sperone Speroni,
" I then  regained  my  right  to the  ancient
nobility of my family, which had been for-
feited by my ancestors, so that it was of no
avail to me that they had been princes and
senators."33
  From the above, it will be seen, that the
Statements of the English biographer, " thai
he was deprived of the dignity of a noble-
man" and " that, chagrined at this unmerit-
ed disgrace, he  returned to Padua," fall  to
the ground; as also,  the  erroneous asser-
tion that he was born at Venice, [Biogra-
phie Universelle,] and  [Preface  to the Dis-
courses an a Sober Life;] and that, at his
birth, (he family had  already given  three 
ALVISE CORNARO.         133
Doges to the Republic, [Conversations Lex-
icon and American Encyclopedia.]  There
had then been but one Doge, Marco Cor-
naro ; the remaining two came a consider-
able time after the death of Alvise.
  Alvise, then, of  the family of the  Righi,
that is, of the Cornelian, Corner, Cornaro
family, was  born at Padua, in 1467.  Na-
turally  of a very  feeble constitution,  he
weakened it still further, by addicting him-
self to all  kinds of  intemperate  living.
Finally, when between thirty-five and forty
years of age, being at the point of  death,
and given over by his physicians, he  deter-
mined to restrain and regulate his immode-
rate appetites, and to lay down, for his ob-
servance, a system  of  sober living, from
which he never afterwards departed.  By
these  means he recovered his health and
vigor, which he preserved until  the end of
his  very long life.  He married Veronica, a
lady of the house of Spilembergo, but his
branch  of the  family  became  extinct  in
Clara, his  only child and heir, whom  ho
12 
134
BIOGRAPHY Or
gave in marriage to Giovanni Fantino Cat
naro, sumamed Piscossia.
  In his letter to Sperone Speroni, now, foi
the first time, translated into  English,  h«
felicitates  himself exceedingly in  having so
excellent a son-in-law in Fantino ;  " who,"
he says, "seems to have been created  on
purpose for  his happiness, and that of bis
daughter, at that time, the mother of three
children, beautiful as  little  angels."  This
domestic felicity continued to increase, un-
til, finally, lye could  number around him
eleven grandchildren.
  Thenceforward, Cornaro seems  to have
been entirely regenerated.   Devoting him-
self to the pursuit of the  fine arts, he be-
came the  Mcecenas of all who sought his
protection and assistance.  Poets, musicians',
painters, and architects, were  hospitably
entertained  and  protected  by  him.  We
will cite a few instances of his affection for
artists  and scholars.   Giamm  Maria  Fal-
conetto,34  a distinguished sculptor,  painter,
and architect, and. a  man gifted with the
most  instructive  and  delightful  conversa- 
ALVISE CORNARO.          135
  lional powers, was his contemperary.   Fal-
  conetto, in the earlier years of his life, had
  travelled over the greater part of Europe,
  and upon his return to Italy, accepted the
  invitation of Cornaro, and established  him-
  self  permanently beneath his hospitable
  roof; where he enjoyed the most favorable
  opportunities  of  attaining celebrity.  We
  cannot  better  describe the mutual relation
  of the two,  so honorable alike to both, than
  by quoting the following  extract from the
  Eulogy  of Gamba.
   " Thenceforward,  they were united by
  the most  ardent  friendship, and lived with
  ;i constant interchange of thought, charac-
* terized  by the most  instructive  conversa-
  tions, and  the most, affectionate  intimacy.
  A copious collection of designs, brought by
  Falconetto from Rome, excited in Cornaro
  such a desire to behold the magnificence of
  the Queen of  Cities, that he determined to
  visit it,  in company with his friend. He set
  3ut,  full of anticipations; which he  more
  than realized;  and, upon his return to Pa-
  dua, with a mind enriched with the  trea- 
 136            BIOGRAPHY OP
 sures  he  had  accumulated,  he  erected  a
 splendid palace, adorned with statues, fres-
 coes, and  paintings,  from the designs of
 Raphael,39 and, in connection with it, a mag-
 nificent cabinet, consecrated to musical en-
 tertainments; all under the superintendence
 of Falconetto.   He then proceeded to con-
 struct other magnificent  edifices, in  the
 vicinity of the village of Codovico, in the
 Paduan territory ;M and in Lunigiano, near
 Torreglia, upon  the Euganean Hills.
  "The honorable  friendship between the
 patron  and  the  artist,  ceased only  with
 death ; Falconetto, finding a home beneath
 the hospitable roof of Cornaro, made  dou-
 bly attractive by his  considerate and  deli-
 cate  attentions; his  wife, with three  sons
 and  six daughters, having their entire for-
 tune  invested  in mercantile  adventures.
 undertaken by the advice and  guarded by
 the credit of his protector and friend.  The
 liberal mind of Cornaro conceived such a
predilection for  Falconetto, and his friend,
 Ruzzante, of Padua, another kindred spirit,
 that  Vasari  has recorded, that it was his 
ALVISE CORNARO.
137
will that Falconetto and Ruzzante should be
buried in the same vault;  and that he him-
self should be laid in the same tomb, between
them ;  so that, says the biographer, their
bodies should not be  separated after death;
whose  souls  had been united, in life,  by
virtue and friendship."37
  The  mansion erected by Cornaro, in Pa-
dua, is still  standing;  and the  celebrated
Sebastiano Serlio published  a plan of it,
proposing it  as an unexceptionable model
for  architects.  The learned Temanza has
corrected the plan of Serlio, and published
a highly improved series of designs.  The
palace at Lunigiano, which some have sup-
posed  to  be destroyed by lapse of time,
still towers upon the Euganean Hills, adorn-
ed with flights of stairs of truly royal magni-
ficence ;  and is  now the  property of the
Jiishopric of Padua.
  Marcolini,38 the publisher, himself an art-
ist and man  of letters, in one of his dedica-
tions, makes  the following allusion  to the
architectural taste of Cornaro:   "If a no-
ble  would know how to build  a city rest*
             12* 
138
BIOGRAPHY OF
dence, let him visit the house of Cornaro,
in Padua: if he seek a pattern for a garden.
let him adopt his for a model.  If be intend
building in a village, let him go and behold,
at Codovico,  Campagna, and other  places,
the  architectural  constructions,  stamped
with  the  grandeur of  his  mind.    If  he
would erect a princely mansion, in the midst
of the country, let him repair to Lunigiano,
where he will find a  country seat, fit for
the residence of an emperor.  Cornaro was
fully conversant with all that was known in
architecture,  as well  as  in  many other de-
partments of art."
  The few letters of Cornaro, which re-
main to us, show an intellect refined by the
severest discipline ; and the bare recapitu-
lation of the  names of the  illustrious men
with whom he corresponded, and of whom
it will suffice to mention Bembo, Speroni,
Barbaro, and Fracastoro, proves in  what
estimation he was held  in  his time.  No
sooner had  Giovanni Andrea dell' Anguil-
lari finished  his celebrated tragedy of CEdi-
pus, than Cornaro had i*. represented, with 
ALVISE CORNARO.          139
great magnificence, in his own house, to the
great delight of  the  Paduans.   He also
studied profoundly the works of Vitruvius,
and  of  Leon Battista Alberti ;m and  has
been highly complimented by Andrea Pal-
ladio, as the inventor of a new kind of stairs,
which he introduced into his edifices.40  Be-
sides this, he wrote separate treatises upon
painting, architecture, music, and agricul-
ture.   The Cardinal  Cornaro  alludes to
some of these  productions, in  a letter to
him, written from Rome, the 27th of Janu-
ary, 1554; witH which we  have enriched
this edition.  Others are referred to, in dif-
ferent parts of the " Discourses upon a So-
ber Life," where he also relates, that he has
written  " a very entertaining comedy,  full
of innocent mirth and pleasant jests." But
the only productions which have come down
to us are  the  " Discourses upon a Sober
Life," which have been translated and pub-
lished in many foreign  languages ;41 and a
learned Essay, upon the Lagunes of Venice,
which he was wont to term  " the strongest 
140           BIOGRAPHY OF
and most sacred bulwarks," "fortissimc t
tante mure" of his beloved country.42
   We take the liberty of quoting, in this
place, the beautiful Eulogium of Cornaro,
introduced by Anionio Maria Graziani, in
his Life of the  celebrated Cardinal Com-
mendoni,  to whom he  was secretary; al-
though it is almost impossible to render in-
telligibly into English the laudatory epithets
with which the florid style of the biographer
abounds:—
   " This most illustrious man, upon whom
the title  of ' The Sober'  has  been so ap-
propriately bestowed,  was  loved, honored,
and reverenced by all who were distinguish.
ed by birth or  acquirements.    People of
every class, from the noble to the peasant,
were delighted  to associate with him,  and
to listen to his conversation, which was
always marked with moderation,  amiability,
and  good  sense.  Prudence, sagacity, wis-
dom,  and liberality were  constant attend-
ants in  his train.  There  was no mansion
in Padua, the sight of which inspired  such
reverence as his  while he, living in a style 
             ALVISE CORNARO.          141
01 princely magnificence,  was continually
dispensing his favors to all, and, in especial,
to the cultivators of the fine arts."43
   To return to the " Treatises upon a So-
ber Life," we will state  that they are four
in number; and that they appeared under
the following titles, and in the  order below
mentioned.
   The first Treatise, which is entitled, "Up-
on a Sober Life," was written, as the author
informs us, when he was eighty-three years
of age, and  was published singly.   Three
years later, when he had attained the age
of eighty-six, he published  a second Essay,
which  he  entitled  " A Compendium  of a
Sober  Life."  Afterwards, at  the age  of
ninety-one, he wrote a long letter to Daniele
Barbaro, Patriarch Elect of Aquileia.  This
letter, we know  not why, has been always
published as  his  fourth and  last  Treatise:
although,  in  chronological  order, it should
be the  third.  The  fourth and last Treatise
is  entitled " An  Earnest Exhortation  to* a
Sober Life,"  and was written at the age  of
ninety-five **  The  German Encyclopedia, 
142
BIOGRAPHY OF
commonly  known as  the  •• Conversations
Lexicon," entitles this Treatise " A Disserta-
tion upon the Birth and Death of Man;" in
which error it is followed by  the American
Encyclopedia.  We suppose, that the Ger-
man Encyclopedia has given it  this title,
from the concluding sentence  of the  first
paragraph,  which  is as follows:   " I shall
begin by considering man at his birth; and,
from thence, accompany him, through every
stage of life, to his grave."45  The compilers
of the American Encyclopedia, most pro-
bably, merely  translated from the German,
without being aware to which of  the four
Treatises this last title referred.   In  any
event, it  is  our duty to state, that the last
Treatise  was never published with this title,
either in  Italy, France,  or England ; and as,
perchance, the American reader may  not
be aware of the identity of the Treatise,
entitled " An Exhortation," with that bear-
ing the title devised by the Conversations
Lexicon, it is well to mention it, in order to
remove all doubts which may arise  on  the
subject. 
             ALVISE CORNARO.           143
  This is the last  Treatise  published by
Cornaro; but not the last that he wrote.
We have already stated that the Chevalier
Morelh possessed an unpublished Essay upon
the Lagunes of Venice, besides  the printed
one upon the same subject, which the author
wrote at  the age of ninety-six.  Two years
afterwards, he was no more.
  We will  here  exhibit the evidence tend-
ing to  show, that Cornaro died in 1565, at
the age of ninety-eight;  and  not in 1566,
at the age of one hundred  and four.   His
foreign biographers adduce no facts in sup-
port of their assertions;  but we bring  for-
ward the authority of an accredited writer,
who, having been an ocular witness of the
death of Cornaro, gives  an account of his
last moments, in  his Life  of Cardinal Com-
mendoni, to whom he was secretary   We
allude  to Antonio Maria Graziani, of Tus-
cany, whom we  have before  mentioned;
who, in  reference to the life of Cornaro,
writes  that " he prolonged it  to the age of
ninety-eight* years."46  The year of his death
he states to be  he same with that in which 
144           BIOGRAPHV OF
Commendoni was created a Cardinal, which
was upon the  4th  of the Ides of March;
that is, the 12th of March, 1565.
  There are some who say, that  Graziani
visited  Cornaro three  hours  before  his
death, but we will leave it to the judgment
of the impartial reader, if any other infer-
ence can be fairly drawn from the words
of Graziani, than that Cornaro expired in
his presence.
  " The excellent old man, feeling that he
was approaching the termination of his life,
did  not  regard  the awful change with
dread, but simply as a passage from one
mansion to another.   He was reclining up-
on the very small  and narrow cot47 which
he always used, and  was attended  by his
wjfe, Veronica, who  was nearly as  old as
himself. With a strong and clear  voice, he
told   me  that he  cheerfully  awaited  the
stroke of death ; and wished all manner of
prosperity to  my patron Commendoni, to
whom  he declared that  he would write a
letter of friendly counsel, with  his own
hand.  He said  that  he thought that he 
              ALVISE C( RNARO.           14J)
should survive two days longer ;/ but being
shortly after overpowered  by sudden debi-
lity and faintness,  he desired to have  re-
course anew to the consolations of religion;
and grasping  in  his left hand a small cru-
cifix, he fixed his eyes upon it intently, and
ejaculated, ' Full  with  joy and hope, I  re-
sign myself to thee, most  merciful God !'
He then disposed himself with dignity, and
closing his eyes, as if about to slumber,
gave a gentle  sigh, and expired."
  The eulogies bestowed  upon Cornaro,
during his life, and after his death, for his
precepts and exhortations to a " Sober Life,"
are as astonishing in number  and unquali-
fied in their  commendations, as they  are
honorable from the distinguished and  sci-
entific sources whence they emanate.  We
instance those  of Mureto,  inserted in that
portion of his  works where he speaks of
the fifty-eighth letter of Seneca, and those
of Giam Mario Verdizotti, in his life of  Gi-
rolamo Molino.   We have  already alluded
to the eulogium of Bishop Graziani.  We
will also mention the  laudations of  Gaspar
             13 
146
BIOGRAPP. t OF
Hoffmann,  in  his " Letters of George Rit
ter ;" of Claudio Lancellotto, in his " Disser
tation upon Emina di San Benedetto ;" and
of Leonardo  Sessio,  who translated  the
first Treatise into Latin, and prefixed  it to
his '• Hygiasticon,"48 or " Means of preserv-
ing Health." [Antwerp, printed by Plantino,
1613.]  Bernardino Ramazzini, Chief Lec-
turer  upon the Practice of Medicine in the
University of  Padua, added copious notes
to the reprint of the  Padua  Version  of
Sessio, published by Conzatti, in 1714.49
   The venerable Tommaso Bartolini show-
ed the  estimation in  which he  held  the
writings  of Cornaro, by publishing, at Co-
penhagen, an edition, in 12mo, entitled "Lud-
ovici Cornari, de vita sobria,  ad usum ml-
gare accommodata."
   Many must  be familiar with the German
system,  denominated the " Chaine,"30 and
with the reputation of the celebrated  physi-
cian, Huffeland, who has done so much to
widen the path  already  marked  out  by
Cornaro.   All of our author's illustrious
contemporaries make the  most honorable
t 
ALVISE CORNARO.
147
 mention of him ;  and his praises abound in
 the  correspondence  of Bembo,  Speroni,
 Commendoni, Pierio Valeriano, and Vasari.
 De  Thou, in  his  " History  of  his own
 Times ;" Antoine Tessier, in his "Additions"
 to the same work ; Ghilini, in his " Theatre
 of Illustrious Men ;"  and  the  Doge Fosca-
 rini, in his  - History of Venetian Litera-
 ture ;"-—all unite in  rendering homage to
 the virtues of Cornaro.
  With the light of  these testimonials to
 his worth, let us examine a few spots, as it
 were, upon  the face  of the sun, and men-
 tion  the criticisms of those who have seen
 fit to depreciate, or, in a measure, modify,
 and do away with his system.   That great
 scholar, and  intimate friend  of  Cornaro,
 Sperone Speroni, who,  either  from a love
 of paradox, or to show  his  ingenuity, com-
 posed essays in defence of "  Usury," and
of " Discord;" and  then  wrote  in their
condemnation; wrote,  also,  a  " Treatise
against  Sobriety," and dedicated it to Cor-
naro !  Shortly afterwards, he made a re-
tractation of the doctrines advanced in this 
148
BIOGRAPHY OF
no-table production, which,  in  spirit,  ro-
sembles the famous " Encomium Moria? or
*• Praise of Folly," of Erasmus; and  thus
dispensed  with the necessity of a formal
answer.   [See the Works of Spcrone, vol.
iii. pp. 14  and 421.
  M. de la Bonaudie're published, at Paris, in
1702, his " Anti-Cornaro ;" " a work,"  says
the Universal Biography, " which contains
observations, of rather an irrelevant cha
ractei', upon  the  severity of the  regime,
adopted by the noble Venetian."   This de-
scription of the work, in our opinion, car-
ries its  refutation along with it.   We now
come to the third and last of his  opposers.
  In a modern edition  of the Discourses of
Cornaro, published at Lucca, with a  pre-
face,  by the Marquis  Francesco  Eugenie
Guasco, addressed in the form of a letter
to the Marquis Lorenzo Battini;  the  pom-
mentator  criticises the author  lie edits al
considerable  length.  His arguments may
be summed up, in  the following extract, " 1
am willing to concede, that the ' Discourses
upon a Sober Life,' are interesting and in- 
              ALVI8E CORNARO.          149
 structive; but I assert that, without an ex-
 emption from mental anxiety, they will avail
 but little  toward the prolongation of life.  1
 am, furthermore, of opinion, that this ex-
 emption  from care and  mental solicitude,
 can never be assured to  us, unless we pos-
 sess the  same  means  which enabled our
 author to secure them to himself." In other
 words, according to Guasco, the rich alone
 can enjoy tranquillity of mind ;  and, there-
 fore, long life,  and  uninterrupted  health.
 That we  may not be  thought  to give an
 unauthorized  and arbitrary interpretation
 to his language, we will make a  further ex-
 tract,  that he may be judged  by his  own
 words. "If the author, by mental tran-
 quillity, mean that  philosophic ease which
 can be acquired by human exertions,  1
 would  say, that  its acquisition does not de-
 pend upon ourselves.  It depends upon the
 possession of sufficient pecuniary means.
 I think it an impossibility to  obtain  this
 tranquillity, without riches; and  I ridicule
 the opinions of those philosophers who boast
of internal peace, in the midst of penury;
            13# 
150           BIOGRAPHY OF
and I listen to their assertions with incre-
dulity."
  A sufficient  answer to this Diatribe may
be found, on the one hand, in the  innumer-
able facts, drawn from the domestic annals
of  the  rich;  which, of themselves,  are
enough to form a calendar of crime, where-
upon  to  found a penal  code:—and, upon
the other hand, in the pure and unblemished
lives of thousands  upon  thousands of vir-
tuous families of  peasants  and  laborers;
who, obtaining, by unremitted exertions, a
support, slender, it is true, but, at the same
time, sufficient to sustain nature,  have pro-
longed their existence to the extreme limit
of human life, with purity of morals, peace
of mind, and uninterrupted  health.
   Need we remind the Marquis of Guasco
of  the dungeons of Spielberg;  where, in-
stead of affluence  and comfort, there exist-
ed a privation  of every thing usually deemed
necessary to  render life endurable.  Yet,
amid all their physical sufferings, the inmates
of  that infernal  place  were  not without
many sources  of consolation, and many pure 
ALVISE  CORNARO.          151
and innocent enjoyments ;  and could chal-
lenge the monarch, who entombed them in
its dreary vaults, to measure his happiness
with their's ;  and, from his lofty throne, to
compare his situation, surrounded, as it was,
with  suspicions,  anxieties,  and fears,  to
which he  was continually a prey, with  the
atmosphere of peace and noble self-reliance
in which they lived, and which was the re-
sult  of a clear  and  self-approving con-
science.  Had  the captives of Spielberg
been  compelled  to labor, with a doubtful
prospect of success, in order to obtain their
daily  clothing, food, and shelter,  perhaps
the very uncertainty might  have disturbed
their  equanimity of mind.   But what, ir
fact, was the  kind of clothing, food, and
shelter assigned them ?   A wretched pit-
tance, an  absolute minimum; barely suffi-
cient to sustain existence, and prevent death
from inanition.
  If mankind, therefore, would unite upon
some  plan, whereby a simple minimum, so
to speak, could be assured to them recipro-
cally, by  their  mutual exertions,  foreign 
 152            BIOGRAPHY OF
 wars, internal commotions, and all the evils
 which annoy ihem, physically, morally, and
intellectually, would cease for  ever.  To
realize this, money is not indispensable, to
 ffect this purpose, a  single-hearted  and
nonest will, abundantly  suffices.   The pro-
ducts of that will, as developed by the prin-
ciples of the association ; through the or-
ganization  of labor; as made known  and
perfected  by the genius of Charh s  Four-
ier, are adequate to the attainment  of the
greatest amount of mental, moral, and phy-
sical happiness.
  It was  our intention to give, simply, a
biography  of Cornaro;  and not to enter
into a discussion  of  the merits of his  sys-
tem.51  In any event, sobriety is an admir-
able virtue, to be recommendeoVat all times,
to all men, whatever may be their rank or
condition.   But  Cornaro himself  allows,
that,  inasmuch as constitutions  differ, the
quantity  and quality of aliment should be
proportioned to  the  varieties of physical
organization.  This  seems to us more  rea-
sonable than to prohibit,  either  upon  reli- 
             ALVISE CORNARO.          153

gious or  philosophical  grounds, the use of
animal food ;  especially those kinds  of it
which are known* to contain nutritious prin-
ciples ; and, on the other hand, to allow the
indiscriminate use of all sorts of vegetables,
many of which  possess  the  most potent
medicinal properties.   This system is op-
posed to science  and  reason; and we feel
assured that whatever is disproved by them
can find no support in religion; each being
reciprocally the guide and ally of the other.
                    Piero Maroncelli.
  New-York Dec. 27th. 1841. 
I 
               NOTES

                   ON A

TEMPERATE  AND  SOBER   LIFE
                Note 1.  Page -1.
Tim Author had heard of the New Order, as tht-y wer«
■tiled  in those days; that the reformed  religion had a
tendency to lead man into  debauchery and licentious-
ness ; and he is supposed to  be as honest  as those of our
day, who call our reformers, with all the epithets which
can be heaped upon them.
  One says of Gall, Spurzheim, and their followers, that
they were bad men, and the doctrine of phrenology has
a tendency to destroy man's accountability.
  Another says, that Graham is an impostor, because he
attempts to reform mankind, in relation  to food and
drink.  Another says, Tappan ought to be hung, for1
teaching an unpopular doctrine.   For the same reason,
John Qaincy Adams is called a weak old man, when he
pleads the cause of the poor and despised of this world;
so it goes.
  Now, my friends, can you not throw out a little ol
your anger against some one, who thinks  he is trying to 
  156         notes on a tempehate

 help you?  If so, it will show that you  have the same
 feeling, and, also, that  you belong to the race of de-
 praved man  Perhaps  you will say that  Finney, or
 Mahan, are unworthy the name of Christians, because
 they say, " God has not commanded us to do any thing,
 that we are unable to perform."

                 Note  2.  Page 14.
   Wine cannot be digested, except the small portion of
 nutriment it contains, and  the newer the better, as far
 as the alcohol is concerned; it goes directly into  the
 circulation, which causes an excitement at the time,
 and also a corresponding depression takes place, pro-
 vided a stimulant is not renewed shortly after.  The
 same stimulation received from tea or coffee, leave* the
 nervous system in a much worse condition than that of
 wine.

                Note 3. Page 27.
  The  stomach can be trained to almost  any thing, but
 that does not prove it best for the health of the body.
 I hope  my friends will govern their stomachs, by their
intellectual faculties, and so make the stomach adminis-
ter health to the body.

                Note 4. Page 2ft.
  The author, owed his health and long life more to the
quantity and regularity  of  his regimen, than  that  of
quality; for we all admit, that some things which ap-
pear  to agree with the stomach, engender disease  and
death;  so that his conclusion will not always be a safe
rule to follow 
AND SOBER LI1E.
157
                 Note 5.  Page 37
  If we look upon mankind, as a general rule, we shall
find but few who take much interest in any thing, except
as far as it will gratify their palates or pride in  this
world; for they say, what shall we  eat, and what shall
we  drink, and what shall we decorate our bodies with ?
  Paul says, " I keep my body under, and bring it into
subjection," or, in other words,  I govern the lower pro-
pensities by the higher, or intellectual and moral or
gans; " Whether, therefore, ye  eat or drink, or whatso-
ever ye do; do all to the glory of God."   Whatever will
have a tendency to prostrate, or impede the laws which
govern the body, cannot be consistent with the Author
of our frame, and, consequently, would dishonor him.

                 Note 6, Page 61.
  It was  taught  by learned physicians,  before Cornaro
wrote, and was a popular doctrine among the great ones
of his day; that the stars had an influence on our consti-
tutions, and that it was necessary to  guard against them
by the virtues of medicine, at stated periods, whenever
they thought  they sent forth their poison;  and, at such
times, the people who believed  it, consulted their phy-
sicians, and took physic, in order to guard against the
influence of the heavenly bodies.
  Many of  our friends  of this day, are as foolish as the
learned were  in  former times.   Cornaro did not study
the  subject himself, but took it as he received it from
others; and we ought to remember, that it was his say-
ing, and not proved or  investigated by him.
  Some, of our own day, still continue to follow up the
•uperslition of their fathers,  and say, to commence ■
                14 
 158 NOTES ON A TEMPERATE AND SOBER LIFE.

piece of work  or journey on Friday, or any thing rlip,
is not good, tor il is rii unlucky day; and many who arc
even in great want will spend a whole day in idleness,
for  fear of consequences which may follow.—I  hope
such persons wiM " prove all thing*, and hold  fast that
which  is good."

                 Note 7.  Page 02.
  The  teeth of man are made to last as long as  any part
of the  frame;  consequently, to lose them  in early life
appears unnatural, and inconsistent with other organs
of the  body.   To lose them, cripples the powers ol
the vital constitution, and  abridges the period of our
bodily existence.  I have inserted a drawing of the per-
manent teeth of  one side of the jaw; the  figures com-
mence  with the  front  teeth; the right side are the up-
per, and the left  side the lower teeth.  Can any one, for
a moment, believe that  it is natural  to have  decayed
teeth, or tooth-ache, in early life ?  If they do, it shows
that they have  paid but little attention to physiology, or
the natural laws  of man
  As society in at present, we find but few persons al
twenty years of age who have not  some decayed teeth.
My young friends, judge for yourselves.   I do not sa\
that the whole blame reals  on you; but I do say the
guilt rests somewhere, either on yourselves, or  on  your
ancestors; for God made every thing perfect, and all hu
laws harmonize  when they are obeyed.

                 Note 8.  Page 03.
  Man in the first part of life, when ascending the hill,
takes more  pleasure  in exercising  his  limbs,  than 
159
 
160          NOTES ON A TEMPERATE

after he begins to travel on the top, or descending plain;
consequently, he will require more nutrition to supply
the waste of the animal economy.
  We  regulate our steam-engines  on this principle.
Why not our  own frames ?  which we would not part
with for all the steam-power in the world.

                 Note 9.  Page 63.
  The reader is referred to the biography, where he will
see that Cornaro died in his ninety-ninth year; and in
nearly the manner predicted, which is the way all men
ought to leave the animal frame,—the house of the soul
undisturbed, as far as one organ can operate on another.
If we are to leave one house, or place of residence, for
another, we ought to do it in as peaceable a manner as
possible.
  We also speak with pleasure of our intended depart-
ure, from one place to another.  If these things give u»
pleasure, should we not talk of the time when we shall
be commanded by nature, as well as revelation, to  art
our houses in  order, for  our departure for the next
world; at sucli times our accounts ought to be posted,
our books balanced, our minds clear, so that we shall be
able to give directions  to our children, and those who
are dear to us.
  It appears  it was so with Jacob of old, who said to
his sons, "Gather yourselves together, that I may tell
you that  which shall befall you in the last days." After
he had given his directions and blessings, wi^ich ucuoed
a clear mind,  a body in harmony with its parts, a con-
sciousness of its dissolving to its mother earth, " he ga-
thered up  his feet  into the bei, and yielded up  the 
AND SOBER LIFE.              161
 ghost, [or spirit,] and was gathered to his poor .e."  Was
 there pain or confusion ? judge ye.   Did he say, I can-
 not die, I shall  not die ?  No.  But it was, " I go the
 way of all flesh."

                 Note 10.  Page 63.
   Man, in our day, as a general rule, by the time he has
 prepared himself to teach others, dies, and leaves his
 work half done; another follows, and, perhaps, before
 he has had time to reflect, and commence the great work
 of reform,  he also  dies, for the want of proper know-
 ledge of himself, and the laws which govern organized
 beings.
   Some professing Christians assert, that they would ra-
 ther have their lives cut short, ten or twenty years, than
 to deny themselves of the good things of this life, as
 they call them; and I will here mention some of them:
 tobacco,  in its various forms,  which would  degrade a
 common hog; also  tea, coffee, opium, pepper,  spice,
 mustard, and grease; and also to emm their stomachs
 with every thing that will gratify the  palate; so that,
 after dinner, they feel like a bloodsucker, or leech, after
 it is full, and would look, if they were stripped of dress,
 more like a dead dog after it has lain in the river a week,
 and bloated to the fullest extent, than an intelligent be-
 ing:   Paul  says of them, "whose  end is destruction;
 whose  God is their  belly; and whose glory is in  their
 ihame."

                Note 11. Page 64.
  We ought to make the inferior oigans eubject to the
superior, or moral sentiments.  We should then ask our-
                14* 
 162   NOTES ON A TEMPERATE AND SOBER LIFE.

■elves the question, when wc sit down to eat, 'Am  I
eating to live, or am I living to cat ?"  In either caw,
you will get your reward.

                Note 12.  Page 60.
  All feve-s  are either received through an impure at-
mosphere, or are engendered in the system, by a viola-
tion of nature's law: it consequently follows, that when-
ever the climate is good, and the atmosphere pure, we
are the authors of our own  sickness; and we ought to
feel that the penalty is just, for the " glutton and  the
drunkard shall  perish together."  The Author of our
frame has said, that he will  by no means clear the guil-
ty; but will reward every man according to his works;
whether they be good or tad.
  The  Psalmist said, when he wished to have justice
done in the earth,  " Let the righteous smite me:"  we
should then feel when we get drunk, or get a fever, or
any other disease, whieh arises in our own bodies, that
the penalty  is jusf.   In either case,  we  are  equally
guilty, and ought to have the same disgrace attached to
one as the other.

                Note 13.  Page 67.
  In order to give a clear idea of the passage of the food
mx> the stomach,  I here show you an outline of the
human form, with  a view of the interior of the  chest
and abdomen-
  It is necessary that you should understand the man-
ner in which the food passes into the stomach.   In the
engraving, you see all the passages and organs  leading
from the mouth ,o the stomach.  That part situated im 
Drawn by John Burdell, Dentist.
 
164          NOTES ON A TEMPERATE
mediately behind the mouth, designated by the lrfte?
P, is the pharynx.   It is a funnel-shaped  bag, sur-
rounded  by muscles;  the  lower part of which termi-
nates in  the gullet or  oesophagus,  marked  B, which
leads directly to the stomach.  The  tongue is marked
E, the wind-pipe A, and the opening of the wind-pipe,
which is  just at the root of the tongue, called the epi-
glottis, is denoted by  a small e.  This is formed like a
little lid, which shuts down and closes the top of the
wind-pipe, to prevent any food  from  getting mi when it
is passing over it to the gullet, as this would cause very
serious inconvenience, and perhaps death.
  The wind-pipe leads to the lungs.  You see how it is
divided, at the bottom, giving off"a branch to each lung.
The uvula, or palate,  as it is commonly called, marked
u, takes   its name  from its  resemblance to a grape.
Uvula means grape.  It is placed between the mouth
and the pharynx, and  may be  easily seen in your throat,
with the aid of a looking-glass.
  Still further  back,  placed  in a pair of arches which
rise near  the point of  the uvula, but which is separated
from them below, are the tonsils.  These are glands
which form a secretion,  whose  use is  to lubricate the
food; that is, to make it smooth and slippery, so that it
slips easily down.  The tonsils are very often swelled
when we take cold, as it is expressed, (but which is in
fact a derangement of the secretions,)  causing much
pain, often accompanied with sore throat.
  Behind these again, at the top of the pharynx, mark-
ed n, open the passages into what  is called the posterior
nostrils, meaning those  which  are behind, not visible,
over which the arches or curtains, in which the tonsils 
fcND SOBER LIFE.             165
are placed, are carried by the muscles, to prevent any
food getting into the nostrils during the act of degluti-
tion.  Sometimes, in swallowing, this barrier will be
forced, by laughing or sudden coughing, and then the
food is  partly expelled through the nostrils.  This is
also often the case in vomiting.
  The gullet is a muscular tube placed behind the wind
pipe.  It runs along the neck, and as it enters the chest,
turns slightly to  the  left, but keeping  near the back-
bone.  Its course is behind the heart  and lungs, pene-
trating  the diaphragm, marked D.  This is a  large
muscle which separates the chest from the belly, and
terminates in the stomach, marked C.
  The gullet has two muscular coats, by means of which
the food is carried into the stomach, and is lined with
•l continuation of the same smooth cuticle, or skin, that
we see in the inside of the mouth;  but  this is changed
in appearance and qualities as soon as it enters the sto-
mach; and it is  from the connection this has with the
lining membrane of the intestinal canal, wo judge of
the state of the stomach and bowels, by  the appearance
of the tongue.
   After  the food  is sufficiently chewed, it is then col-
lected by the  aid of the lips, tongue, &c, and carried
to the back part of the tongue.  The  jaws then arc
closed, the tongue presses against the palate, thus forc-
ing the food backwards towards the pharynx, which is
drawn up to  meet it; the wind-pipe is closed  by the
epiglottis, over which the food must pass, when th#
muscles of the pharynx seize it, and drive it into tne
gullet.   The circular muscles of the gullet are  then
brought into  motion, and acting in  succession, from 
 166         TVOTES ON A TEMPERATB

above downwards, drive the food along the whole length
of the tube, with great swiftness, and at last it is safely
lodged in the stomach.  It is a common idea, that our
food descends by its own weight, but this is not so, else,
it would be impossible for the grazing animals to swal-
low ;  the head  being then lower than the  stomach
This will likewise explain, what was once deemed in-
explicable, how a person could swallow standing on his
head, as is often done by tumblers and jugglers in their
public exhibitions.
  Provided the food taken at each meal, is of a proper
kind, and of the same  bulk and  amount of nutrition,
other things being equal, the stomach will continue in
health from birth to death.  In most cases, we change
the quantity and quality almost every day, and .cheat
and rob the organ of its just due, by straining and stimu-
lating it as far as possible, without immediate prostra-
tion.  But  remember, that pay-day will come with
vengeance; for " whatsoever we sow, that shall we also
reapf what shall be  the harvest, but disease and pre-
mature death.

                Note 14.  Page 69.
  The Builder  of the house we live in, considers old
age honorable; for He said to Abraham, " Thou shall
go to thy fathers in peace, and be buried  in a good old
age."  And after some of his people had  broken down
their  constitutions,  he has lengthened out their lives,
by a special interposition of his power; for he said to
Hezekiab, " I have heard thy  prayer, I  have seen thy
tears; behold I will add unto thy days, fifteen years.*'
God said to Job, also;" Thou should come  to thy grave. 
AND SOBER LIIE.
167
m/ull age, like us a shock of corn coineth in its sea-
son. '  " After his affliction he lived a hundred and forty
yeirs, and saw his sons' sons, even four generations; so
Job died, being old and full of days."  Does any on<
suppose there could have been sickness, or pain, after
the measure was full r  What  more ctmld  be done to
make it complete ?

                Note 15.  Page 69.
  For  such persons will never observe any particular
rule.   If they have  a chance to marry, they will do so,
and propagate the same;  for as much as the fathers are
corrupt, they beget children of a corrupt composition;
and their children, from  the same cause, are corrupt
themselves; and so corruption  is derived from parent
to child, until abbreviation of life follows,  by succes-
sion.   All feel  the  effect of transgression, some more,
and others less; so that, on the whole, it is best to have
the gluttons and fools cut  off,  so that their influence
and impure offspring  should not disgrace human na-
ture.

                Note 16.  Page 71.
  Twice a day to eat, is generally sufficient for all per-
sons ;  and, as we grow old, the  times ought to be the
same, but less  in  quantity; and  by faithfully carrying
the rule out, such  persons would find  the  mind more
clear, the  health better,  and life prolonged.   Food,
taken too often, creates a fever, and an uneasiness in the
stomach, which many take for hunger; while the oftener
they eat, the  more  irritation is produced, so that they*
make had worse. 
168      '   NOTES ON A VEMPERATB
                 Note 17. Page 73.
   God  said, to our first parents, " In the sweat of thy
 face shalt thou eat bread,  until thou  r -urn to the earth
 again."  In all civilized nations, bread has been esteem-
 ed as the greatest support of life.  I have taken some-
 what from the manuscript of the Health Almanack, foi
 1843, where I  have gone into the subject of vegctablo
 food, as originally designed for the sustenance of man.
 "The grant or permission to eat flesh,and tne conse-
 quences which have followed."  We know that flesh-
 meat quickens the pulse,  and  other ways  deranges the
 body, and, in the same way, shortens life.

                 Note 18.  Page 7f>.
   To those who will select a portion of their tood from
 the animal  kingdom,  I would refer them to the code
 laid down by Moses; for it is the best known.
   I would particularly request my friends,  who are fond
 of eating hog meat, and hog grease, to examine the sub-
ject before a feast, which is to consist in  part of unclean
 flesh.  The hogs, it is well known, are fond of all dead
 carcasses, such as horses, other hogs, cats,  dogs, human
 flesh, and almost every disgusting animal  substance,
 whether fresh or half decayed, which they  can feast on,
 to gratify their appetite.   And (Jod said, " This is the
law concerning the beasts; and of the fowl, and of every
living creature that liveth  in the waters; and of everj
creature that creepeth upon the earth.   To make a dif-
ference  between the unclean and the clean,  and between
the beast that may be eaten, and the beast that may not
be eaten."   Do "riotous  eaters of flesh" observe  the
above rule ? 
AND SOBER LIFE.             169
                Note 19.  Page 76
  Provided all  the organs of the body are treated con-
sistent with the laws of nature, we should then all die
without pain, or disease, and the moral faculties would
be the last to  fail us; we should also have a conscious-
ness of our end; and we should fall asleep with the dis-
ulution of the forces, which have  kept  the frame to-
gether since  its existence; "for  dust  thou wert, and
unto dust shalt thou return," until the dead, both small
and great, shall rise, and stand before the Judge  of all
the earth.

                Note 20.  Page 81.
  Cornaro was a man who lived before his age.  Tie
world neither understood him; and there are but few
who understand him at this day.
  The more ignorant man  is, the more will he suffer,
wid the  more  intelligent and observant, the less.
  Disease  and early death cannot take place under the
ordinary administration of providence,  without a pre-
vious  violation of iier laws; if it were otherwise, God
would be inconsistent with himself.  Good and evil are
placed before  man, and he is responsible for his choice,
and the consequences which follow. fjCJ-1 would ask,
who  is  to blame for  the evil ?   Should  it not be the
transgressor ?

                Note 21.  Page 83.
  As  to the capabilities of the human constitution, I
will mention some cases which have come under my
own observation.
                 15 
no
NOTES ON A TEMPERATE
  The first is Thomas Prince, who died in i\>:* city, i.i
1S40, in his hundred and twelfth year;  whom  I ex-
amined after death, and found his heart, liver, stomach,
and all  the  other  parts of his body, perfectfy sound;
with the exception of a part  of his right lung.   With
this exception, I could see no reason why he could not
have  lived  another hundred years.   His teeth  were
good, and he could chew a crust of bread much better
than our youth of the present day, although he never
knew what  it was to employ a dentist.  His eye-sight
was good, and  he  was capable of threading the finest
needle.  He  had eaten but  twice a day, for the last sixty
years; and a few days before  his death, he made all the.
exertion he could to obtain a wife, bnt did not -m-reed ;
his sexual appetite was nearly as strong as in his young-
er days.  The day  of his death, he said, that he should
walk three or four miles to see a friend; but he shortly
after complained of a strange feeling, and sat down, and
tell asleep in death.
  His principle food was hard bread,  fruit, and vege-
tables; although, on particular occasions, he ate flesh,
sparingly. I have his lungs, liver, and heart, preserved
in spirits; and  any one who wishes to examine  them,
ran do so, by calling at my residence.
  I  know of another person, who is one hundred ana
nfteen year9  old, and, to all appearance, bids fair to live
many years longer.  She has some of her teeth perfectly
sound and healthy.
  Also, another female, who is in  her hundred and
thirteenth year* and capable of relating many anecdotes
of the old French war.  She  says, that  she has nearly
completed her earthly existence, and that she has but 
AND SOBER LIFE.
171
little fear  of death; and the farther she  advances in
life, the less dread she has of death.
  Thomas  Parre,  the  English long liver, passed hia
youth in hard labor.   He was remarkable in sobriety
and chastity, in his younger days.   At eighty, he mar-
ried his first wife, Jane.  At one hundred and two, it ia
■aid, he became enamored with Catharine Milton, whom
he begot with child, and did penance in the church foi
it.  Before his death, he was brought to London, by the
Earl of Arundel.  The close air, and rich living, soon
put an end to his life.   He died on the 15th of Novem-
ber, 1635, at the advanced  age of one hundred and
fifty-two years;  which is marked on his tomb-stone, in
Westminster Abbey

                Note 22. Page St.
  If no law is broken, all punishment would cease, and
violence would  be done away with;  and then the lion
and the lamb might  lie down together.  Every person
would wear out the capabilities of the original consti-
tution,  before animal life could become extinct

                Note 23.  Page 92.
  The  disciples of Christ attempted to cast out a devil,
and they could  not; and they said to the  Lord, " Why
could not we cast  him out?"   And  he said unto them,
" This  kind can come forth by nothing but prayer and.
fasting;" or living consistent with  the constitution of
things; the power he had given them, could be  exan
cued only when they followed his directions. 
172          NOTES ON A TEMPERATE
                Note 24. Page '.»'-".
  God said, "Behold, I  set before you life and death
A blessing if ye obey, and a curse  if ye will not obey;
the commandments of the  Lord your God.*'  " For lw
doth not afflict willingly,  nor  grieve  the children of
men."  To make it more plain, it might be said, with-
out a cause.
  When we break a physical law, we must suffer a phy-
sical punishment.   If we break a natural law, connect-
ed with a moral law, God has so arranged matters, that
he  will do justice.  But  the  criminal says, " that is
what I  am afraid of;"  but thevse  who seek the truth
say, " let me  know the worst of the case, at once."

                Note 25. Page 94.
  Pleasure is the result of harmony.  If so, would it
not be for our interest and comfort  to study and find out
the laws of the body and mind, and act in accordance.
For " Wisdom's ways are ways  of pleasantness, and all
her paths are peace."
  I hope those who suffer pain, will remember, that it
is the fruit of what has been sown; and if you are dis-
satisfied  with the crop, sow  seed,  at another  time,
which will bring forth  good fruit.   But  you may say,
rin enemy hath done this; if so, it is possible you might
have prevented it, by attending to your own business.

                Note 26. Page 97.
  Man,  by  nature, is a religious being, and was created
with fixed constitutional relations to his Creator; and,
also, to the material ijorld, which may be said to be
man's instinct. 
AND SOBER LIFE.
173
  All nations acknowledge, as their religion, something
superior to themselves; consequently, man is always
wonse than his  standard of religion, and the standard
always his greatest  restraint; therefore, the worst re-
ligion is better  than none.

                Note 27.  Page 102.
  I  have said something, in another note, in relation to
wine, but will add a little  more.
  New wine is  the  best, and so  it is with all things,
which are taken as food or drink.
  The sooner any organized substance is converted to
the  wants  of the system, before decomposition has ar-
rived, the  better.  Stale grapes are not as  wholesome,
as when first ripe and fresh.  Figs are better when first
ripe, than  after being dried. So it is with apples, straw-
berries, and all  other kinds of ripe fruit.
  Wheat, corn,  and  all other kinds of grain, will make
the  best bread,  soon after it is ground;  or the vital
principle is destroyed.
  Bread-stuff, which is not raised, is  more wholesome
[than when it  has  undergone  fermentation,] and the
sooner it is eaten, after being cooked, the better.
  The same may be said with regard to all the natural
productions of the earth, which were originally design-
ed for the  sustenance of man and beast.
  Alcohol is not found in nature;  consequently, God
could not  nuvc  considered it necessary for the comfort
of his creatures; but whenever  it is found, it may al-
ways be consider, d the result of death, or a change of
a good creature of God, to an engine of destruction, as
we have seen by Cornaro's own  wiitings.   We see that
                 15* 
174         N0TB9 ON A TEMPKRATE, ETC

the cavil could not deceive him, much over ton innilhs
at a time, without showing  his teeth of destruction,
and at such times Cornaro resisted the deceiver, until
he put on a new dress, which it appears could not be
made to last a full year.
  Let us  all give credit  for the resistance he  made,
when he saw the temple of his own body was in dan-
ger of being cut down; we shall then, I think, give him
the credit of being a man of great decision of character.

                Note 23.  Page 118.
  The name of Alvise is explained by the biographer;
where many things, in relation to the history of Cor-
naro,  will be set forth, I hope, to the satisfaction  of all.
  In former notes, it will be seen that I have somewhat
disagreed  with Cornaro, on  the  subject  of  food  and
drink.
  I have inserted, in another  part of this work,  a few
articles on the original food of man, which were writ-
ter for youth, and designed for another work.
                                            I  B 
NOTES
               BT

THE   BIOGRAPHER.
                Note 29.  Page 127.
   The Teutonic  appellation,  Chludewick, or Hlude-
toik, which the modern Germans soften  into Ludwig,
passed into France with the conquest of the Franks;
and with those of the Lombards into Italy.  In France,
when the H, and the Ch, were strongly aspirated, Hlu-
dewik or Chludewick, became changed into  Clovis, and
at a later period, the aspirate being dropped, into Lovis
or Louis.   In Italy, according to the structure  of the
Latin, it became Ludovicus, and Aloyisius ; in the clas-
sical Italian, Ludovico, Jlloisio, and, more commonly,
Luigi.   In  the different dialect* the name has been in-
finitely varied, and the form it assumed in the Venetian
was Alvise.  It is well known how very tenacious this
part  of Italy is of its  peculiar modes of expression;
and, in the  Venetian  senate,  there was  a  great contro-
versy, to determine whether the Italian or the Venetian 
176       NOTES BY THE BIOGRAPHER.

form should be  used in official communications and
documents.  The  legal decision was in favor of the
former; but,  in  practice, speakers before the public
tribunals continue to use the latter.

                Note 30. Page 12a.
  It will be seen that, at the time of the birth of Alvise,
the family of Cornaro had given but one Doge  to the
Republic.

                Note 31. Page 131.
  The  island of Cypus  remained subject to Venice till
1571; when it was conquered by the Turks.  [See Con-
versations Lexicon, Leipzig, and the Biographie Uni-
verselle, Paris, 1833.]

                Note 32. Page 132.
  Apostolo Zeno, Annotazioni alia Biblioteca del Fon-
tanini.

                Note 33. Page 132.
  Letter of Alvise Cornaro  to Sperone  Speroni, dated
from his country seat,  at Codovico, April 2nd,  1542.
It is to be found in  the fifth volume of the Works of
Sperone Speroni, Venice, 1740, 4to, page 329.

                Note 34. Page 134.
  Giorgio Vasari wrote a Life of Falconetto; but that
by Tommaso Temanza,  inserted by him in his " Lives
of Venetian Architects, Venice, 1778, 4to," is  much
better.   Brandolesc,  in  his " Picture of Padua," gives 
NOTES BY THE BIOGRAPHER.        177
the different epochs in the life of Falconetto with the
greatest exactitude.

               Note 35. Page 136.
  See the " Description of Works of Art, of the earlier
Half of the Sixteenth Century, by an anonymous writer;
published and illustrated by Jacopo  Morelli, Bassano,
1600, Svo, page 10," where is to be found an account of
the ornaments and works of art which were in Cornaro's
house

               Note 30. Page 136.
  In this villa, or country seat, at Codovico, or Codevi-
go, Ruzzante, the cherished guest of Cornaro, composed
the greater  portion of his quaint and beautiful plays.
Apostolo  Zeno, Azotes on the Library of the Fonta-
nt'nt,' vol. 2, page 345.

               Note 37. Page 137.
       Vasari; Life of Giam Maria Falconetto.

               Note 38. Page 137.
  The publisher, Marcolini, was no ordinary man, but
an ingenious artist; and had made such progress in the
application  of science to  mechanics, as to merit the
highest eulogies from the distinguished Daniele Barbaro.
Qamba, Eulogy of Cornaro.

               Note 39. Page 137.
  The Chevalier Morelli, in his "Description, &c.,"
above rererred to, quotes the following eulogy of Cor 
178       NOTES BY THE BIOGRAPHER.
naro, by Pierio Valeriano; in his dedication to him of
his forty-ninth book " On Hieroglyphics."
  " I have deemed it especially appropriate, toiedicata
to you this treatise  upon certain monuments and lapi-
dary inscriptions; since none, who are in a private sta-
tion, at this day, excel you in your taste in architecture,
and in your knowledge of its principles; or have sur-
passed you  in reducing them to practice.   Had a for-
tune, worthy to your merits, fallen to your lot, our times
would  have  witnessed a display of architectural magni-
ficence, unsurpassed by any remains  of ancient splen-
dor."

                Note 40.  Page 139.
  " These two kinds of stairs were invented by Signor
Luigi Cornaro, a gentleman of the most refined taste;
as may be discerned upon beholding his splendid man-
sion, and also  the magnificent apartments in his resi-
dence  at  Padua."—The four bocks  on Architecture;
Venice, by Franceschi, 15G0, in fol., book 1, chap. 29,
page 6.

                Note 41.  Page 139.
   See the list of the different editions and versions.

                Note 42.  Page 140.
  The title of this little  treatise, is " A Treatise upon
the Waters."  Padua, by Grazioso Percacino, 1560, 4m.
The learned Chevalier Morelli possossed a copy, with
annotations, in the hand of  Cornaro;  and also another
little work, inedited, upon  the same subject; written 
NOTES BY THE BIOGRAPHER.        179
by Cornaro,  in the ninety-sixth year of his age.  See
the " Description, &C," above referred to, page 102

               Note 43. Page 141.
  Life i >f Cardinal J.  Francesco Commendoni; Paris,
1669, book 4, chap. 14.  Ortensio Lando, in his " Seven
Books of Catalogues, Venice, 1552, 8vo, page 255," in
making mention of Cornaro, adds, against his name, " A
great architect, a great hunter, and a  man  of  great
piety."

               Note 44. Page 141.
  The order of these two treatises has been erroneously
inverted, as well in the London edition, as in the New-
York edition, of 1833.

               Note 45. Page 142.
          See the London edition, of 1768.

               Note 46. Page 143.
  We are not unaware  that, according to Sansovino,
[second  Venice edition,] Cornaro  died  at  the age  of
ninety-six; but the statement of Graziani  seems most
worthy of credit.   If any suppose that his authority is
counterbalanced by the  account of Sansovino, who, as
well as Graziani, was a contemporary and  friend  of
Cornaro, we will content ourselves with  stating  that
the question is reduced to a simple  doubt between
ninety-six and ninety-eight years, as the age of Cornaro.
Apostolo Zeno, who is remarkable for his exactness,
knew the assertion of  Sansovino; but,  nevertheless,
adopted the  account of Graziani; and finally the accu- 
180       NOTES BY THE  BIOGRAPHER.

rate and indefatigable Gamba follows Apostoio Zeno,
and deems  it unnecessary to combat the  arguments ol
his opponents, or to recite the statements of a contrarj
nature.

                Note 47.  Page 144
  This  may appear a trifling circumstance, but it is,
notwithstanding, sufficient to show the incorrectness ol
the statements which allege that he died in an arm-
chair.   See the English and American editions.

                Note 48.  Page 146.
  The " Universal Biography" states, that Sessio placed
the Discourses on a Sober Life after his " Hygiasticon;"
This is not the case; he placed them before it.  It
states, furthermore, that they were versified, in Italian,
[Venice, 1666,  8vo,] and that the Italian verses were
versified, in Latin, by Sessio. We have never heard ol
the existence of  these poetical versions;  and as we
have had many reasons, as above shown, to distrust the
exactness of such compilers, however learned, especi-
ally when treating of foreign subjects; we  receive the
above statements  with great doubt.

                Note 49.  Page 146.
   Bernardino  Ramazzini,  physician, born at  Carpi,
Duchy of Modena, in 1603; exercised his profession,
successfully, at Modena, Rome, and Padua, where be
was a  professor, and where  he  died, in 1714.  He was
a member of the academy of the " Dissonanti" of Mo-
dena, and of that of  Natural Philosophy; also, of the
Royal Society of Berlin, and of the " Arcadia," of Rome- 
           NOTES BY THE BIOGRAPHER.       181

His Life was written by  Michelangiolo  Zorzi, in his
" Biography of Illustrious Arcadians, vol. 6;" likewise,
by Fabroni, in his " Lives of Italians, vol. 4;" and  by
Tirabosch., Biblioteca Moderna, vol. 4.

               Note 50. Page 146.
  A mode of treatment, consisting in  the application
at* Natural remedies.

               Note 51. Page 152.
  This reprint  of the Treatises of Cornaro is accom-
panied with Notes, which enter at length into the me-
rits of his  system.  These have been prepared by Mr.
John Burdell,  a gentleman well  known to be con-
versant with the subject upon which he has undertaken
to comment.  For the inferences drawn from them, he
alone is responsible; my design being merely to collect
and arrange such  materials to form an authentic Biog-
raphy of Cornaro, as I could obtain.  This task I hare
performed,  to the best of my ability.
                             Piero Maronc ei u
  JVew- York, Dec 11th, 1841.
M 
INTRODUCTION TO THE APPENDIX.
  Having, at different times, reduced to writing cer-
tain suggestions to young persons, upon the subject of
dietetics, which seemed to me worthy to be preserv-
ed ; and finding no portion of the Works  of Cornaro,
to which a reference, in the  form  of a Note, would
be particularly pertinent, I have thought it best  t<;
throw  them together, at the  close of this  volume,
as an Appendix.
                                John Burseix.
  JYeio-York, Ja xuary, 1842. 
APPENDIX.
       ORIGINAL   FOOD  OF  MAN,

                     No. I.

    xow give you the Bible doctrine on this subjtct, as
i understand it. In Gen. i. 29, God says: " I have given
Jou every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of
all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit
of a tree yielding seed, to you it shall be for meat," and
adds, " and it was so."
  We here see the original intention of our Maker as to
the kind of food we should eat; and this food was easily
procured,  for it was only necessary, on man's part, to
put forth his hand and his wants were all supplied by
b»  Beneficent Creator, as we read in Gen. ii. 8. " And 
184>   APPENDIX.---ORIGINAL FOOD OF MAN.

the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and
there he put the man whom he had formed.  And out
of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree thai
is pleasant to the sight and good for food."  And of all
that was good, might he freely eat, with but one excep-
tion, and that was to tost his obedience.   We also read
in this  chapter, God  brought  the beasts and fowls to
Adam, not to kill and eat thc-m, but to name them; and
it is not at all probable that Adam ever entertained the
thought, that they would ever become the food of his
posterity, innocent as himself, formed from the same
earth, breathing the  same  atmosphere, and subject to
the same physical laws, especially when the direction
was so plain as to what should be the food of man. Af-
ter  our first parents sinned, and were expelled from the
garden of Eden, they were compelled to till the ground
for a-subsistence, for still the command was," thou shalt
eat  the herb of the field."
  The lovers of flesh-meat, are, no doubt, very anxious
I should get to Noah's history; a» there, they think,
that I must grant them indulgence;  but a permission
from the Almighty,  does  not abolish  any command
which he has given; the first command is still in force,
and plainly shows our Creator's intention, as he canm.t
deny himself.   And if it was  intended  we should eat
vegetable food, our stomachs of course would be adapt-
ed to it; and although we  may get along with a mixed
diet, that does not prove that  it is best.  I would ask
my flesh-eating friends, what they think is the cause ot
man's life being so much shorter since Noah's time than
before ? whether they suppose 8esh-eating has anything
to do wi :h it ? 
      APPENDIX.—ORIGIN.O. F00.) OF MAN.   185

                     No. II.

  In passing along the page containing the h story of
man's degeneracy, after the fall, we meet with the ac-
count of the flood, with which the Lord visited his in-
iquity, and of the preservation of Noah and his family,
with the beasts, fowls, and creeping things which God
commanded him to preserve alive with him in the ark.
And here we  have, as it were,  to begin man's history
anew, at least, so far as it concerns repeopling the earth.
We commence with Noah's egress from the ark.   And
here we find the first permission to eat flesh.   Gen. ix
1.   " And God blessed Noah and his sons,  and said un-
to them,  ' Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the
earth.  And the fear of you and the dread of you shall
be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl
of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and up-
on all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are  they de-
livered.   Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat
for  you:  even as the green herb have I given you all
things.'"
  Some of my readers  may say,  " Well, I wonder what
he will say to  that, for this is as plain a direction as the
first r"  True, so it  is, and I  have no wish to deny it;
all I want is  to find out which is best for man, an ani-
mal or vegetable diet; and when I have ascertained this,
it is my duty to follow the right, that is the best.
  Now, I do not dispute the fact, that man can receive
nourishment from animal food; on the contrary, I say,
he can and may  be nourished by every living thing that
moveth: for we read of some nations who support life
from the moat disgusting creatures and substances, such
               16» 
 186   APPENDIX.---ORIGINAL FCMD OF  MAN.

as lizards, toads, frogs, spiders,  ants, beetles, rraba,
clams, lobsters, eels, hogs, cats, dogs, rats, mice, rat-
tle-snakes, together with the human species, from the
infant  to old age; choosing children cm account of the
tenderness of t ho flesh; and many others, which we would
never think of touching; but that does not prove that
such a diet is best for them.  It  only shows the good-
ness of God  in  forming us in such a manner, that we
may be supported even when destitute of our proper
diet.   For, although I  think a vegetable  diet the one
intended for us by our Creator, and best adapted to our
wants, I should think it right for me, if placed where 1
could not get it, to eat anything I could get that would
sustain me.  But when we look at those nations and in-
dividuals who subsist chiefly, or entirely on flesh, for
instances of longevity, we look in  vain. It is not there
we find those who live the longest, or are most useful
to their race.  They are,  in general, warlike, savage,
cruel,  passionate, and blood-thirsty.  And so it is with
the carnivorous animals, and no one pretends to deny,
that it is the effect of diet on them.
   Now, we are governed by the same physical laws as
the brute creation, why should  not the effects be the
6ame ?  And, surely, none  covet  these dispositions or
feelings, for God's commands against these  are much
more   frequently enforced  than the  permission to eat
flesh;  and as we are placed  here to do all the good we
can, we should be careful to  know in what way we can
best serve our Maker " in our bodies and spirits, which
are his."
   I in'end, in  my next, to show the reduction in the
age of man, since he became  a flesh-eater. 
       APPENLIX.—ORIGINAL FOOD 02 MAN.   187


                     No. III.
  Agreeable to my promise, I here present you the
result of my calculations respecting the duration of the
life of man, since and before  he became a flesh-eater,
both periods embracing about fifteen hundred years.
  From Adam to the flood the average age of man, as re
corded, was nine hundred and seven years, and from th
flood until the entrance of the Israelites into  the pro
mised  land, was two hundred and seventy-eight  years.
Now, by dividing this last period again, we shall, be en-
abled to see more clearly, that the greatest decrease wat
during the latter part of the time.
  From the flood to the time of Abram, we  find it four
hundred and twenty-one years;  and from Abram's time
until God gave the children of Israel possession of the
land of Canaan, one hundred and thirty-seven years, and
again from the last mentioned  period, to the birth  of our
Saviour, fifty-nine years.
  You see the reduction has been gradual, not sudden,
and some, on this account, will cavil and find fault with
the reason 1  have assigned for it, and inquire why man's
life was not immediately shortened to the present age.
I would only give the same reason for this, that I should
for any other similar  increase or decrease, whether phy-
sical or moral.  As to moral character, our own obser-
vation  must have taught us the progress either in vir-
tue or vice is gradual; so in physical, especially when
we consider our bodies the chief and best of God's handi-
work.  We know the progress  from " very good,"  to
that deformity we n »w behold, must  of necessity have
been gradual. 
188   APPFND1X.---ORIGINAL FOOD OF MAN.

  Others again vvil. say, " But God has declared, in ni*
holy word,  that  tae  life of man should not exceed
■ three score years and  ten.'  Now, if God has so or-
dained it to bo, let us  live which way we may, we can-
not alter it."  But  I would ask these last objectors, if
they believe what they advance, how does it happen that
any of our race  do  live longer than seventy or eighty
vears ?  Wc know that some live to one hundred, some
even one hundred and fifty years, in our own time.   If
God had decreed that  they should not live so long, how
is it we see such instances of longevity ?
  The truth is this; when the Psalmist spoke of man's
life being limited to seventy or eighty years, he did not
speak  of it  as a decree^ or prophetically; he merely
stated the fact, that this was the average period of man's
life at  that time, in the same way that I have spoken of
fifty-nine years being the average duration of our race.
at the  time last mentioned.
  The Psalm referred to, could not have been written
by Mosos, as many learned men have tried to piove, foi
his great grandfather lived to be one hundred and thirty
seven, his grandfather to one hundred and thirty-three,
and his father to one hundred and thirty-seven years.
Is it probable that Moses would have made the above
assertion, dictated by  the spirit of Him who is truth,
and cannot lie ?
  Others again will say, " I care not whether I  live a
long or short life, provided  it be a merry one and I en-
joy myself;  far we  have trials enough, without all this
self-denial."  If  they think it self-denial  to practice
virtue, obeying the laws of their nature, and glorifying 
      APPENDIX.---ORIGINAL FOOD OF MAN.   189

their Creator, to these I say, in the words of prophecy,
"Go thy way, eat drink, and be merry; but know thon,
for all these things, God will bring thee into judgment."
                    No.  IV.

  Some, in pleading for the indulgence of their own
appetites, profess great reverence for the commands of
their Creator, and meet us with the objection, that, as
it was a command of their Creator, who knew what was
best for the health of the body he has given us, there-
fore it is our duty to partake  of flesh; and not being
satisfied with this, they will even go so far as to say the
command is, thou shalt eat flesh.
  Now, in the first  place, I would ask, Did the Al-
mighty, (who all must allow was the Creator, as well
as the Shepherd and Guide of the Israelites,) when he
took them from  their  bondage  and  degradation in
Egypt, to bring them into a land flowing with milk and
honey, a land of oil-olives, of wheat and barley, and
vines, and fig-trees, and pomegranates,  a land wherein
they should eat bread without scarcenoss, as Moses ex-
presses it, did He find it necessary to give them flesh
to strengthen them, to bring them  through the wilder-
ness ? a much longer and more wearisome journey than
any of us  at this day are likely to undergo, during the
whole of our earthly pilgrimage;  or, was the opposits
course pursued ?
  We read, " He gave them manna from Heaven to eat, 
 190   APPENDIX.---ORIGINAL FOOD OF MAN.

which those accustomed to flesh must think light diet
far travellers; and it appears they thought so too; for
we are told by the sacred historian, the people became
discontented,  and lusted  after flesh.   And they said,
" our soul  is dried away within us, for we have nothing
but this manna to eat."  When they remembered  the
flesh-pots of Egypt, they could even forget their slavery,
and said, " Would we had remained in Egypt, for then
it was well with us."  So does an appetite for animal
food degrade the mind, that if they could be satisfied in
this particular, they were willing to forego all the ad-
vantages and  privileges of the land of which we have
been  speaking, and  become to their  task-masters even
as the brutes  that perish.
   But God, who, although he remembers  our infirmi-
ties, does not forget  our welfare, gave them  their own
desire.  For what ?  To gratify an  innocent  craving of
 their nature ?  or  to  punish their sinful discontent with
 his wise  and beneficent  provision  for their wants?
 The  sequel tells the whole;  we are not  left to guess
 at  it.
   For the Lord said, " As ye have said it was well with
 us in Egypt, so will I  give you flesh to eat."  But we
 are told that, while  the flesh was between their teeth,
 the Lord smote them in his anger;  even as he had said
 unto  Moses,  " They shall eat of it a whole month, un-
 til it  come out at  their  nostrils, and it be  loathsome
 unto you, because ye have despised the Lord."  Show-
 ing plainly man's desires and appetites are not his safest
 or best guides, and likewise proving  the folly of those
 who contend  their Maker is best served, and his com-
 mands obeyed, by eating flesh 
       APPENDIX.---ORIGINAL FOOD OF MAN.    191

  Had flesh been best f >r them, it was  as easy a thing
for the Lord to have given it to them as rnanna; but this
history plainly shows that flesh is not necessary to man's
i)ie»
                      No. V.

  What trouble, labor, or expense, does man think too
great for the pampering of this decaying body, hasten-
ing  to  dissolution, through  his ignorance, or wilful
lusts?   We see this in the case  of the Israelites,  how
little they regarded the labor necessary to procure the
fancied good.
  We read, " the  people stood up all that day and all
night, and all the next day, to gather quails," when
they might have  lain at ease and  in  peace on  their
beds, and been provided with food by the hand of their
kind Master, without concern on their part, " for. at
night when the dew fell upon the camp, then the man-
na fell with it."
  But we should not too severely censure the Israelites
in this particular, for they are far from being the only
ones who have been governed by lust and carnal appe-
tite.  Do we  not  see the same things in our own day ?
The drunkard, for instance, will, to procure the gratifi-
cation of his soul-destroying appetite, stoop to the most
degrading  practices and habits, and willingly undergo
almost the toil and servitude of a galley-slave, that he
may have his much loved pint of rum or whiskey. And
what creates  this unnatural  thirst, this  appetite  foi
liquid  fire?  Did you ever know a pure vegetable 
 192  APPENDIX.---0RIGINA1  r  Or OF MAN.

 eater hecome a drunkard?  But I will hint at the cause
 by and bye.
  The gourmand or glutton, (for, in our view, the terms
 are synonymous,) will also undertake the most fatiguing
 marches through heat or cold, wet or dry, and think no
 trouble or toil too much to procure for his abused and
 depraved appetite, the gratification of one hour's plea-
 sure in the delicacies of the feast i>". has, at so much la-
 bor, provided;  not  thinking or caring for pay-day,
 which never fails to come, although its approach is un-
 heeded, bringing disease and death, induced by this arti-
 ficial and unnatural mode of living.
  And this also illustrates the nature of the disease the
 Israelites-brought upon themselves, by their continued
 flesh-eating, for they ate  of it a whole month.   I call it
 disease—the flesh coming out at their nostrils; for what
 other name shall we give it?  Ask  the devotee of appe-
 tite and lust, what causes him to use that foul and poi-
 sonous weed, tobacco, and-if he gives you the true cause,
 he will tell you, it is to get rid of the disagreeable and
 disgusting ta3te he has in his mouth.
  A similar reason might be given for the use of stimu-
 lants, and other filthy practices, to which  men resort,
 as the means of counteracting the unpleasant and  per-
 nicious effects of their own folly, and ignorance of the
laws which govern their physical nature.
  Solomon classes drunkenness and abuse of flesh-eat-
ing together, and we rarely find  a glutton who  is not a
drunkard.  His words a^c, " Hear thou, my son, and be
wise.  Be not among wine-bibbers, among riotous eat-
ers of flesh, for th* glutton and drunkard shall dome to
poverty." 
      APPENDIX.--ORIGINAL FOOD OF MAN    193


                     No. VI.

  I have already stated my belief, that flesh does nour-
ish the body; but I think the journey through the wil-
derness proves, beyond a doubt, that flesh is not neces-
sary to sustain the body, even under fatigue and unusual
exercise, as some contend.  During this period of forty
years, except in the case I have mentioned, we have no
account  that their food was changed from their Maker's
original  design.
  And one thing more on this subject. We do not read
their great Leader brought them to a country of flocks
and herds, but to a land well watered with brooks and
riv»>rs, to irrigate the soil, that it might produce an
abundance of those things the Almighty originally in-
tended for man's use.  Surely, we may suppose, if flesh
had been necessary for his chosen people's happiness
and comfort, God would never have omitted it, in enu-
merating the blessings of the place promised as the re-
ward of their obedience.
  The Almighty appeals to their appetites, in describing
the land: that is, their natural appetites,  for the  Lord
never tempteth any man, but describes it as a land flow-
ing with milk and  honey, and abounding in  the fruits
of the earth.
  Some, perhaps, may think I have forgotten that there
must have been animals, if there was milk, but I  have
not: milk is nutritious, and formed  a part of the diet
of the ancients, as we read in the Scriptures;  and it is
on this  account  milk is  mentioned,  and considered of
more importance than tlo flesh of the animal.
                17 
 |94   APPENDIX .---ORIGINAL FOOD OF MAN.

  And when the Israelites did c-.it flesh, it was to be of
the purest kind: they did not eat of all indiscriminately,
as many do now-a-days, but were prohibited from every
kind that would most excite the passions, or induce dis-
ease.  They were also to abstain from all fat and blood,
and we know how strict they are, even at this day, re-
specting  the use of swine's flesh, which  physiologists
admit to be too gross and impure for the food of man.
                    No. VII.

  I remarked, in a former number, that some object
to the doctrine I advance, by saying the command is,
" Thou shalt eat flesh."  As  to this, I have only to say,
in my researches through the Bible, I have not as yet
discovered anything connected with this phrase which
appears to me can afford any  gratification to the feelings
of those who entertain the sentiment introduced.  It is
true, these words are found in the Bible, and we must
also admit they are spoken by the mouth of the Lord;
but their being spoken as a punishment to man, would,
to my mind, be a sufficient  reason for wishing to ex-
clude them  from any code of dietetics.  And I think,
when I  mention  the kind of flesh which is specified,
together with the ciicomstances under which it was to
be eaten, I shall not want for supporters on my side of
the argument.
   I will  give you here several  quotations from Scrip-
ture.  And first we find the Lord speaking to the Israel-
ites, in a warning voice, saying:  " If ye walk contrary 
       APPENDIX.---ORIGINAL FOOD OF KAN.   195

lo me,  then I will walk contrary to you, and will chas-
tise you seven times for your sins.  And ye shall eat the
flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall
ye  eat."  Lev. xxvi.  28,  29.   And likewise in Deut.
ixviii.  63.  "And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own
body, the flesh of thy sons and thy daughters, which the
Lord thy God  hath  given thee, in the siege and strait-
ness, wherewith  thine enemies shall distress  thee."
Again,  in Ezek. v. 10. " Because of all thine abomina-
tions, the father shaxl eat the sons in the midst of thee;
and the sons shall eat the  fathers."  And again, Jer.
xix. 9.  " And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their
sons, and the flesh of their daughters."   And also we
find Jeremiah lamenting  after the fulfilment of these
warnings or prophecies,  saying:  " The  hands of tho
pitiful women, have  sodden or boiled their own chil-
dren ; they were their meat in the destruction  of the
daughter of my people."  Lam. iv. 10.
  Now I am sure that none of my readers has  such a
monstrous appetite, that, for the sake of indulging it, he
would willingly undergo  the miseries here predicted,
for the  sake of proving his title to  the benefits  of the
command, " Thou shalt eat flesh."
                    No. VIX

  I now proceed to inquire what the Scriptures teach
in reference to blood and fat.
  And, first, we find tho use of blood prohibited when
the permission to eat animal food was given.  Gen. ix. 
 196   APPENDIX.—ORIGINAL FOOD OF MAN.

4.  "But the flesh, with the life thereof, which is the
blood thereof, shall ye not eat."  But why was this ? In
all our heavenly Father's laws, we find the  most tender
regard for our welfare manifested;  and  it ought  to be
sufficient for us, while under the care of so kind a Law-
giver, that it is His will, which  we should obey with
cheerfulness, though we may not know the reason for
the requirement.   But lie  has given us reason and un-
derstanding to prosecute the inquiry with hopes of suc-
cess, as far as it is necessary to our comfort to know.
  No doubt  its being set apart for sacred purposes was
one reason for the prohibition of blood as an article of
diet; for we read," Without the shedding of blood there
is no remission of sins;" and all commentators agree as
to this fact;  yet, when we look at it in a physiological
point of view, this does not satisfy us.
  Blood  is the seat  of life, a  living, vital fluid; and
therefore, in this  respect,  must be held sacred,  as to
drain this stream must necessarily put an end to our ani-
mal existence.  But  the  fact of  its vitality, could not
have been known  to Moses, save by revelation, as it was
not until the  last century this secret in nature was dis-
covered.
  But the idea I wish principally to convey, is the in-
jurious effects of such a diet on  the  energies of our sys-
tems ; as the indigestible nature of it renders it unfit to
be received into our stomachs.
  And by whom  do we  find blood-eating and blood-
drinking most extensively practised ?  Is it not by those
we denominate savages and cannibals ? and, surely, we
would not look to them for example.  No; so far from
it, we are continually devising means and carrying for- 
      APPENDIX.---ORIGINAL FOOD OF MAN.   191

■wd projects to enlighten and Christianize them.  We
wish to send them the Bible, and we do well, for out of
it we must all be  judged;  but do not let us forget that
our example and practice will influence them much, in
receiving or rejecting our theories.  Christ says, " If
ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them."
                     No. IX.

  In speaking of fat, and its effects  on the system, I
quote from the Bible, for first principles.
  Lev. iv. 17, " It shall be a perpetual statute for your
generations,  throughout all your dwellings, that ye eat
neither fat nor blood."
  Lev. vii. 23.   " Ye shall eat no manner of fat; of ox,
or sheep, or  of goat."
  Those who despised this command were to be cut off
from among the people.
  The use of fat meat is always prejudicial to health,
and this  is the physical reason why we should abstain
from it.  Experience and research have both proved,
that  fat is a great hindrance to  digestion, and is  the
source and fuel of the most difficult bilious and  putrid
diseases;  and the very fact that enlightened physicians
forbid their patients the use of fat or butter, whether in
the  form of pastry or otherwise, speaks plainly their
views on  this subject, as to the effect in stinulating tie
disease.
  It is not only in disease we  see  their pernicious ten-
dency, but in what we are accustomed to call a state of
health, the injurious effects on the skin are plainly dis-
                IT 
 198   APPENDIX.---ORIGINAL FOOD OF MAN.

cernable.  Eruptions of the face and different parts of
the body, boils, blotches, &o are indicative of a greasy
habit.  Cutaneous diseases do not always arise from the
use of fat; but they are generally induced by diet; for
instance, the free use of salt, alcohol, and other stimu
lants.
  Fat individuals are generally persons of depraved ap-
petites.   I do not say of depraved moral character, but
appetite.  They would not relish a pure vegetable re-
past, because so  long accustomed to one so different.
They are often persons of no decision of character.  It
is with difficulty you can awake their ambition.  Dayid,
in speaking of the wicked, says: " Their heart is  as fat
as grease," meaning they were insensible to the dangers
of their sinful course, as  fat is supposed to be without
feeling.
  Scott says, " That insensibility  of heart to God's pro-
mises, threatenings, and judgments, and to the good of
other men, (which result from indulged luxury,) is aptly
described by the similitude of fat."
  Do not understand me to say, that all fat persons use
fat as diet.  I know of many other fattening substances,
even in the vegetable kingdom, but am only now stating
what is  the  nature of fat,  as  found in  the  animal
economy.
  Persons using much animal food, or fat meats, will,
after death, decompose much sooner than those using a
vegetable diet; and if wounded, their flesh is much more
difficult to heal.  Indeed, it is the surest indication of
perfect health, when our flesh heals readily; a  proof
which my readers have, doubtless, too many opportuni-
ties of testing.                               J.  B. 
DIGESTION

    [See Page 163..]
                      No.l.

  Here is a picture of the human stomach, in the posi-
tion it occupies in the abdomen.   The gullet enters it
at the opening, marked A, which is called the cardiac
orifice, from its nearness to the heart, and is the passage
by which  the food enters the stomach.   The inferior
mouth of the stomach, marked C, or that by which the
food passes into the intestines, is called the pylorus or
phyloric orifice, from a Greek word, signifying a gate or
guardian,  is it was formerly considered to be a gate-
Keeper, to prevent anything improper from passing into
the intestines.  It lies on the right side of the body, in
'he abdominal cav '.ty. 
 200          APPENDIX.---DIGE8TION.

   B is the interior of the stomach, and D is the «mnL
 intestine, into which the pylorus opens, called the du-
 odenum.
   There are three coats of the stomach, and their offices
 are all distinct.   On the outside, is the serous coat.
 Serous membranes afford a smooth lubricated surface,
 by which the different organs may glide freely over each
 other; and this is very necessary, as the stomach occu-
 pies very different positions, when in motion, and when
 inactive.   This is the first coat.  It  also is  extended
 beyond the stomach, and  forms what is called the
 omentum or caul, which  hangs down like an apron over
 (he intestines.  You may have seen this  skin  in the
 Iamb and calf.  It is almost entirely covered with fat.
   The second coat is the muscular, composed of mus-
cular  fibres.  As this coat has much to do in the work
of digestion, we must attend particularly to its construc-
tion.  There are three classes or orders of these  fibres.
The first  run lengthwise, from the cardiac  orifice along
the curvatures and sides  of the stomach to the pylorus.
 The second run crosswise, crossing  the first at right
angles; while the third wind irregularly round the sto-
mach, giving it a vermicular movement, like the motion
of a worm.  This last set of fibres produces the circular
motion of the food in the stomach, while the other two
sets contract it in length and breadth
   The third, or internal coat, is of greater size thm the
outer  ones, and is folded up into  a great number of
wrinkles.   It was formerly called the villous coat, from
having been thought to resemble velvet, but from more
accurate observation this has been found erroneous   It
 is more properly called the mucous  coat, from a mucous 
APPENDIX.— JHGESTION.
201
m «ii!->v secretion, which constantly covers it.  By some
it is called the nervous coat of the stomach.   It has a
great number of little glands, which pour their secre-
tions into the stomach, while the work of digestion is
going on.  Branches  of blood-vessels and  nerves  are
found in great abundance in this part.
  The  gastric juice, found in the stomach, and which
is so necessary in digestion, is supposed to proceed from
ihe extremities of the minutest arteries; as anatomy has
never revealed a separate set of glands for its produc-
tion.  Its chief use is to dissolve any substance that en-
ters the stomach.   It  also  produces  an opposite effect,
namely, coagulation.  This curdling quality is very use-
ful  in infancy, when the food is  generally fluid, and
would be absorbed altogether, did not this power of the
gastric juice form that which was nutritious into a solid
mass, to be acted upon by the digestive functions.  An-
other quality gives it  power to counteract putrefaction.
  While  we are  eating, the stomach is nearly passive,
merely yielding to the food which distends it.  When,
however, we cease to eat,  it begins  to react; first the
muscles contract, and by degrees increase their motion,
until there is a regular vermicular or worm-like action
established,  contracting the stomach in  all directions,
thus moving its contents from the greater to the lesser
extremity   The  gastric juice, the  mucous, and the
other fluids, then flow into the cavity, and the food  be-
comes softened.  This is the first step towards diges-
tion, and the regular order in which it proceeds.  When
the food next the coats of the stomach has become per-
fectly saturated,  it is moved on by  the muscular con-
traction towards the pylorus, and the next layer under- 
202          APPENDIX.---DIGESTION.

goes the same process.   Thus the food in the -icinity
of the pylorus, is always best digested, while that in
the interior, or farthest from the coats of the stomach,
is least acted on.
  I have much to say with respect to the introduction
of food into the stomach at improper times, and also on
the causes of flatulence  and impaired digestion, but
must defer it until my next.
                      No. II.

  When the stomach is in a healthy state, and the food
such as to perfectly agree  together,  the work of diges-
tion goes  forward without producing  any air,  or more
properly, gas.   You will see by this how few stomachs
are in a natural and healthy condition; as flatulence, or
wind in the stomach, is so very common.  The reason
is, the food which persons usually mix together, does
not agree; that is, it is different in kind and quality,
and will therefore cause commotion and rebellion in the
stomach.   You may have  some idea of the state of the
stomach when this is the case, by imagining the situa-
tion of a school, where all the scholars are of contrary
views and feelings respecting the discipline and regula-
tions, and each is desirous of setting up his will as law,
instead of submitting to  the laws  already established.
Do you not see how vain it would be to expect order
and harmony, while such a state of Jiings should con-
tinue? 
             APPENUIX.— .'1GE8TION.          203

  < hope my readers will think of this, when they want
l<> mix up every thing at one meal.  So also when  you
eat between meals, you create disorder and confusion
If you are constantly eating, you do not  give  the  sto-
mach time to digest a regular meal, but retard the work
by thus introducing fresh food.   Some  inconsiderate
and ignorant people are always eating, and always com-
plaining of indigestion and loss of appetite; and how
can it be otherwise ? Our meals should be simple, and
taken at psgular intervals, never nearer than six hours,
as that time is required to digest a meal,  and give the
stomach rest.  No food should ever be eaten before the
preceding meal is  perfectly digested, and the organ*
have rested awhile.  We know how necessary reat is for
the other organs ;  why should not this large and labori-
ous one require the same ?
  It  is very important that  the kinds of food taken at
once, should be sueh  as  can be digested in the same
jpace of time; and as some articles require a much
longer time than  others, this also claims  our attention.
Indeed, it is of so  much consequence, that a very expe-
rienced physician said, he cared little  about the quality
of a  dyspeptic's food, provided it was of  one kind, and
not of too great a quantity.  I do  not agree with  him
altogether, but it  shows the importance men of science
attach to this  thing.  How necessary, then, that we
should undersand the functions and powers of our bodies,
in order to  preserve them  from disease.   And if one
member suffers, all suffer, especially do all other organs
sympathise with this great centre.
  I think my friends must  be  convinced by this time,
that if they are sick« they are the authors of their own 
 204)          APPENDIX.---DIGESTION.

 pain and suffering; for  the  Maker of their  bodies has
 declared He does not afflict willingly, but it is the effect
 of their own transgressions; so they are merely paying
 up old debts, which is for their ovt n Denefit.
  A person who has injured and enfeebled his body, un-
 fits himself for usefulness, and cannot, therefore, an-
 swer the purpose for which he was created.  We were
 made to glorify God in our bodies and spirits, which are
 his; and if we fail to accomplish  his  designs, he will
not hold us guiltless.  Let us then seek to know his
laws with regard to our bodies, assured that by so doing
 we shall be better qualified to fulfil the rest of  our du-
 ties, as intelligent and rational creatures.
                                             J.  B.
   Man, when properly civilized, will live purely from
the productions  of the earth.   In the savage state, he
will live like the wolf, dog, tiger, and hog.

   Sleep, soon after eating, retards digestion, and leads
to debility and derangement of the stomach.

  Fans are used  by those mostly pinched up by corsets
They are made to fly rapidly, when the  poor creature
pants for  the  atmosphere.   Under ssch circumstances,
would it not be our d:ty to .nstruct those who oppose
themselves? 
       COMPARATIVE ANATOMY.


                     No. I.

  The following represents the jaws of a child, about
the same age of the Orang Outang, on page  208, and
is inserted here for the purpose of comparing it with
amimals inferior to man, in the order of comparative
anatomy, and in order to find out the original food of
the human species, and the different animals, as we find
them in their natural state.
  The drawing shows the number and arrangement of
the infant  or temporary teeth, and their  nervous con-
nection with the general system.   There are twenty
teeth; ten in the upper and ten  in the lower jaw: the
same as will be seen  by looking at the drawing of the
Orang Outang.
  In the engraving we see only the left side, and there-
fore but tea of the teeth, five above and five below.
  The pulps, or rudiments of the second or permanent
set, can be seen directly under the roots of the  first
teeth.
               18 
206  APPENDIX.--COMPARATIVE ANATOMY.
  The picture also represents the external part of the
flesh and jaw, as removed or cut away.
                     No. II.
  The animal that  most nearly resembles man, is The
Orang O.itang, or what is often called the " wild mmi
nf the woods."   I therefore,  in addition  to the nrfni-
ments heretofore advanced, offer a few facts connected
with the physical  economy of th-'a wild Hian f»t the
forest. 
       APPENDIX.---COMPARATIVE ANATOMY.   207

  An Orang Outang was recently brought to this coun-
try, ard exhibited for a time at the Museum  in this
city.   Its health, however, in a short time,  began to
decline,  which  caused the surprise and regret of  its
owner, without his being able to learn the cause.  Hear-
ing of the arrival of this wild man, and  that he was in
bad health, I paid him a visit.  I asked the keeper wha'
kind of food was provided for him, and was  informed
that it was animal and vegetable substances generally,
together with hot and stimulating drinks, such as tea,
coffee, also wine was given to  it.
  • It immediately occurred to me that the laws of na-
ture had been violated in giving flesh food, &c.  The
symptoms attending the Orang  Outang's indisposition,
were similar to those attending many of the diseases of
mankind: such  as affections of the  lungs and liver, a
prostration of the nervous energies, and general derange
ment of the digestive functions.
  Naturalists and physiologists admit, that the teeth of
enimals are characteristic of  their nature, haoits, and
dispositions, as well as the kind of food their Creator
intended them to subsist upon.
  Professor Hitchcock says, " The sciences ot Anatomy
and Physiology abound in facts the most wonderful and
interesting.   Comparative Anatomy has  of late been a
subject of close attention^  and so perfectly have its prin-
ciples  been established, that from a single bone or tooth
the character of the animal may be inferrer', with its

  • On removing the integuments from tl e jaws, after death,
I found tartar had collected upon the teeth, and that the
jaws had become diseased, similar to the illustrations gives)
in my treatise on the diseases of the human teeth. 
208  APPENDIX.—COMPARATIVE  ANATOMT
 ri"> 1, hibirs, haunts, and all the circumstances of its ex-
 istence.  Comparative Anatomists have,  from a single
 tooth, described and made drawings of the extinct crea-
ture to which it belonged; which has been found to
agree exactly with a skeleton afterwards discovered."
  I have furnished  the drawing of the ja?vs and teeth
from nature.
The above d  wing exhibits the anatomical structur* 
      «r,PENl)IX.--COMI'AR TiVt A-\A' OMY.   "209

<>f the jaws and teeth,—the fleshy covering having been
removed.  The plate corresponds with those taken  of
the jaws and  teeth of children, at about the same age-
This animal at its death was aged about three years, and
the infant  or temporary teeth are only exhibited.
  In forming  conclusions as to the average age of these
animals, when compared with that of man, I am of the
opinion  that it is but little less; an I  have observed the
permanent or adult teeth do not make their appearance
until  the  fifth or sixth year, which is the common pe-
riod for  them to appear in the human jaw
  The ill health and  premature death of this Orang
Outang, was undoubtedly caused by educating it to sub-
sist on  flesh, instead of vegetable food.  The keeper,
likewise, either from delicacy or a kind of parental feel-
ing, kept a suit of clothes upon it, while nature herself
had amply provided a coat of hair, and any  thing more
wrapped about its body must have been a source of evil,
by keeping its limbs cramped, and confining the action
of its muscles; and 1 observed it manifested much un-
easiness, and  was constantly rubbing  and scratching  its
body.
  These animals, when wild, select  fruit and roots for
food; but when  forced by hunger,  they will eat  many
things foreign to their nature; also, when  they are in
company with the human race, they appear to be fond
of those things which  they see others eat  and drink:
but, as a general rule, it brings on some disease, which
soon  terminates their  existence; for this  reason, we
have not been able to keep them but a few years, bef are
our example  puts them or* of existence.
IS' 
2)0  APPENDIX.--COMP'IATTVE ANATOMV.
                     No. III.

  The hog has teeth for tearing and cutting its food.
The first molar teeth, or those nearest the front part of
the mouth, appear to be useful in cutting the food; and
the teeth farther back, appear to be better adapted for
grinding.  They may be said, in one sense, to be  om-
nivorous, that is, can  live on either  flesh or vegetable
mod; but in the original sdaptation  of the  organs, it ap-
pears they incline more to vegetable food, and prefer i\
in a  natural state;  but when domesticated, they wih
eataHnost every disgusting thing which is in their way
                     No. IV

  Number fcur is a representation of the head of a
Panther, as will be seen; and that the teeth are made
»o c.u and  tear its foo..  rf the human  stomach was 
ATPENDA.---COMPARATIVE AN/TOMY.   211
perfectly adapted for animal  food, it would make  but
little  difference whether  man should cut up his flesh-
meat with a knife, or pick it apart with a fork;  for the
rarniverous animals never grind it, for the simple rea-
son, that the Creator has  not thought fit to give them a
rotary motion of the jaw, or teeth with a fiat and grind-
ing surface, but cutting and  pointed teeth, as any one
can see by examining the mouth of a cat or fox.
  Sylvester Graham remarks, in his work on the Science
of Human  Life, that, in  ascertaining the comparative
length of the alimentary canal in  all animals, natural-
ists have taken the length of the body in a straight line
from the snout to the posterior extremity of the back-
bone ; but in man, they have measured from the top of
the head to the bottom  of the heel:  and by this mani-
festly erroneous  admeasurement, they have unfairly re-
duced the comparative length of the alimentary canal
about one half, and made  it tc appear that the compar-
ative length of the alimentary canal in man, varies from
three to eight times the length of the body: and thus 
21fc   APPENDIX.- -COMPARATIYE ANATOMY".

they have succeeded in associating man with carnivor-
ous animals.  But if the alimentary canal  in  man  be
compared with the length of the body, in the same man-
ner that it is in all other animals, it will  be found that
its  average \r jgth is about ten  or twelve times  the
length of th^ body.  This is evidently the true admea-
surement, and it is surprising that any other  should ever
have been adopted, even for the  sake of supporting a
favorite theory; and  especially one so palpably unjust
*s that which has heretofore been allowed.
  Linmeus, the distinguished naturalist, who flourished
about one hundred years since, speaking of  the natural
dietetic character of man,  says that his organization,
when compared with that of other animals, shows that
" fruits and esculent vegetables constitute  his most suit-
able food."
  Sir  Everard Home  says, " While  mankind remained
in a state of innocence, there is every ground to believe
that their  only food was  the produce of the vegetable
kingdom."
  Baron Cuvier, who is perhaps the highest human au-
thority on any question in comparative anatomy, says,
"The natural food of man, therefore, judging  from  his
structure, appears to consist of fruits, roots, and other
succulent parts of vegetables; and his hands offer him
every facility for gathering them.  His short and mode-
rately strong jaws  on tl e one hand, and his cuspidati
being equal in  length to the renaming teeth, and  his
tubercular molares on the other, would allow him nei-
ther to feed on grass  nor devour flesh, were these  ali-
ments not previously prepared by cooking."
   Professor  Lawrence  of  Eng and, agrees fully wi& 
       APPENDIX.---COMPARATIVE ANATOMY.   21*

Baron Cuvier, and justly observes, that " physiologists
have usually represented that our species holds a mid-
dle lank in the masticatory and digestive  apparatus, be-
tween carnivorous and herbivorous animals: a statement
which seems rather to have been deduced from what we
have learned by experience on this subject, than '.o have
resulted fairly from an actual comparison of man and
animals."   After having accurately compared the ali-
mentary organs of man with those of carnivorous,  her-
bivorous, and frugivorous animals, he correctly remarks
that  " the teeth of man have not the slightest resem-
blance to those of carnivorous animals, except that their
enamel  is confined to the external surface.  He  pos-
sesses, indeed, teeth called canine, but they do not ex-
ceed the level of the others, and are obviously unsuited
for the purposes which the corresponding teeth execute
in carnivorous animals."  " Whether therefore we  con-
sider the teeth  and jaws, or the immediate instruments
of digestion, the human structure closely resembles that
of the semiae or monkeys, all of which, in their natural
*tate, are completely frugivorous."
   Mr. Thomas  Bell, lecturer on the anatomy and  dis-
eases of the teeth, at Guy's Hospital, and surgeon  den-
tist to that institution,  in his "Physiological observa-
tions on the natural food of man, deduced from the cha-
racter of the teeth," says,  " The opinion which  I  ven-
ture  to give, has not  been hastily formed, nor withou'
what appeared to me sufficient grounds."  " It is not.
think, going too far to say that every fact connected  witl
human organization, goes to prove that man was origin
ally formed a frugivorous animal, and therefore probably
tropical, or nearly so,  in his geographical  situation. 
 214   APPENDIX.---COMPARATIVE ANATOMY.

 This opinion is principally derived from the formation
 of his teeth, and digestive organs, as well  as  from the
 character of his skin and the general structure of his
 limbs."  " If analogv be allowed to have any weight in
 the argument, it is wholly on the side of the question
 which  I  have just taken.  Those animals whose teeth
 and digestive  aparus most  nearly  resemble our  own,
 namely, the apes and monkeys, are undoubtedly frugiv-
 orous."
  The truth is that, though everything in nature is con-
 stituted upon fixed principles and with determinate re-
 lations, yet in the organic world, every constitution has
 a considerable range  or compass of physiological capa-
 bilities :  and although every organ in every animal has
 its determinate physiological character and precise con-
stitutional  adaptation, yet every organ possesses a phy-
siological adaptability by which it is capable, to a certain
extent, of varying from its truly natural, constitutional
adaptation, and still not so  far  impair  its functional
 power and results as  to interrupt the general vital eco-
 nomy of  the system, or suddenly to  destroy  the vital
constitution.   Hence, whenever  the physiological ha-
 bits of the system are  disturbed, or its particular or
general condition is  affected, every vital organ always
endeavors to adapt itself to the requisition of circum-
stances:  and the power and extent of  adaptability in
each organ, and its efforts to adapt itself to the requisi-
 tion of circumstances, alw-ays correspond with the func-
tional character and relations of the organ.  This being
 a wise and benevolent provision  of the Creator for the
 preservation of life, and especially with reference to the
 alimentary wants of living bodies, while the  digestive 
      APPENDIX.—COMPARATIVE  ANATOMY.  215

organs are constituted and endowed with the most per
feet natural adaptation to certain kinds of aliment, yet,
to secure  life as far as possible against emergencies,
these  organs possess the  physiological  capability of
adapting themselves to an extensive variety of alimen-
tary substances, as circumstances and necessities re-
quire: and therefore, the extent of the  physiological
adaptability of the digestive organs, is probably much
greater than that of any other organs in the system 
TEA  AND  COFFEE.
  Although  almost  every person in the conniun.ry
will readily admit that the use of tea tends to de-
range and prostrate the nervous energies  of the system,
yet  at the same time such persons continue the use of it.
So much has been said and written in reference to the
deleterious effects of tea on animal life, that I will not
repeat the statements of others, but will give the result
of my own experiments on various animals.
  It is a law of the animal economy, that stimulants
and excitants  invariably result in a corresponding de-
pression ; and  if the depression gees beyond a certain
point, death is the consequence.
  During my dental practice I have had an opportunity
of observing the condition of these of my patrons who
were  in the habit  of drinking strong tea, and I have
found that sach persons have weak, irritable, and sensi-
tive nerves.  This  led me to  make some experiments,
the  result of which I now present to the  public
  I took a pound of young hyson tea, and after steeping it
in soft water, bolied it down to half a  pint.  I then pro- 
          APPENDIX.---TEA AND COFFEE.      217

cured a rabbit, of about three months' old, and kept it
without food a sufficient length of time to leave the sto-
mach empty, then gave it ten drops of the decoction,
holding its head in a position to cause the fluid to enter
the stomach. The animal appeared to be somewhat ex-
hilarated for the space of three or four minutes, then laid
down on  its  side and began moaning as if in great dis-
tress, and in about ten minutes from the time of my ad-
ministering  the dose its struggles ended in death, the
limbs being  distended and  very stiff.
  I also  tried the effects of tea  on a young cat, of the
same age, after making another decoction (from black
tea, which the person  who sold it said, it was of the
best  quality, and was highly recommended by a cele-
brated physician, to a lady in delicate health,) similar
to the first, but rather more powerful, as I  boiled it
down to  less than a gill,  which resulted in the same
way,  but in a shorter time, as  the  animal ceased to
breatlie in less than three minutes, although the dose was
not as large as I gave the rabbit, being but eight drops.
  I also took a pound of coffee, in its natural state, and
boiled it in the  game  manner as I did the tea, and ad-
ministered it in the same way, but had much difficulty
in keeping it  in  the stomach long enough to produce
much effect, before it was thrown off by vomiting; but
when it could be kept down for  any  length of time, it
destroyed life, but took longer to do it than tea.  The
cause of  this is, coffee is of a more oily nature  Those
who  feel  sick at the stomach will seldom call for coffee,
but tea.  The cause of this is, tea acts much quicker in
stimulating the energies of the stomach.  For this rea-
son it may be used as a medicine
                10 
216      APPENIIX.---TEA AND COFFEE.

  I also tried both tea and coffee on frogs.  The formei
would make them  jump three or four feet, at first, but
the leaps grew shorter and shorter, until they were in-
capable of drawing up the hind legs, for another jump,
and soon expired.
  Tea will often stop the headache; but those who use
it for that purpose,  :..l firaquently have a headache to
cure- 
Tlf
EFFECTS  OF TIGHT CRESS
  Lach organ of the body has a distinct office lu per-
form ; and when they all perform their duty, it may be
said we are in health ; and when any organ is not fulfill-
ing the  original  intention, debility and disease is the
result.
  The lungs  are situated in the upper  cavity of the
trunk, called the chest, one on the right, the other
on the left, and are divided into lobes or separate apart-
ments. The right lung has three lobes, the left but two.
They have blood-ves3els, air-cells, and nerves, and these
air-cells  are the fine branches of the wind-pipe, and
when spread out on a surface, they occupy 20,000 square
inches.   If they are thus extensive, surely we cannot
suppose, when cramped to the  size of a fashionable la-
dy's waist, they can healthily perform  their important
office, which  is to supply atmospheric air, for the pur-
pose of purifying the impure blood, constantly made in 
 220  APPENDIX.---EFFECTS OF TIGHT DRESS.

 our systems.  It is necessary, to give health to the lungs,
 that the body should be well nourished, in order to form
 good blood; it is »lso necessary we should breathe pure
 air, and likewise that the lungs should not be encroach-
 ed on by  tight dress, in any form.
  The blood-vessels of the lungs are termed the Bron
 chital vessels, and when in a state of inflammation, they
 cause Bronchitis, or that disease  so fashionable among
 public speakers, caused in most cases by improper diet,
 condiments, hot drinks, hot food, &c, and not by speak-
 ing, as is generall;' supposed, for I believe, if the lungs
 and throat are not abused, they are capable of all neces-*
 sary labor.
  The lungs are formed of separate lobes; one may be
diseased and indurated or hardened, so as to  be incapa-
ble of use, while the others may be unaffected,  or capa-
ble  of performing  their offices.   The lower lobes arc
most liable to injury from tight dross, and are  oftenest
diseased.   I have had  lamentable proof of this, having
seen in females not numbering twenty summers, lungs
so perfectly diseased, ulcerated, and cramped, that  on
dissection, it was impossible  to remove  them  without
leaving a portion of them sticking to the ribs.   I have
some of these lungs preserved in spirits, for the inspec-
tion of those who feel anxious to see them.
  A celebrated Professor, when writing on this subject,
prepared  several engravings, to show the position  of
these  organs, and the protection nature has given to
them in the ribs; but he has also shown, when  the sub-
ject is young and the bones tender, these may  be com-
 pressed till nature cannot be identified in her  own work.
 These I subjoin, with their explaiations. 
APPENDIX.--EFFECTS OF  TIGHT DRESS.  221
Fig.  1.                   Fig. 2.
NATURAL SIZE.
  Fig. 1, is an outline of the famous sUrue of the Ve-
nus de Medici, and may be considered as the beau-ideal
of a fine female figure.
  Fig. 2, is the  skeleton of a similar figure, with the
bones in their natural position.
  Fig. 3, is an outline cf the figure of a modern " board-
ing-school Miss," after it has been permanently remo-
deled by stays.
                19* 
822  APPENDIX.--EFFECTS OF TIGHT DRES3.
  Fig. 4, is the skeleton belonging to  such a figure as
No. 3.
Fig 3.                   Fig. 4
                 UNNATURAL SIZE


  " And Goc said to all the creatures he  had made, to
bring forth after their kind, and replenish the earth."
  QtJ* Suppose the third  figure should bring forth after
her kind or shape, would she be pleased with the re-
sult? 
APPENDIX.---EFFECTS OF TIGHT DRESS   223
  The  teeth and upper jaw, here represented, is taken
from the offspring of one corresponding with the figure,
marked No. 1 and 2.
  We here see the original intention fulfilled, in the
regularity of the teeth.
  The  second drawing of :he teeth, is taken from the
oflspring of one  corresponding with the figure, marked
3 and 4.
  When a bone is out of its place, the philanthropist is
called  upon by his sympathies, and the moral organs,
to set it in its natural or proper place.
  The  Author of our frame knew  what he was about
when he made man, and we should suppose he would 
224  APPENDIX.---EFFECTS OF TIGHT DREM
have made  all the parts to correspond and haimoni/e
with each other: but we find some persons who appear
to think, that God has increased in knowledge, and if he
was to make  another human  pair, he would alter the
proportions, and  make them,  in some measure,  as he
has the wasp and bee.
  Now these benevolent persons, who are said to glori-
fy God with their bodies and spirits, (as they suppose,)
are setting  up schools or shops to instruct the  rising
generation how to appear when they walk, and to keep
the hands folded  in front ol  their persons, and to stand
like a post incapable of bending.   For this purpose
they have contrived  a  chest-board, made of wood or
steel, to  put in front, to extend from between the nip-
ples to some distance down on the stomach and bowels 
     APPENDIX.---EFFECTS OF TiGHT DRESS.   225

Fn older to keep this sword in its place, it is necessary
to have what is  called a corset or jacket, made  in  a
fashionable shape, more or less  filled  with whale-bone,
(procured by our whaling boys,  near the poles;) and on
the back part of the  jacket are  holes  lined with metal,
so thbi the mold shall not break when they are adjust-
ing the sword in front, and drawing tne strings behind,
so as to make a good  cast or impression.  In doing this,
it is necessary, in some ci3es, to have one or more as
sistants, who strain and work in  order to get the harness
on. About five hundred thousand dollars worth of them
are sold annually in this city.
  It is supposed that more money is spent in Christen-
dom for these things, than is spent in  all the  heathen
world in  manufacturing idols and images, which are
worshipped as a type of the invisible  God. They leave
the body in its natural shape, with the exception of a
few of the Chinese, who cramp the feet; and also  a
tribe of Indians, called the Flat  Heads, who do the same
at the other end.
   The Hindoo mother throws  her child into the riveT
Ganges, and if it happens to swim towards the shore,
she says, " My dear,  I want you to go to a place of hap-
piness ;" and then puts a stick on its head, so that  it
may go on its journey to the world of spirits.
   I would warn young men who intend  to marry, and
obey the  command, to " multiply and replenish tne
earth," with a healtny race, to act as  intelligent beings,
and select wives who are capable of bearing healthy
children.  In doing this, look at  the shoulders and waist,
and see if the  proportions correspond; if they do not,
ther. reject the:r company as beneath an intelligent be- 
 226  APPENDIX.---EFFECTS OF TIGHT DRESS.

 ing's notice. I would say, for your particular advantage,
 as well as the good of the species, that all the young of
 the mammiferous animals, commence their growth in
 connection with the mother, and are supported from the
 arterial  blood, which must have received  its quality,
 through the lungs, by the atmosphere.  If the lungs are
 diseased or contracted, the offspring will partake of the
 same.  Suppose the lungs can  take in only three fourths
 as much of the atmosphere as is necessary, the blood
 will only be three fourths arterialized; this blood would
 go to form the offspring, which can only give it three
 fourths of a good constitution; let the offspring com-
 press or destroy one quarter more of the original, and it
 would have only one half of a  good constitution; there-
 fore, it would only live one half the  time it ought to;
 and the next generation would not, in all probability,
 survive childhood;  provided  they  followed the same
 course.
  Now, who is the most to blame, the Hindoo mother,
 wlto throws her child  into  the river, and ends its exist-
 ence in a few moments;  or the Christian mother, who
kills 01 destroys the image  of God, as described above,
by so  long  and tedious a process ? and ten chances to
one she will say, " the  Lord has seen fit  to take my
child  away."   If so, he has done it because ^ou were
 incapable of keeping it yourself.  You are only reaping
the fruit which has been sown by you, or your ancestors.
  The following cut gives a tolerably good  representa-
tion of the nervous system; c shows the position of the
cerebrum; ev,  the cerebellum; tne, the spinal marrow;
 from which proceeds  a great many nerves, branching
out all over the body; pb, the brachial plexus, or re- 
£IQ7
 
 2'2H   APPENDIX   -EFFECTS OF TIGHT DRESS.

 union  or assemblage of the different nerves which are
 distributed to the arms; ps, the assemblage of nervea
 which form the ercat sciatic nerve, which descends to
 tne lower extremities.
  From the above, it will be seen how the nerves ori-
ginate  from the  brain  and spinal  marrow.  They are
verv minute, whitish, soft cord, and are divided and sub-
divided over the human system, till they become so ex-
tremely fine as not to be discoverable by the naked eye.
It is by them that the body is susceptible of feeling, as
the slightest wound of one of them causes acute pain.
  Let it be understood, that the smallest Dart of the
trunk is directly under the elbow-joint, as will b« seen
in the figure.
  Any  continued pressure on the nerves, a I way* leads
to a prostration of their office 
W^z3
DISCOUKSKS AND LETTERS
SOBER AND  TEMPERATE  LIFE
v*- \>
   BY LHI'IS I'ORWARU.

WITH NOTES ANU AN APPENDIX.
     Xcu) Work :
huWI.KK  AND WELLS,
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