future period to correct them, perhaps an equally effectual mode would be, to deny them the gratification of rising at their usual hour.

I am, &c.

D 5

LETTER VII.

To the same.

MY DEAR MADAM,

IN my last letter I confined my observations on the pernicious habit of long indulgence in bed, to its effects upon the mind rather than the body, though its consequences are very prejudicial to both; and on a recollection of the close connection and intimate sympathy which exist between them, you will be inclined to regard any diminution of bodily strength as affecting, to a greater or less degree, the energy of the mental powers. Nor can I help referring the long train of maladies with which so many are at present afflicted, and which, in the absence of a more distinguishing and specific term, are all ranked under the general title of nervous, to the immoderate portion of time that is spent in bed. It may be a very difficult task to trace these

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disorders to their source, and hence so few of them are effectually removed by the use of medicine; yet they all evidently originate in a state of corporeal debility, which occasions a mental relaxation, and this twofold weakness produces those painful and distressing sensations, which render their unhappy victims the object of pity and commiseration. And if any remedy can be found to re-establish, however gradually, the enfeebled powers of the body, the disordered faculties of the mind will, at the same time, be invigorated and restored: and it is certainly of very great importance, that those habits should be formed in children, which are calculated to prevent their becoming the subjects of these very generally prevalent, and apparently increasing complaints. It is true, that scarcely any are willing to allow that the cause I have alluded to is instrumental in producing such an effect; but this is very far from proving that I am wrong. The evil has crept upon them so slowly, the malady has become formidable by such imperceptible advances,

that they have not been aware of its approach, nor can they now discover how it was introduced, though too well assured of its alarming progress.

Do we find that our hardy ancestors ever complained of such disorders as we now lament? Do we read of nervous affections a few centuries ago? Or, if you suspect whether the same disease may not have been distinguished by another appellation, do we find any thing at all symptomatic of the complaint? Modern luxury may have concurred with some other circumstances in producing this, but I believe that the pernicious habit of continuing an unnecessary length of time in bed, has been one of the principal causes. Our forefathers rose at four, but many of their degenerated progeny lie till eight. The consequence of this, is a general relaxation of the nervous system, the muscles becoming unstrung, the spirits depressed, the mental faculties weakened, attended by all the melancholy accompaniments of hypocondriac affections. "This tyrannical habit," says a

forcible modern writer,*" attacks life in its essential powers; it makes the blood forget its way, and creep lazily along the veins; it relaxes the fibres, unstrings the nerves, evaporates the animal spirits, saddens the soul, dulls the fancy, subdues and stupifies man to such a degree, that he, the lord of the creation, hath no appetite for any thing in it, loathes labour, yawns for want of thought, trembles at the sight of a spider, and in the absence of that, at the creatures of his own gloomy imagination."

I am not speaking speculatively here. I might be considered to be going out of my proper sphere, if I were to attempt to prove the truth of my assertions, either by shewing that such a result must, from our physical organization, necessarily follow, or by entering into a particular detail of the manner in which it operates upon the body;

* Robinson's Morning Exercises. No. 1, Industry.The author would take the liberty of recommending this "Morning Exercise" to his readers, to which he was indebted for many valuable hints in the composition of these Letters.