But to return to your worship, it fhould feem by your advertisements that your chief merit confifts in the fpeedy detection of unhappy culpits, and in fecuring them properly, that they may receive the punishments due to their crimes. This is not fufficient; if you would really wish to have the uninformed foreigner when he arrives in London, and takes up your news-papers, ftedfaftly believe, that the Police is in Bow-treet, and that Sir J-n F- -g is the officer appointed by the government to comprife within himself all the important duties of that office, you must be more affiduous in preventing the commiffion of crimes; and you must alfo defcend to the minutiae of this extenfive department. For the fenfible foreigner will be as ready to exclaim that there is no police in this country, if a fish-woman wilfully and maliciously flings the entrails of a mackrel on his white filk ftocking, as he is ftepping into a coach to go to Ranelagh, as if he had his pocket picked at church. Such is his idea of the police, and if I point out a number of annoyances of a fimilar nature, I hope in time I fhall find a general notice from the police, that natives and ftrangers, men, women, and young girls, may walk the streets without the danger of receiving infults, or being liable to accidents which are far more injurious than the lofs of a handkerchief, a watch, or even a Bedford fnuff-box. I am aware that you have fome obftructions in your department, which arife from the unhappy fituation of public affairs. Many, meafures might be taken to fupprefs vice, and prevent the commiffion of crimes, the operation of which is prevented by the created neceflities of the ftate. The grand object in the prefent fyftem of government is to increafe the revenue; and if that cannot be compaffed, at least to prevent its decrease. Every poffible encouragement therefore muff be given to the confumption of all articles on which high duties or excifes are payable. And hence the vaft number of houfes of public entertainment that have been licenfed within these few years, in oppofition to the plan of reformation that was fet on foot refpecting thefe places in the twenty-first year of the late reign. And hence the protection of the most expenfive brothels, where the wines of France are chiefly confumed. Thus the channels of profligacy and difoluteness of manners are enlarged, extravagance is the forerunner of indigence, and the latter, in debauched characters, commonly leads to wrong and robbery, to theft and murders; and then the boafted police of Covent Garden steps in, and takes care that few robberies, adulteries, criminal elopements, rapes, or affaffinations efcape detection, efpecially if the offenders are of no note or quality. But there are unhappy criminals of another caft, who perhaps have been fober, frugal and induftrious; and yet by various misfortunes, the lot of humanity, have been reduced to want, and have invaded their neighbour's property. The total neglect of every beneficial regulation already made, and of animadverting to thofe which are eftablished in neighbourhood ftates, with refpect to the fuperintendency, of public markets, the detection of frauds in weights and measures, the fubverting the fchemes of monopolizers and foreftallers, and the pre-: venting a variety of impofitions which arife from the want of a true police, the value of the neceffaries of life being illegally enhanced, becomes a public calamity, and under thefe circumftances it occafionally happens that even the moft fober and frugal are driven to diftrefs, and unhappily to dishonesty. But if Bow-ftreet were actually the the Police, few of the great villains, on whofe account little ones muft fubmit to fate, would efcape detection, nor would they be fuffered to rob the public, The public, and to grind the face of the poor with impunity. The means of redreffing the grievances, with respect to the London markets, fhall be fhewn in a future effay; for the prefent permit me to close my addrefs to you with a hint or two relative to that dreadful calamity, Fire. Fires have of late been very frequent, and however paradoxical it may appear, this is, in a great meafure, owing to the infurance offices; thefe inftitutions are perhaps another effect of our mistaken notions about internal polity. Whatever relieves the mind of care and attention naturally makes men carelefs; and by the indolence arifing from affured fecurity, the public often fuffers. Proposals therefore for preventing fires have always been treated with indifference and neglect, because most house-keepers have infured their property to its full value. The confequence is, that the poorer fort, who are not in a fituation to enable them to take this precaution, are often totally ruined by the dreadful calamity of fire; and that, because their wealthy neighbours, being infured, are indifferent about what paffes in their houses, and pay little or no attention to the conduct of their fervants. So that upon the whole, it may reasonably be concluded, that if there were no infurance-offices, there would be very few fires; the very anxious concern of moft people for their property, would keep up their affiduity, and they would be extremely cautious with refpect to the fobriety and regularity of lodgers and fervants. The curfeu bell, in the time of William the Conqueror, was an excellent regulation; and though from the diffipation of the prefent times it would be impoffible to make people retire to their habitations, or extinguish their fire and candles at a certain hour, yet I can fee no reafon why the watchmen fhould not be enjoined to add to the anouncing the hours, the following fhort admoni Police. tion, from eleven at night to three in the morning, in an audible voice,--Take care of your Fire and Candle. Or if this fhould be liable to objections, I would propofe that the fame method be taken in London as in Flanders, Holland, and fome parts of Germany. Let a convenient little watch-room be conftructed in the tower or steeple of every parish church, fufficiently fecured from the inclemencies of the weather, and, if neceffary, warmed with a ftove; in this room let hearty middle-aged men watch by rotation every night, and be obliged to found a trumpet every half hour, to affure the parishioners, or the watchmen in the street, that they are awake. By this means, the earliest difcoveries would be made of all fires, and their fpreading be prevented. As the cafe ftands at prefent, houses are often almoft burnt down before the watchmen discover fires, owing to their age, infirmities, and inattention, and fometimes while they are gone their rounds; but the alarm must be instantaneous, from perfons placed in a fituation where they might eafily overlook every parifh; and if the churches were not thought fufficient, they might likewife be placed at the top of halls, and other public buildings. In addition to this meafure, an act of parliament fhould be procured by the civil magiftrate to remove all hazardous trades to fome convenient place detached from the city, as is practifed at Paris. As fires became lefs frequent through these regulations, people would be lefs folicitous about infuring, and their affiduity and vigilance being at the fame time a wakened, by the fear of lofing their property through negligence. Univerfal regularity would prevail, and the poorer fort, who cannot afford to infure, would not be afraid of lofing their lives and properties, by the misconduct of their neighbours, in the hours of midnight jollity. [To be continued.] SENEX, Hoffman's Hoffman's Treatife on the Regimen prefcribed in the facred Scriptures, concluded. WE will next confider drinks, of which there are various forts; but I fhall here only fpeak of fuch as are agreeable to our frame, and are mentioned in the facred writings.. Of these, water is the most obvious; which we may prove to have been drank by the Ifraelites, from Numb. xx. where they befought God, by Mofes, for water, and obtained their requeft, when their leader fmote the rock with his rod. To this may be added the paffage in 1 Kings xvii. which fays, that Elijah drank water from the brook; as alfo the verfe in Ecclefiafticus before cited in § XVII.---That the liquor of the first inhabitants of the earth was water, and of the patriarchs till the time of Noah, is an opinion far from being uncertain; fince there is mention made of drinking water in a variety of places, but of wine no where. From whence it is evident, that before the deluge water was valued as a drink. ---It is, indeed, the most common to all animals, and beft accommodated to the preservation of health. For this element is very neceffary to the formation of the blood, and vital fluids. It is excellently well calculated for the digeftion and extraction of the juices of our food; paffing, as it does, most expeditiously through the very fmall pores of the body, by which means it is the vehicle of nourishment to the internal parts it likewife carries away from the body all faline, fulphureous excrements; for which reasons it fhould obtain the name of an univerfal medicine, and moft noble preservative.---Those who drink water only, are much more robuft and lively than they who prefer to it beer, or other liquors. It moreover ftrengthens and whitens the teeth, and preferves the gums. There is a remarkable inftance in Mifcell. Natur. Curiofi. dec. ii. aiii. obf. 15. of a man, one hundred and twenty years old, with his whole set of teeth entire; for whofe long life no other reafon could be given, than that he had from his cradle drank water. Authors report of Andrea Tiraquello, a celebrated counfellor, that, by the affiftance of this fluid alone, he lived to a good old : age. Amongst the caufes of the longevity of the Ægyptians, their drinking from the Nile is one. Very different from one another are the species of waters: thofe are the belt which are clear, light, without heterogeneous gravelly particles; which, when drank, produce not a fwimming in the ftomach, and pass well by urine and perfpiration, keeping the body open. § XX. After water, we muft next in turn confider the qualities of wine, of which Noah is mentioned, Gen. xix. as the inventor and improver; whence it appears to have been of very ancient date. The fon of Sirach strongly recommends the moderate ufe of it, ch. xxxi. 27. Wine is as good as life to man, if drank moderately. In Pfalm civ. 15. the power is given it of gladdening the heart of man. It is prescribed under the ftroke of adverfity by the first mentioned writer in the fubfequent verfes of the fame chapter, whence the first paffage was drawn: Wine, measurably drank, and in season, bringeth gladness of the heart, and chearfulness of the mind. And in ch. xi. Wine and mufic bring joy to the heart. To these we may add the words of Solomon, Prov. xxxi. 6, 7. Give firong drink unto him who is ready to perish, and wine to those who be of heavy heart; let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his mifery no more. Wine, indeed, if it be not four, or full of vapours, obtains the principal place among thofe re medies which ftrengthen the whole frame, as promoting the circulation of the blood, giving a free perspiration to the body, and wonderfully raifing the decayed vigour. For this reafon Paul prefcribes to his friend Timothy, labouring under a weakness of appetite, the ufe of wine, in ch. v. 23. of his first epiftle to him: Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy ftomach's fake, and thy frequent infirmities. The excellency of good wine in a weakness of appetite, or want of digestion, which is teftified by daily experience, can hardly be fufficiently extolled. It is particularly falutary for fuch as are of a cold and moist conftitution, leading a fedentary life, and seldom using exercife Hoffman's Treatise on the Regimen, &c.` exercife; to these it adds life and fpirits; on which account it is likewife ferviceable to hypochondriacs, and all afflicted with like cold diforders *. § XXI. As the facred fcriptures allow and recommend the moderate ufe of wine, fo they particularly forbid us to drink it to excefs: wherefore drunkenness is strictly prohibited in various places of the New Teftament by the apostles, as begetting and nurfing every fpecies of vice, and feducing from the road to falvation. The wife king Solomon gives a lively picture of the inconveniences flowing from it, both to the mind and body, in Prov. xxiii. 29, and the following verfes: Who hath woe? Who hath forrow? Who hath contentions? Who hath babbling? Who hath wounds without caufe? Who hath redness of eyes? They who tarry long at the wine; they who go to feek mixed wine. Look not thou upon the wine, when it is red, when it giveth it's colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. At the laft it biteth like a ferpent, and fingeth like an adder. Thine eyes fhall behold frange women, and thine heart shall utter perverfe things. Yea, thou shalt be as he who lieth down in the midst of the fea, or as he who lieth upon the top of a maft. Ecclefiafticus fays of it, that it feduces the prudent; and in ch. xxxi. 25. Shew not thy valiantnefs in wine, for wine has deftroyed many; and in ver. 30. Drunkenness increafeth the rage of a fool till he offend; it diminisheth ftrength, and maketh wounds. No one in fact is ig norant what difeafes are produced in the body by wine; more particularly if too fweet, acid, or strong; or if containing a vapourous fulphur. Sweet wines increase the humours, and give ftrength to diforders arifing therefrom. Thofe which are acid afford nourishment to four and viscous distempers, and promote the generation of the ftone, hyfteric, and hypochondriac complaints, and the gout, in conftitutions difpofed for them. Strong wines, whilft they greatly difturb the blood, and the other fluids, increase the heat in young perfons, and men of a warm conftitution; engender choler, and are productive of hemorrhages, burning VOL. III. man fabric by it's nature, age, "ftrength, and quantity drank. When "drank immoderately, it overturns "the brain, fills the nerves, caufes "fluxes, injures the understanding, "diminishes the ftrength: weak wine " is not nourishing: if fweet, it stops up the pores; when thick and black, "it does not pafs readily, but remains a long time in the belly: if old, it is "too heating; when new, it produces 66 a fwimming in the ftomach; acid "wines bring the cholic, and are hurt"ful to the nerves." If we would be in poffeffion of health, we must avoid all exceffive ufe of this fo dangerous a drink, and refufe all that has either fweetnefs, acidity, or any other of it's qualities in a great degree. § XXII. Having fpoken of the regimen to be obferved in diet, I shall now enumerate the various advantages accruing to man from exercise. That fort of exercife which is ftyled labour, is fpoke of in the facred writings, and recommended, as we may read in Ecclef. xxxi. The words of the text are, Be diligent in all thy undertakings, and no misfortunes fhall attend thee. Paul, in the fecond epistle to the Theffal. ch. iii. V. 10. advifes, that thofe who will not labour, fhould not reap the benefit of labour: He who will not work, neither let him eat. Great are the praifes given to exercife by experienced phyficians of every age, whether by labour or other methods. From thefe we fhall felect the opinions of Hippocrates and San&torius: the first of whom, in his lib. de Diætâ, § 1, fays, "That a per"fon who eats cannot be well if he "does not exercife. Thefe two have "contrary effects; both together con"duce to health." "If men, fays * See Dr. Shaw's Treatife on the juice of the grape. "Sanc "Sanctorius, in Medicinâ Staticâ, ex"ercifed themselves at proper feafons, "they would require neither phyfi"cians nor phyfic." Nothing is fitter to promote the circulation of the blood, and free the fluids from impurities than the external motion of the muscles: for when the mufcles, which are the real inftruments of motion, are contracted (according to an act of the will) by the affiftance of the fubtile elaftic blood, and the quick expanfion of a nervous fluid, this contraction not only straitens the veiny veffels, and thus gives a more brifk progreffion to the blood, but alfo by the attrition attenuates and divides the groffer particles. By this means the inteftine motion grows greater; the fluidity, fpirit, and heat increases, and the perspiration and evaporation of fuperfluous humours is perfected with greater eafe to the body. Hence laborious perfons are robust, healthy, and commonly long-lived; feldom troubled with the ftone, gout, hypochondriac diftempers, cachexies, fcurvies, or dropfies. Such, on the other hand, who weaken themselves by idleness, or are addicted to a fedentary life, always are expofed to thefe diftempers, especially if they indulge themfelves, and live in plenty. By this the blood coagulates in the veffels, and because of the flow perfpiration, impurities are contracted by it; it grows thick, ftagnates in the bowels, filling, and obftructing the paffages of their very finall veffels, and confequently brings fome one complaint or other in the above-mentioned catalogue. Health is their particular portion, who, according to the Almighty, in Gen. iii. eat their bread by the fweat of their brow. § XXIII. But as moderation in all things is moft agreeable to our conftitution and ftructure, fo exercife fhould be neither exceffive nor continual, but moderate, and alleviated by reft. Too much, or too little motion is prejudicial and weakening; the first increasing, and the latter diminishing, the excretions beyond the due mean. Wherefore, fince health is the mark we all aim at, we fhould take reft and exercife alternately. Among other reafons, moving the Deity to inftitute a feventh day, on which men ceafe from the la bours of the preceding fix, this confideration was, probably, not the weakest. § XXIV. With refpect to fleeping and waking: thefe no lefs require a careful regimen than the other articles mentioned in the foregoing fections. The weary are advised to recover their vigour by fleep, in Ecclef. v. 12. Sweet and ferviceable is the fleep of the labourer. Sleep, indeed, is immediately requifite to the prefervation of health; no one can fubfift long without it. It reftores ftrength to the fatigued limbs, rendering them capable to fuftain their wonted labours; and what is furprifing, it enlivens the foul, and gives her alertnefs and readiness in performing her functions. XXV. Nor is it lefs effectual in diminishing the corporeal and mental faculties, when carried beyond the bounds of moderation, than it is ferviceable to both, when ufed with reafon; for it then caufes a giddiness and torpor in the head; gives a languor to the members; too much impeding the influx of the fubtle, brisk fluid, which is the cause of motion, into the nerves and folid parts; whence the fluids derive a grofsnefs, and the body becomes obnoxious to chronical diftempers, Solomon diffuades us from intemperance in this respect, Prov. vi. 4. Give not fleep to thine eyes, nor fumber to thine eye-lids. By which words he does not mean to encourage entire abftinence from it; fince, moderately used, it has nothing culpable, but is rather neceffary to the health of man. XXVI. The converfe of what was faid in the last section is, that immoderate and long-protracted wakefulness is highly prejudicial to the conftitution; for by it the digeftion is injured, the face made pallid, the body thin, and the eyes hollow. What is faid by Ecclefiafticus of the avaritious man comes in with propriety here: Watching for riches confumeth the flesh, ch. xxxi, 1. From what I have faid of thefe two particulars, fleep and wakefulness, this rule of regimen may be taken: to be healthy is to be, in the ufe of neither, exceffive or neglectful. § XXVII. What I had to fay concerning thofe neceflary actions being now finished, I fhall fubjoin a few words |