_That Bleeding in May will preserve the Constitution against Illness
during the ensuing Summer._
This Hereditary Whim has long been practised in many genteel Families in
England.
Without consulting any of the Faculty, whose Blood is too thick, or whose
too thin, who have got too much Blood in their Veins, or who too little,
they send for some Six-penny Bleeder, who performs this Operation upon the
whole Family every Year, on May-day in the Morning.
Not to examine into the Causes of Mortality in May, leaving that Task to
those who are able to assign them, it will be sufficient to remark, that
the weekly Bills generally contain more Deaths in May than in any Month
throughout the whole Year.
We are sure to have a Fortnight of unwholesome agueish Weather in May; and
one would think, that the common Proverbs which are made use of in the
Country to that purpose, would be sufficient to deter a Person from losing
any Blood at that Season of the Year.
It is not impossible, but the Preposessions which we have in Favour of the
Charms of this Month, may proceed from a Perusal of the Latin Poets, or
their Translators; whose Works are full of the various Beauties of the
Spring. And very possibly, in Italy, where these Poets lived, that Part of
the Spring may be pleasant and wholesome.
In England, we are all of us very sensible of the cold and wet Weather,
which generally happens in this Month. And for my own Part, I must confess,
that I think May not only the most dangerous, but likewise, upon the whole,
the most disagreeable Part of the Year; and am quite certain, that if I was
to be let Blood on May-day, I should have the Ague.
* * * * *