"In a stitch in the side, every one must have heaved
a sigh that hurts by easing."
Dr. Johnson saw its true meaning:
"It is," he says, "a notion very prevalent, that sighs impair
the strength, and wear out the animal powers."
In allusion to this popular notion, by no means yet extinct, Herbert
says, p. 71.:
"Or if some years with it (a sigh) escape
The sigh then only is
A gale to bring me sooner to my bliss."