Temperance and exercise may be regarded as the constituents of natural
luxury. It is not in the power of the whole art of cookery, to give
such an exquisite relish and seasoning to a dish, as these two will
confer on the plainest fare. Indolent epicures have no true taste:
they subsist entirely by whets and provocatives of appetite; but he
whose stomach is braced and strengthened by exercise, has a whet
within himself, which adds a poignancy to every morsel that he eats.
Providence seems to have carved out its blessings with an equal hand,
and what it has denied to the poor in one way, it has amply supplied
them with in another: if it have withheld riches, it has given them
a greater store of health; and if it have refused them the means of
luxury, it has at least formed them with the capacity of living as
happily without it. And it may further be observed, that if we except
hereditary diseases, almost every other ailment may be laid to the
account of indolence, intemperance, or anxiety of mind.
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