_Eat what relishes well, and agrees with you afterwards._ This is the best
general rule I have been able to adopt for eating.
There has been so much ridiculous stuff written upon "diet" that most
sensible people have given up trying to follow the prescribed rules of
writers, if not their physician's directions on that score.
Take the following, by one celebrated Dr. Brown, of England, for an
example, although we may find others quite as ridiculous nearer home:--
"For breakfast, toast and rich soup made on a slow fire, a walk before
breakfast, and a good deal after it; a glass of wine in the forenoon,
_from time to time_; good broth or soup to dinner, with meat of any kind
he likes, but always the most nourishing; several glasses of port or punch
to be taken after dinner, till some enlivening effect is perceived from
them, and a dram after everything heavy; one hour and a half after dinner
another walk; between tea-time and supper a game with cheerful company at
cards or any other play, never too prolonged; a little light reading;
jocose, humorous company, avoiding that of popular Presbyterian ministers
and their admirers, and all hypocrites and thieves of every
description.... Lastly, the company of amiable, handsome, and delightful
young women and an enlivening glass."
Dr. Russell, to whom we are indebted for the quotation, might well say
that "John Brown's prescriptions seem a caricature of his system."