_Early Rising._--It cannot be denied that early rising is conducive both
to the health of the body and the improvement of the mind. It was an
observation of Swift, that he never knew any man come to greatness and
eminence who lay in bed of a morning. Though this observation of an
individual is not received as an universal maxim, it is certain that some
of the most eminent characters which ever existed, accustomed themselves
to early rising. It seems, also, that people in general rose earlier in
former times than now. In the fourteenth century, the shops in Paris were
opened at four in the morning; at present, a shopkeeper is scarcely awake
at seven.[8] The King of France dined at eight in the morning, and retired
to his bedchamber at the same hour in the evening. During the reign of
Henry VIII. fashionable people in England breakfasted at seven in the
morning, and dined at ten in the forenoon. In Elizabeth's time, the
nobility, gentry, and students, dined at eleven in the forenoon, and
supped between five and six in the afternoon.