her the brain is used
or not; and when failure of health becomes manifest, it is not always
easy to decide in what degree mental labor may have been the cause of
it. Again, the accuracy of so general a statement cannot be proved by
any number of instances in its favor, since it is universally admitted
that brain-work is not the only cause of disease, and no one affirms
that it is more than one amongst many causes which may impede the bodily
functions.

When the poet Wordsworth was engaged in composing the "White Doe of
Rylstone," he received a wound in his foot, and he observed that the
continuation of the literary labor increased the irritation of the
wound; whereas by suspending his work he could diminish it, and absolute
mental rest produced a perfect cure. In connection with this incident he
remarked that poetic excitement, accompanied by protracted labor in
composition, always brought on more or less of bodily derangement. He
preserved himself from permanently injurious consequences by his
excellent habits of life.

A very eminent living author, whose name I do not feel at liberty to
mention, is always prostrated by severe illness at the conclusion of
each of his works; another is unwell every Sunday, because he does not
write on that day, and the recoil after the mental stretch of the week
is too much for him.

In the case of Wordsworth, the physical constitution is believed to have
been sound. His health at seventy-two was excellent; the two other
instances are more doubtful in this respect, yet both these writers
enjoy very fair health, after the pressure of brain-work has been
removed for any considerable time. A clergyman of robust organization,
who does a good deal of literary work at intervals, told me that,
whenever he had attempted to make it regular, the consequence had always
been distressing nervous sensations, from which at other times he was
perfectly free. A tradesman, whose business affords an excellent outlet
for energetic bodily activity, told me that having attempted, in
addition to his ordinary work, to acquire a foreign language which
seemed likely to be useful to him, he had been obliged to abandon it on
account of alarming cerebral symptoms. This man has immense vigor and
energy, but the digestive functions, in this instance, are sluggish.
However, when he abandoned study, the cerebral inconveniences
disappeared, and have never returned since.

Two Londoners who followed literature as a