ervain and the herb Hanea, of which Aelian relates such effects;
but if thy stomach palls with it--discontinue it from time to
time, taking cucumbers, melons, purslane, water-lilies, woodbine,
and lettuce, in the stead of them.

"There is nothing further for thee, which occurs to me at present--

"Unless the breaking out of a fresh war.--So wishing everything,
dear Toby, for the best,

"I rest thy affectionate brother,

"WALTER SHANDY."

Under the present circumstances Sterne himself would doubtless have
omitted from his letter the passage about the ass; and, far from
advising the predestined to be bled he would have changed the regimen of
cucumbers and lettuces for one eminently substantial. He recommended the
exercise of economy, in order to attain to the power of magic liberality
in the moment of war, thus imitating the admirable example of the
English government, which in time of peace has two hundred ships in
commission, but whose shipwrights can, in time of need, furnish double
that quantity when it is desirable to scour the sea and carry off a
whole foreign navy.

When a man belongs to the small class of those who by a liberal
education have been made masters of the domain of thought, he ought
always, before marrying, to examine his physical and moral resources. To
contend advantageously with the tempest which so many attractions tend
to raise in the heart of his wife, a husband ought to possess, besides
the science of pleasure and a fortune which saves him from sinking
into any class of the predestined, robust health, exquisite tact,
considerable intellect, too much good sense to make his superiority
felt, excepting on fit occasions, and finally great acuteness of hearing
and sight.

If he has a handsome face, a good figure, a manly air, and yet falls
short of all these promises, he will sink into the class of the
predestined. On the other hand, a husband who is plain in features
but has a face full of expression, will find himself, if his wife once
forgets his plainness, in a situation most favorable for his struggle
against the genius of evil.

He will study (and this is a detail omitted from the letter of Sterne)
to give no occasion for his wife's disgust. Also, he will resort
moderately to the use of perfumes, which, however, always expose beauty
to injurious suspicions.

He ought as carefully to study how to behave and how to pick out
subjects of conversation, as if he we