A DIALOG WITH THE GOUT
[Dated at midnight, 22 October,1780.]
Franklin. Eh! Oh! Eh! What have I done to merit these cruel sufferings?
Gout. Many things; you have ate and drank too freely, and too much indulged those legs of yours in their indolence.
Franklin. Who is it that accuses me?
Gout. It is I, even I, the Gout.
Franklin. What! my enemy in person?
Gout. No, not your enemy.
Franklin. I repeat it; my enemy; for you would not only torment my body to death, but ruin my good name; you reproach me as a glutton and a tippler; now all the world that knows me will allow that I am neither the one nor the other.
Gout. The world may think as it pleases; it is always very complaisant to itself, and sometimes to its friends; but I very well know that the quantity of meat and drink proper for a man who takes a reasonable degree of exercise, would be too much for another, who never takes any.