The Breakfast I recommend, is Good Milk Gruel (No. 572), see [Index], or Beef Tea (No. 563), see [Index], or Portable Beef Tea (No. 252); a pint of the latter may be made for two-pence halfpenny, as easily as a Basin of Gruel.
The interval between Breakfast and Eleven o’clock, is the best time for Intellectual business—then Exercise again till about Twelve—when probably the Appetite will be craving for a Luncheon, which may consist of a bit of roasted Poultry,—a basin of good Beef Tea, or Eggs poached, (No. 546), or boiled in the Shell, (No. 547), Fish plainly dressed, (No. 144, or 145, &c.), or a Sandwich (No. 504),—stale Bread—and half a pint of good Home-brewed Beer—or Toast and Water, (No. 463*),—see [Index],—with about one-fourth or one-third part of its measure of Wine, of which Port is preferred.
The solidity of the Luncheon should be proportionate to the time it is intended to enable you to wait for your Dinner, and the activity of the Exercise you take in the mean-time.
Take Exercise and Amusement as much as is convenient in the open air again, till past Four—then rest, and prepare for Dinner at Five—which should be confined to One Dish, of roasted Beef (No. 19), or Mutton (No. 23), five days in the week—boiled meat one—and roasted Poultry one—with a portion of sufficiently boiled ripe Vegetables—mashed Potatoes are preferred, see (No. 106), and the other fourteen ways of dressing this useful root.
The same restrictions from other articles of Food[10], as we have already mentioned in the plan for Training—i. e. if the person trained—has not arrived at that time of Life, when habit has become so strong—that to deprive him of those accustomed Indulgencies, &c. by which his health has hitherto been supported—would be as barbarous—as to take away Crutches from the Lame.
Drink at Dinner, a pint of home-brewed Beer, or Toast and Water (No. 463*), with one-third or one-fourth part Wine, and a few glasses of Wine after—the less, the better—but take as much as custom has made necessary to excite that degree of circulation in your system, without which, you are uncomfortable. Read Obs. on “Wine.”
After Dinner sit quiet for a couple of hours—the Semi-Siesta is a pleasant position—i. e. the Feet on a stool about eight inches high,—or if your Exercise has fatigued you, lie down, and indulge in Horizontal Refreshment[11]:—this you may sometimes do with advantage before Dinner, if you have taken more Exercise than usual, and you feel tired:—when the Body is fatigued, the Stomach, by sympathy, will, in proportion, be incapable of doing its business of Digestion.
At Seven, a little Tea, or warmed Milk with a very little Rum, a bit of Sugar, and a little Nutmeg in it—after which, Exercise and Amusement again, if convenient, in the open air.
For Supper, a Biscuit, or a Sandwich, (No. 504), or a bit of cold Fowl, &c. and a glass of Beer, or Wine, and Toast and Water (No. 463*),—and occasionally (No. 572), i. e. as light a Supper as possible—the sooner after Ten you retire to rest, the better.
For those who Dine very late—the best Supper is Gruel (No. 572), or a little Bread and Cheese, or Pounded Cheese (No. 542), and a glass of Beer—but if You have had an early, or a Ban Yan Dinner—or Instinct suggests that the exhaustion, from extraordinary exertion, requires more restorative materials,—furnish your Stomach with a Chop or a Chicken, &c. or some of the easily digestible and nutritive materials referred to in the Index under the article Food for Feeble Stomachs—and as much diffusible stimulus as will animate the Circulation, and ensure the influence of “Nature’s sweet restorer, Balmy Sleep,”—the soundness of which,—depends entirely on the Stomach being in good temper, and the Heart supporting the circulation with Salutary Vigour. See the Art of Sleeping.—[Index].