“By ceaseless action, all that is subsists,
Constant rotation of the unwearied wheel
That nature rides upon, maintains her health,
Her beauty, her fertility. She dreads an instant’s pause,
And lives but while she moves.”—Cowper’s Task.
“The wise, for Health on Exercise depend;
God never made his work for Man to mend.”
The more luxuriously you live, the more Exercise[49] you require,—the “Bon Vivant” may depend upon the truth of the advice which Sir Charles Scarborough gave to the Duchess of Portsmouth, “You must Eat less,—or take more Exercise[50]—or take Physic,—or be Sick.”
Exercise is the grand power to promote the Circulation through the capillary vessels, by which the constitution is preserved from obstructions,—Appetite increased, and Digestion improved in all its stages,—the due distribution of nourishment, invigorates the Nervous System, gives firmness and elasticity to the Muscles, and strength to every part of the System.
Exercise, to have its full effect, must be continued till we feel a sensible degree of Perspiration,—(which is the Panacea for the prevention of Corpulence)—see [page 50]—and should, at least once a-day, proceed to the borders of fatigue, but never pass them,—or we shall be weakened instead of strengthened.
Health depends upon perpetual Secretion and Absorption, and Exercise only can produce this.
After Exercise, take care to get cool gradually—when your Head perspires, rub it, and your Face, &c. dry with a cloth:—this is better for the Hair than the best “Bear’s Grease,” and will beautify the Complexion beyond “La Cosmétique Royale,” or all the Red and White Olympian Dew that was ever imported.
One of the most important precepts for the preservation of Health, is to take care of the Skin[51].
In Winter, the surface of the Body, the Feet, &c. should be washed twice or thrice a Week, with water of the temperature of about 98, and wiped every Day with a wet towel;—a Tepid Bath of the like temperature once a fortnight will also conduce much to both health and comfort. Some advise that the surface of the Body be wiped every morning with a wet sponge, and rubbed dry after, with not too fine a cloth.