knowledge of the Lord.-In defence of such a cause, who would not take pleasure in reproaches, in persecutions, for the sake of Christ? It is this belief in the excellence, and this zeal in the service, of the Church, that affords one of the most powerful motives to the love of our Country. This motive is beautifully illustrated by the Psalmist in this striking apostrophe to his Jerusalem: BECAUSE OF The House of the Lord our GOD, I WILL SEEK TO DO THEE GOOD! THE RETURN TO NATURE; OR, A DEFENCE OF THE VEGETABLE REGIMEN; WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF AN EXPERIMENT MADE DURING THE LAST THREE OR FOUR YEARS IN THE AUTHOR'S FAMÍLY. Man, only man, Creation's Lord confess'd, On the bright earth, his flow'r-embroider'd throne, Th' imperial mourner reigns and weeps alone. SPENCER'S YEAR OF SORROW. BY JOHN FRANK NEWTON, Esq. LONDON: VOL. XIX. Pam. NO. XXXVIII. 2 I ΤΟ WILLIAM LAMBE, M.D. FELLOW OF THE COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS. MY DEAR SIR, MUCH has been said, and justly too, in ridicule of dedications and prefaces; but never was a book more properly inscrib ed by one man to another, than this little volume on vegetable diet to you, by a person who owes to your important discovery so great an advantage as the enjoyment of health. Convinced as I now am, not only by my exemption from attacks of the complaint under which I labored, but by the improvement of my spirits and comfortable sensations, that a vegetable regimen and the use of distilled water have conquered a chronic illness with which I had been from childhood afflicted, allow me to lay on your table this feeble attempt to render more generally known a medical discovery, which, I am confident, will place your name at some future, and perhaps no distant period, at the head of your profession. I remain always, MY DEAR SIR, Most sincerely your's, JOHN FRANK NEWTON. Chester-Street, 24th April, 1811. INTRODUCTION. Ir may be thought presumptuous in one unconnected with the profession of medicine, to write a book on diet, and offer his opinion on the nature of diseases. But having for many years been an habitual invalid, and having at length found that relief from regimen which I had long and vainly hoped for from drugs, I am anxious, from sympathy with the afflicted, to impart to others the knowledge of the benefit I have experienced, and to dispel, as far as in me lies, the prejudices under which I conceive mankind to labor on points so nearly connected with their health and happiness. The particulars of my case I have already related at the concluding pages of Dr. Lambe's "Reports on Cancer." To the account there given I have little to add but that by continuing to confine myself to the regimen advised in that work, I continue to experience the same benefit; that the winter which is just elapsed has been passed much more comfortably than that which immediately preceded it; and that if my habitual disorder is not completely eradicated, it is so much subdued as to give but little inconvenience; that I have suffered but a single day's confinement for several months, and upon the whole that I enjoy an existence which many might envy who consider themselves to be in full possession of the blessings of health. All that I have to regret in my present undertaking is the imperfect manner in which it is executed. The adepts in medicine have gained their knowledge originally from the experience of the sick : I have taken my own sensations for my guide; and am myself alone responsible for the conclusions which I have drawn from them, the manuscript of this volume having neither been corrected nor looked over by any individual. While I make no pretensions to medical science, I cannot consent to be reasoned or ridiculed out of my feelings; nor to believe that an illusion, the truth of which has been confirmed to me by long-continued and reiterated observation. See "Reports on the Effects of a peculiar Regimen in Scirrhous Tumours and Cancerous Ulcers, by Wm. Lambe, M. D." Printed for J. Mawman, in the Poultry. DEFENCE, &c. DISEASE. WHEN the force of human habits is considered, I cannot help questioning myself about the task which I am here undertaking. Can it be expected that those even who suffer from sickness, and suffer seriously, will have fortitude enough to abandon, upon the plainest evidence, the luxuries to which they have been accustomed, and be no longer betrayed by the savory scents of fish and meat, in all the masquerade of high-seasoned cookery? I have heard it maintained in conversation, and that by people not devoid of understanding, that in a question between a long, healthy, and temperate life, or on the other hand, a life chequered occasionally with pain, and in a degree abridged by the pleasures and intemperance of the table, they would not hesitate to prefer the latter. Opinions on this subject still more irrational have crossed my hearing; nor do I by any means hold out to myself the expectation of great success so far as this little treatise is an appeal to individuals, subject as we all are to strong prejudices and passions; but my hope is, that a point of so much importance may at some period or other be taken into consideration by persons of influence in this or in one of the neighbouring countries, provided it be practicable to lay before the public what shall constitute a strong presumption that all diseases, including deformity, are artificial, as much so as any production can be artificial; that the existence of poverty is our choice, not our necessity; and finally, that this heated and furious condition of things which we see around us, this infinite scene of toil and contest without any competent pur |