“I am very sorry for the state of your health, and
should be still more so, were I not certain that I can prescribe for you as
well as any physician in Edin-
62
LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT.
burgh. You have naturally an
athletic constitution and a hearty stomach, and these agree very ill with a
sedentary life and the habits of indolence which it brings on. Your stomach
thus gets weak, and from those complaints of all others arise—most certainly
flatulence, hypochondria, and all the train of unpleasant feelings connected
with indigestion. We all know the horrible sensation of the nightmare arises
from the same cause which gives those waking nightmares commonly called the
blue devils. You must positively put yourself on a regimen as to eating, not
for a month or two, but for a year at least, and take regular exercise—and my
life for yours. I know this by myself, for if I were to eat and drink in town
as I do here, it would soon finish me, and yet I am sensible I live too
genially in Edinburgh as it is. Yours very truly,