good Sense for its Direction, but is carried on by a sort of acquired Instinct towards things below our Consideration and unworthy our Esteem.  It is possible that the Tranquility I now enjoy at Sir ROGER’S may have created in me this Way of Thinking, which is so abstracted from the common Relish of the World:  But as I am now in a pleasing Arbour surrounded with a beautiful Landskip, I find no Inclination so strong as to continue in these Mansions, so remote from the ostentatious Scenes of Life; and am at this present Writing Philosopher enough to conclude with Mr. Cowley;

If e’er Ambition did my Fancy cheat, With any Wish so mean as to be Great; Continue, Heav’n, still from me to remove The humble Blessings of that Life I love. [4]

[Footnote 1:  The Land Tax.]

[Footnote 2:  But]

[Footnote 3:  Dr. Thomas Sprat, Bishop of Rochester, in his Life of Cowley prefixed to an edition of the Poet’s works.  The temper of Cowley here referred to is especially shown in his Essays, as in the opening one ‘Of Liberty,’ and in that ‘Of Greatness,’ which is followed by the paraphrase from Horace’s Odes, Bk.  III.  Od. i, beginning with the expression above quoted: 

  Hence, ye profane; I hate ye all;
  Both the Great Vulgar and the Small.]

[Footnote 4:  From the Essay ‘Of Greatness.’]

* * * * *

No. 115.  Thursday, July 12, 1711.  Addison.

      ‘...  Ut sit Mens sana in Corpore sano.’

      Juv.

Bodily Labour is of two Kinds, either that which a Man submits to for his Livelihood, or that which he undergoes for his Pleasure.  The latter of them generally changes the Name of Labour for that of Exercise, but differs only from ordinary Labour as it rises from another Motive.

A Country Life abounds in both these kinds of Labour, and for that Reason gives a Man a greater Stock of Health, and consequently a more perfect Enjoyment of himself, than any other Way of Life.  I consider the Body as a System of Tubes and Glands, or to use a more Rustick Phrase, a Bundle of Pipes and Strainers, fitted to one another after so wonderful a Manner as to make a proper Engine for the Soul to work with.  This Description does not only comprehend the Bowels, Bones, Tendons, Veins, Nerves and Arteries, but every Muscle and every Ligature, which is a Composition of Fibres, that are so many imperceptible Tubes or Pipes interwoven on all sides with invisible Glands or Strainers.

This general Idea of a Human Body, without considering it in its Niceties of Anatomy, lets us see how absolutely necessary Labour is for the right Preservation of it.  There must be frequent Motions and Agitations, to mix, digest, and separate the Juices contained in it, as well as to clear and cleanse that Infinitude of Pipes and Strainers of which it is composed, and to give their solid Parts a more firm and lasting Tone.  Labour or Exercise ferments the Humours, casts them into their proper Channels, throws off Redundancies, and helps Nature in those secret Distributions, without which the Body cannot subsist in its Vigour, nor the Soul act with Chearfulness.