and eggs: for this is the true
method of preserving men of a bad constitution; and it is a life of
more indulgence than that led by the holy fathers of the desart,
who subsisted intirely on wild fruits and roots, and drank nothing
but pure water; and, nevertheless, lived, as I have already
mentioned, in good health and spirits, and always happy within
themselves. Were those of our days to do the same, they would,
like them, find the road to heaven much easier; for it is always
open to every faithful Christian, as our Saviour Jesus Christ left
it, when he came down upon earth to shed his precious blood, in
order to deliver us from the tyrannical servitude of the devil; and
all through his immense goodness.

So that, to make an end of this discourse, I say, that since length
of days abounds with so many favours and blessings, and I happen to
be one of those who are arrived at that state, I cannot (as I would
not willingly want charity) but give testimony in favour of it,
and solemnly assure all mankind, that I really enjoy a great deal
more than what I now mention; and that I have no other reason for
writing, but that of demonstrating the great advantages which arise
from longevity, to the end that their own conviction may induce them
to observe those excellent rules of temperance and sobriety. And
therefore I never cease to raise my voice, crying out to you, my
friends: may your days be long, that you may be the better servants
to the Almighty!

LETTER
FROM
SIGNOR LEWIS CORNARO,
TO THE
RIGHT REVEREND BARBARO,
PATRIARCH ELECT OF AQUILEIA.

The human understanding must certainly have something of the divine
in its constitution and frame. How divine the invention of
conversing with an absent friend by the help of writing! How
divinely it is contrived by nature, that men, though at a great
distance, should see one another with the intellectual eye, as I now
see your lordship! By means of this contrivance, I shall endeavour
to entertain you with with matters of the greatest moment. It is
true, that I shall speak of nothing but what I have already
mentioned; but it was not at the age of ninety-one, to which I have
now attained; a thing I cannot help taking notice of, because as I
advance in years, the sounder and heartier I grow, to the amazement
of all the world. I, who can account for it, am bound to shew, that
a many may enjoy a terrestrial paradise after eighty; which I enjoy;
but it is not to be o