nd
never could have travelled. He was a bachelor, and could not have ceased
to be a bachelor, without a disturbance that would have been intolerable
to him. He enjoyed the full benefits of his system without experiencing
its disadvantages, but any considerable change of situation would have
made the disadvantages apparent. Few lives can be so minutely regulated
without risk of future inconvenience.

Kant's example is a good one so far as this, that it proved a sort of
independence of character which would be valuable to every student. All
who need to keep their minds in the best possible condition ought to
have resolution enough to regulate their living in a manner which
experience, in their case, proves to be most favorable. Whatever may be
the authority of custom, a wise man makes himself independent of usages
which are impediments to his best activity. I know an author who was
always unwell about eleven o'clock in the morning--so unwell that he
could do nothing but lament his miserable fate. Knowing by experience
the powerful effect of regimen, I inquired whether he enjoyed his
breakfast. "No, he did not." "Then why did he attempt to eat any
breakfast?" It turned out that this foolish man swallowed every morning
two cups of bad coffee and a quantity of greasy food, from a patriotic
deference to the customs of his country. He was persuaded to abandon
this unsuitable habit and to eat nothing till half-past ten, when his
adviser prescribed a well-cooked little _dejeuner a la fourchette_,
accompanied by half a bottle of sound Bordeaux. The effect was magical.
My friend felt light and cheerful before _dejeuner_, and worked quite
happily and well, whilst after _dejeuner_ he felt like a horse that has
eaten his corn. Nor was the good effect a transitory one; the bad
symptoms never returned and he still adheres to his new arrangement.
This little reform made a wretched existence happy, and has had for its
result an increase in production with a diminution of fatigue. The
explanation is that the stomach did not ask for the early breakfast, and
had a hard fight to overcome it, after which came exhaustion and a
distaste both for food and work. There are cases where an opposite rule
is the right one. An Englishman living in Paris found the French
_dejeuner_ unsuitable for him, and discovered that he worked best on a
substantial English breakfast, with strong tea, at eight in the morning,
after which he went on working all day wi