s
wealth may fly away at any moment. He may try again, and then wear his
heart out in speculating on the "chances of the market." _Insomnia_ is a
rich man's disease. The thought of his winnings and losings keeps him
sleepless. He is awake by day, and awake by night. "Riches on the brain"
is full of restlessness and agony.

The rich man over-eats or over-drinks; and he has gout. Imagine a man
with a vice fitted to his toe. Let the vice descend upon the joint, and
be firmly screwed down. Screw it again. He is in agony. Then suddenly
turn the screw tighter--down, down! That is gout! Gout--of which
Sydenham has said, that "unlike any other disease, it kills more rich
men than poor, more wise than simple. Great kings, emperors, generals,
admirals, and philosophers, have died of gout. Hereby nature shows her
impartiality, since those whom she favours in one way, she afflicts in
another Or, the rich man may become satiated with food, and lose his
appetite; while the poor man relishes and digests anything. A beggar
asked alms of a rich man "because he was hungry." "Hungry?" said the
millionaire; "how I envy you!" Abernethy's prescription to the rich man
was, "Live upon a shilling a day, and earn it!" When the Duke of York
consulted him about his health, Abernethy's answer was, "Cut off the
supplies, and the enemy will soon leave the citadel." The labourer who
feels little and thinks less, has the digestion of an ostrich; while the
non-worker is never allowed to forget that he has a stomach, and is
obliged to watch every mouthful that he eats. Industry and indigestion
are two things seldom found united.

Many people envy the possessions of the rich, but will not pass through
the risks, the fatigues, or the dangers of acquiring them. It is related
of the Duke of Dantzic that an old comrade, whom he had not seen for
many years, called upon him at his hotel in Paris, and seemed amazed at
the luxury of his apartments, the richness of his furniture, and the
magnificence of his gardens. The Duke, supposing that he saw in his old
comrade's face a feeling of jealousy, said to him bluntly, "You may have
all that you see before you, on one condition." "What is that?" said his
friend. "It is that you will place yourself twenty paces off, and let me
fire at you with a musket a hundred times." "I will certainly not accept
your offer at that price." "Well," replied the Marshal, "to gain all
that you see before you, I have faced more than a t