322 Anecdotes by George Steevens.
of every fluid, except tea and sherbet, * I drank/ said he, ' one glass of wine to the health of Sir Joshua Reynolds, on the evening of the day on which he was knighted. I never swallowed another drop till old Madeira was prescribed to me as a cordial during my present indisposition x , but this liquor did not relish as formerly, and I therefore discontinued it.'
Every change, however, in his habits, had invariable reference to that insanity which, from his two-and-twentieth year, he had taught himself to apprehend 2 . Whether he had once suffered from a temporary alienation of mind, or expected it only in consequence of some obscure warning he supposed himself to have received, will always remain a secret. To dispel the gloom that so constantly oppressed him, he had originally recourse to wine. Afterwards, he suspected danger from it 3 : 'For (said he) what ferments the spirits may also derange the intellects, and the means employed to counteract dejection may hasten the approach of madness. Even fixed, substantial melancholy is preferable to a state in which we can neither amend the future, nor solicit mercy for the past.' Impressed as he was with such ideas, each precaution he could adopt appeared hazardous in its turn. Even his favourite tea had been gradually drunk by him in reduced quantities, and at last was totally laid aside. Milk 4 became its substitute ; and he looked forward to the spring, when he expected his new beverage would prove yet more salutary. ' Perhaps (says he) I shall conclude with what I ought to have begun. Milk was designed for our nutriment ; tea and similar potations are all adscititious.'
��as it was in 1762 that they visited son) should be diverted by every
Devonshire ; Reynolds was knighted means but drinking.' Life, iii. 5.
on April 2 1, 1 769. Taylor's Reynolds, See also ib. i. 277, n. i.
i. 321. * On Nov. 14, 1781, he wrote:
- I used to slink home (Johnson ' Here is Doctor Taylor, by a reso-
said) when I had drunk too much.' lute adherence to bread and milk,
Life, iii. 389. See also ib. i. 94. with a better appearance of health
1 Ib. iv. 72. than he has had for a long time past.'
2 Ib. 1.63 ; iii. 175 ; ante, i. 472. Letters^ ii. 236.
3 ' Melancholy, indeed (said John-
At
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