Page:Works of the Late Doctor Benjamin Franklin (1793).djvu/192

182 ART OF PROCURING PLEASANT DREAMS,

INSCRIBED TO MISS * * *,

s a great part of our life is ſpent in ſleep, during which we have ſometimes pleaſing, and ſometimes painful dreams, it becomes of ſome conſequence to obtain the one kind, and avoid the other; for, whether real or imaginary, pain is pain, and pleaſure is pleaſure. If we can ſleep without dreaming, it is well that painful dreams are avoided. If, while we ſleep, we can have any pleaſing dreams, it is, as the French ſay, tant gagné, ſo much added to the pleaſure of life. To this end it is, in the firſt place, neceſſary to be careful in preſerving health, by due exerciſe, and great temperance; for, in ſickneſs, the imagination is diſturbed; and diſagreeable, ſometimes terrible, ideas are apt to preſent themſelves. Exerciſe ſhould precede meals, not immediately follow them: the firſt promotes, the latter, unleſs moderate, obſtructs digeſtion. If, after exerciſe, we feed ſparingly, the digeſtion will be eaſy and good, the body lightſome, the temper cheerful, and all the animal functions performed agreeably. Sleep, when it follows, will be natural and undiſturbed. While indolence, with full feeding, occaſion night-mares and horrors in- expreſſible: we fall from precipices, are aſſaulted by wild beaſts, murderers, and demons, and