Page:Works of the Late Doctor Benjamin Franklin (1793).djvu/197

187 refreſhes and frequently procures ſleep. A very large bed, that will admit a removal ſo diſtant from the firſt ſituation as to be cool and ſweet, may in a degree anſwer the ſame end. One or two obſervations more will conclude this little piece. Care muſt be taken, when you lie down, to diſpoſe your pillow ſo as to ſuit your manner of placing your head, and to be perfectly eaſy; then place your limbs ſo as not to bear inconveniently hard upon one another, as, for inſtance, the joints of your anclesankles [sic]: for though a bad poſition may at firſt give but little pain, and be hardly noticed, yet a continuance will render it leſs tolerable, and the uneaſineſs may come on while you are aſleep, and diſturb your imagination.

Theſe are the rules of the art. But though they will generally prove effectual in producing the end intended, there is a caſe in which the moſt punctual obſervance of them will be totally fruitleſs. I need not mention the caſe to you, my dear friend: but my account of the art would be imperfect without it. The caſe is, when the perſon who deſires to have pleaſant dreams has not taken care to preſerve, what is neceſſary above all things,

A GOOD CONSCIENCE.