The original / by the late Thomas Walker, edited and arranged under distinct heads; with additions by William A. Guy.

  • Thomas Walker
Date:
1875
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The original / by the late Thomas Walker, edited and arranged under distinct heads; with additions by William A. Guy. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    EXHAUSTED. ruinous consequences. Conviviality, though without what is ordi- nal i]y called excess, during the greater part of the week, and hard fagging during the remainder, with a sacrifice of exercise and sleep, must tell; and if I were to go on without intermission, I must make in} self a slave, with at the same time great danger of falling off. I have therefore determined to suspend my labours till the first Wed- nesday in March, and feeling the expediency of such a step, I think it best to take it at once. What portion of my present indisposition for writing, or whether any, is attributable to the mere continuance of my weekly efforts, I cannot at all determine; but undoubtedly, if I had lived according to my own precepts, and had given up a portion of each day to composition, I should have felt myself in a much more favourable humour than I now do. Delay, I find on inquiry, is the common failing of authors, and an independence of the habits of society is more difficult than those who are not situated as Lam, can well conceive. A respite will, therefore, not only give me fresh vigour for writing, but you a fresh apjietite for reading, for I cannot but fear that a constant supply from the same pen might produce in the end a certain want of relish. Diet, however good, ought now and then to be changed. I have already given you a sufficient course of mine to produce some effect, if it ever will; and if you should feel inclined to return to it, it will have something of the charm of novelty. The same phraseology and turn of thinking will not be always haunting you. After a first acquaintance, a temporary separation is almost always productive of agreeable results, and so I trust it will be with you and me. In the course of my work many subjects of importance have suggested themselves to me for the first time, which I wish to have leisure to turn over in my mind, and I wish to x-ead over care- fully what I have already written, in order to supply any omissions I may find, and take up those subjects upon which I have only lightly touched. Many of the articles were written so completely off-hand that I have entirely forgotten them, as I have never given them a second perusal. The reasons why I have fixed the first Wednesday in March for the resumption of my numbers, are, first, because three months will afford me ample time to i-ecover my tone; secondly, because I shall have sufficient opportunity for attending to persons and matters of late somewhat neglected; and lastly, because during the short days my publication requires so much writing by candle- light, which I wish to avoid before I suffer any inconvenience, which hitherto I have fortunately escaped. It will be my aim, during the interval between this time and March, to put myself into the best state for renewing my labours with effect. Diet, sleep, and exercise are the chief points to be attended to, and difficult it is to attend to
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