Thursday, October 22, 2009
In Praise of Mirth
Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, The Knight of the Burning Pestle, Act 2, Scene 8:
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'Tis mirth that fills the veins with blood,
More than wine, or sleep, or food;
Let each man keep his heart at ease;
No man dies of that disease.
He that would his body keep
From diseases, must not weep;
But whoever laughs and sings,
Never he his body brings
Into fevers, gouts, or rheums,
Or lingeringly his lungs consumes;
Or meets with achës in the bone,
Or catarrhs or griping stone:
But contented lives for aye;
The more he laughs, the more he may.
