Genre:

Diary, Spoof

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Hydropathy, Narcotics

    Attributes his transformation from being a melancholy and ascetic to a high-spirited individual to experiencing the 'Cold Brandy-and-Water Cure', provided at Malvern —an allusion to the celebrated hydropathic clinic in that locality. Treatment includes consuming large quantities and bathing in 'brandy-and-water', gorging 'every sort of relishing flesh and fish', playing billiards, and other indulgencies. (243) Describes his practitioner, Dr Squillson, who urges his patients to think of nothing but 'Cold Brandy-and-Water'. On leaving Malvern, he successfully continues the treatment in his own house and proudly confesses that he's been 'three times fined at Bow Street, for persisting in the cure'. (244)