'And have I read no books, then, save bad ones? That I have. Amongst those sent to me from home is an old Dublin copy of Rabelais, in four volumes, imprinted by Philip Crampton, of Dame Street - and has kept me in good wholesome laughter for a fortnight - laughter of the sort that agitates the shoulders, and shakes the diaphragm, and makes the blood tingle; than which no medicine can be more cordial to me - I have read the cause of his effects in Galen.'