I found the letter contents unremarkable, and article that precedes the letter insipid and grating. Other readers rightly point out that the advice is for depre

I found the letter contents unremarkable, and article that precedes the letter insipid and grating. Other readers rightly point out that the advice is for depression, and the supposed link to "quarantine" is disingenuous. More interesting than the content of the letter (to me) are the ways it seems to have been altered or even censored in different versions, for example I see the version published by the Independent (ie) in 2013 [1] doesn't mention drink "as much wine as you dare". When we publish advice like this 200 years later, are we interested in providing helpful advice to modern readers, or are we trying to impart an accurate understanding of what the advice of that age actually was? With trigger-happy editing, we achieve neither. [1] https://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/health/letter-from-rev-sydney-smith-to-lady-georgiana-cavendish-daughter-of-the-duke-of-devonshire-29637570.html https://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/health/letter-from-rev-...