I would not be understood, from what I have before said, to recommend a frequent resort to the theatres, on any account. It should be but rarely, and then, only when an instructive tragedy or comedy is to be performed: nor should you ever patronise them till they have undergone a very thorough purging, and appear what they ought to be, the schools of refined manners and unblemished virtue.

Music, which so much engrosses the attention of the present age, is, in itself, a harmless and innocent recreation; but, in some stations of life, it is superfluous, and not only useless, but absolutely detrimental, especially to tradesmen to have one's head filled with crotchets and quavers, being a proverbial phrase to denote a man inattentive to the business before him.

Frequent not, therefore, Operas and Concerts, at least, but very rarely; affect not any skill in composition, or to be a connoisseur, and determine the merit of performers; nor trust yourself publicly to perform on any instrument, or to keep company with such as make music their pro fession; for there is an infatuation which attends pursuits of this nature, and, the moment you at→ tach yourself to them, you will decline both in your credit and fortune.

A schoolfellow of mine, who was brought up a hatter, and had a little money of his own, before he was well out of his apprenticeship, gave into

this species of folly, and, being a proficient on the violin, was never happy but when he was playing in the orchestra, at Vauxhall, or the theatres; by which means his business was despised and negfected, his money spent, and himself ruined : he has never got above the world since.---This is a fact that comes within my own knowledge; and, though professional players and singers may make immense incomes by their superior talents, gentlemen players are sure to be their dupes, or butts, and ruined, in the end, among them.--Every player is not a Cramer; every singer is not a Billington, commanding, by her unequalled, powers, 50007. for a winter's season.

Loss of time, and increase of expence, are the immediate consequences of associating with performers at taverns, you must think it a favour if a performer contributes to your entertainment; for which you must both pay his reckoning, and load yourself, and your friends, with benefit tickets, most of which you must pay for out of your own pocket; and what you voluntarily do for one, will be demanded by the rest, by which you will expose yourself to an annual tax, and annual solicitations.

But of all the public places that I would advise you to be most particular in avoiding, is, that of Masquerade assemblies; for, however innocent they may seem, or however plausibly they may be defended, they are places you ought never to

be

be prevailed upon, either by your curiosity, or the importunity of others, to visit. It is making too bold an experiment on human frailty; and I am convinced that many persons have ventured: on crimes there, which they would otherwise have avoided, merely because they were unknown.---` It is a noble maxim of the poet's, that contempt of fame begets contempt of virtue; and to this may be added, that to be out of the reach of fame is to be in the way of vice.

SUNDAY Routs and Card-parties, your own virtue, and the reverence due to the Deity, will naturally preserve you from; and the frequenting such low places as Bagnigge-Wells, or other similar haunts of prostitutes and pickpockets, your pride will most probably point out to you the necessity of avoiding; for it is next to a disgrace for a gentleman to be seen in such places, though, for certain classes of people, they are a convenient species of resort and amusement; but, at all events, they are improper for youth---as it is in these places that the first advances to unlawful commerce with the vilest of the sex are generally made.

The habit that young men, of the present age, have got into, of meeting in large companies, and spending their evenings at a public-house, or tavern, in smoaking, drinking, card-playing, and singing, is productive of very ruinous consequences to them in their health, character, and purse---not

to mention the injury it frequently occasions to their employers, by loss of time, from the effects of it next day it is in this kind of public clubs that the first habits of intemperance are learnt, and, from the mixture of characters which frequent them, probably the strongest impressions of corruption of morals are made; for evil communications (or bad conversation) will always corrupt good manners,

CHAP. V.

SECT. 1.

Of the proper Employment of Time, and its Value; and of devoting the Hours of Relaxation from Business to useful Objects.

Redeeming the time, for the days are evil. ST. PAUL.

IN order the more effectually to avoid the chance or possibility of temptation, and the giving way to vice, the right employment of time, and devoting the leisure hours that can be spared from business to useful purposes, appear to be of the first importance to the young.

You should, above all things, ingenuous youth! learn to set a due value on TIME, and husband

every moment as if it were to be

your last. In Time is comprehended all we possess, enjoy, or wish for; and in losing that we lose them all. This is a lesson that can never be too early, too often, or too impressively inculcated upon youth; for they are apt to flatter themselves that they have a large stock upon their hands, and that, though days, months, and years, are wantonly wasted,. they are still rich in the remainder. But, alas !

no mistake can be greater, or more fatal. The moments thus prodigally consumed are the most valuable that Time distils from his limbec; they partake of the highest flavour, and breathe out the richest odour; and as, on the one hand, they are irretrievable, so neither, on the other, can all the artifice of more experienced life compensate the loss.--

Time's a GOD (says Dr. Young), with power to kill or save.

To apply this uncertain blessing, then, to the most useful purposes while we possess it, is the duty and wisdom of the young; for, once lost, it can never be regained, and, when once passed by us and gone, it will never return.

"Time, in advance, behind him hides his wings,
"And seems to creep decrepit with his age.
“Behold him when past by; what then is seen

"But his broad pinions swifter than the wind ?" As the proper employment of youth is not amusement, but that of learning a business, the improvement of the mind, and the acquiring a H 4. competency