dignity of his nature, and sinks gradually into that contempt which his servility deserves. Examine, therefore, closely, what rank you hold in the creation, and for what purposes of life you are destined, and you will easily perceive that there is a superior dignity in the human form and constitution---that you are endowed with nobler powers, and, consequently, formed for a far more exalted and extensive purpose than the other animals around you---that by these powers you are allied to the intellectual world, entitled to higher honours, and a more refined happiness, than all the other creatures put together---that the peculiar excellency of your frame lies in the calm and undisturbed exercise of reason, a steady self-government, and an independent spirit of estimating the various objects of moral action which come within your notice, according to their true value and merit; and that, by this standard, you are taught to correct all those false notions of honour, grandeur, happiness, and pleasure, which those around you may have, ignorantly or weakly, taken up, without a sufficient enquiry into their propriety or justness in short, you will learn to judge for yourself, and easily perceive, that vice is a violation of your nature, a real meanness, a degradation and fall from your true dignity; and that virtue is the voice of reason, the supreme law of your nature, as well as its highest ornament and perfection. Reflect Reflect only, for a moment, on the 'grateful emotions you feel in consequence of observing in others, or practising yourself, a decent, manly, generous conduct; the respect and veneration it draws, the confidence and elevation of mind that attends it, with the security and credit it pro cures in the way of business. A youth animated with such principles will dare to take a higher aim in life, reverence his nature, be ashamed of what stains or degrades it, and especially of submitting to be the butt or tool of the vicious and unprincipled, or even countenancing their immoral proceedings: whereas he who thinks meanly of that nature which bears the stamp of the Deity, will be ever suspicious of others, and distrustful of himself---his conduct will creep after his groveling notions, and magnanimity and a laudable ambition can never flourish where their genuine seeds are thus suppressed. Next to the maintaining this independence of spirit, I would strongly recommend it to you to persevere in that line of business in which you have been brought up, and not to quit it for another, without the most weighty and urgent reasons. Be not given to change. ST. PAUL. It is too common a propensity in youth to be fond of change, and even people in the more. advanced periods of life are not free from the failing, a failing which Horace very justly and happily happily ridicules in his satire, beginning-- "Qui fit Mæcenas, ut suo sorte nemo contentus vivat?" "How happens it, Mæcenas, that no man lives satisfied with his own condition ?" observing, that the various classes of men envy each other's occupation and lot, and prefer any to their own---while all are mistaken, and conceive false notions of their neighbour's happiness. It is very proper that youth should, in some degree, be allowed to chuse a trade or profession for themselves, subject to the advice and ultimate decision of their parents or friends; but, when once they have made that choice, they should unremittingly devote their attention to acquire the proper knowledge of it, and unalterably persevere in the exercise of it, except the most cogent reasons should occur to induce them to a change. There are very few trades or professions which can be thoroughly learned without serving a long' apprenticeship to them, and there are fewer still which can be exercised, at once, without some previous insight and information being gained respecting them. If, therefore, a youth has devoted seven or eight years of the most precious period of life to the attainment of one particular business, by going into another he loses all that time, and has to begin his arduous task afresh, under every disadvantage of change of connexion, views, and habits, not to mention that decrease of ardour and spirit which disappointed hopes of success naturally occasion. I write on this subject from the severest experience. Brought up in the academical line, I became disgusted with it, and studied to qualify myself for the pulpit; but, after having proceeded so far in the business as to have gone through a year's probation before the presbytery of the Scots church in London, and being even on the point of receiving my licence to preach, I was ill-advised enough to alter my plan, and go into a public-office, where having spent seven years to no other purpose than to get into debt, I successively tried various other plans of life, and, failing in them all, am now at forty years of age just where I was at twenty, with all the disadvantages of loss of connexion, friends, and every thing else, except fortitude and a patient evenness of spirits, which still enable me to struggle with adversity, and exert myself to regain my lost ground in life, by making the proper use of that experience which has cost me so dear. It is no uncommon thing to observe the tradesman envy the soldier, while the poor worn-out veteran officer eagerly longs for the fancied repose and comforts of the former. ---The merchant, disgusted with commerce and its risques, imagines happiness in the fame of some renowned commander of a fleet, without considering the dangers, the inconveniencies, and miscarriages he is subject to; while the admiral, tossed about in storm, and tempest, sometimes wet to his skin, and on the brink of destruction both from the weather and the enemy, envies the merchant who can sleep secure in his bed; and, though his cargoes go to the bottom, is still in security himself. ---On the same fickle grounds, as Horace wittily describes it, the lawyer would wish to become a farmer, and his client (the farmer) a lawyer; and how often do we hear the inhabitants of a metropolis express their sense of the happiness of a country life and a shepherd's employment, while the poor hind, exposed to the inclemencies of wind and weather, curses his fate, and thinks himself the most wretched of men. From hence we may infer, that every man is more or less happy in that situation of life in which he has been brought up, and to which Providence seems to have destined him, and that very little would be got, in general, by a change. ---It ought also to teach us to be contented with the lot assigned us, and to consider with Pope-- "That whatever is, is right." If, however, urgent and imperious, or even. favourable, circumstances should arise to induce you to change your trade or profession, you should, previously, well consider your abilities, habits, and turn of mind, and how far they will assist or impede you upon the occasion: for instance, if you have been brought up in the sober, regular, M 2 |