ty, we see many people in the lowest and most laborious stations in life, raise themselves to such circumstances, as will allow them, in their old age, that ease from labour of body and anxiety of mind, which is necessary to make the decline of life supportable. I have heard of a tradesman who, at his first setting out, opened and shut his shop every day, for several weeks together, without selling goods to the value of one penny; who, by the force of application for a course of years, raised at last a handsome fortune: And I have known many who have had a variety of opportunities for settling themselves comfortably in the world, and who for want of steadiness to carry any one scheme to perfection, have sunk from one degree of wretchedness to another for many years together, without all hopes of ever getting above distress and pinching want.

There is hardly an employment in life so mean that will not afford a subsistence, if constantly applied to: And it is only by dint of indefatigable diligence, that a fortune is to be acquired in business. An estate got by what is commonly called a lucky hit, is a rare instance; and he who expects to have his fortune made in that way, is much about as rational as he who should neglect all probable means of living, on the hopes that he should some time or other find a treasure. The misfortune of indolence is, That there is no such thing as continuing in the same cordition without an income of one kind or other. If a man does not bestir himself, poverty must overtake him at last. If he continues to give out for the necessary charges of life, and will not take the pains to gain somewhat to supply his outgivings, his funds must at length come to an end, and misery come upon him at a period of life when he is least able to grapple with it, I mean in old age, if not be

fore.

The character of a sluggard must, I think, be owned to be one of the most contemptible. In proportion to a person's activity for his own good and that of his fellowcreatures, he is to be reckoned a more or less valuable member of society: And if all the idle people in a nation were to die in one year, the loss would be inconsiderable, in comparison of what the community must suffer by being deprived of a very few of the active and industrious. Every moment of time ought to be put to its proper use,

either in business, in improving the mind, in the innocent and necessary relaxations and entertainments of life, or in the care of our souls.

And as we ought to be much more frugal of our time than our money, the one being infinitely more valuable than the other, so ought we to be particularly watchful of opportunities. There are times and seasons proper for every purpose of life: and a very material part of prudence is to judge rightly of them, and make the best of them. If you have, for example a favour to ask of a phlegmatic gloomy man, take him, if you can, over his bottle. If you want to deal with a covetous man, by no means propose your business to him immediately after he has been paying away money, but rather after he has been receiving. If you know a person, for whose interest you have occasion, is unhappy in his family, put yourself in

his

way abroad, rather than wait on him at his own house. A statesman will not be likely to give you a favourable audience immediately after meeting with a disappoint ment in any of his schemes. There are even many people who are always sour and ill-humoured from their rising till they have dined. And as in persons, so in things, opportunity is of the utmost consequence. The thorough knowledge of the probable rise and fall of merchandize, the favourable seasons of importing and exporting, a quick eye to see, and, a nimble hand to seize advantages as they turn up; these are the talents which raise men from low to affluent circumstances.

It would be greatly for the advantage of men of business, if they made it a rule, never to trust any thing of consequence to another, which they can by any means do them. selves. Let another have my interest ever so much at heart, I am sure I have it more myself: And no substitute one can employ, can understand one's business so well as the principal, which gives him great advantage for doing things in the best way, as he can change his measures according to circumstances, which another has not authority to do. As for dependants of all kinds, it is to be remembered, always, that their master's interest possesses, at most, only the second place in their minds. Self-love will ever be the ruling principle, and no fidelity whatever will prevent a person from bestowing a good deal of thought upon his

own concerns, which must break in, less or more, upon his diligence in consulting the interest of his constituent. How men of business can venture, as they do, to trust the great concerns some of them have, for one half of every week in the year, which is half the year, to servants, and they expect others to take care of their business, when they will not be at the trouble of minding it themselves, is to me inconceivable. Nor does the detection, from time to time, of the frauds of such people, seem at all to deter our men of business from trusting to them.

There is indeed nothing more difficult than to know the characters of those we confide in. How should we imagine we can know those of others, when we are so uncertain about our own? What man can say of himself, I never shall be capable of such a vice or weakness? And if not of himself, much less of another. Who would then needlessly trust to another, when he can hardly be sure of himself?

SECTION III.

Of Frugality and Economy. Of Projects. Of Diversions.

NEXT to diligence and assiduity in business, frugality and economy are the most necessary for him who would raise himself in the world by his own industry. Simple nature is contented with a little, and there is hardly any employment which, if pursued with prudence and attention, will not yield an income sufficient for the necessary uses of life: as, on the other hand, no revenue is so great as to be proof against extravagance. Witness the emperor Caligula, who in a few years spent the riches of the world, at least of the Roman world; I mean the immense treasures his avaricious predecessor Tiberius had been amassing for twentytwo years, besides the current revenues of the empire; and found himself reduced to straits, from the most exor-bitant riches. Every person's experience confirms this truth, That those pleasures of life which cost the most are the least satisfactory and contrariwise. The noise of balls, plays, and masquerades, is tiresome; the parade of gilt coaches, of powdered footmen, and of state-visits, is fulsome; while the conversation of a wise and virtuous friend,

the endearments of a faithful wife and innocent children, charity to the indigent, which none but a good economist can bestow, the pursuit of useful and ornamental knowledge, the study of virtue and religion, these are entertainments ever new and ever delightful. And if a wise man may thus be satisfied from himself; if the noblest pleasures and truest enjoyments are only to be had in our own hearts. and in our own houses, how great is the folly of mankind, who fly from the genuine, the rational, the cheap, and easy attainable enjoyments of life, in a mad pursuit after the imaginary, expensive, and tiresome vanities of show and ostentation! Were the enjoyments which pomp and grandeur yield (supposing them unimbittered with reflections on their fatal consequences, which will ever be crowding into the mind) infinitely more exquisite than those of virtue and sobriety, which is the very contrary of the truth, a prudent man would take care, in consideration of the shortness of life, how he indulged them to the neglect of the serious business of life, or to the ruin of his fortune. None but a madman would lavish away his whole patrimony in one season, with the prospect of poverty and misery for the remainder of his days: For he would consider, that a life languished out in wretchedness, or in dependence, would immensely overbalance the pleasure of reflecting, that he had spent one year in hearing the finest music, in seeing the politest company, in cating the rarest food, and in drinking the richest wines the world could af ford: Nay, he would foresee that the reflection upon past pleasures and gaieties would only render his misery so much the more intolerable. There is not, indeed, a more deplorable case than that of a person, who, by his own folly, has reduced himself to beggary: For, besides the other distresses he must struggle with, he has the cruel stings of his own reflections to torture him, and is deprived of the poor consolation of the sympathy and compassion of his acquaintance.

Every person who happens by any means whatever, though wholly out of his own power either to foresce or prevent, to sink in the world, may lay his account with meeting no little contempt and ill usage from the bulk of his acquaintance, and even from those for whom he has in his prosperity done the greatest kindnesses. But when

it is known that a man's misfortunes are owing to his own extravagance, people have too good a pretence for withholding their compassion or assistance, and for treating him with neglect and contempt. It will therefore be a young person's wisdom, before he goes too far, to make such reflections as these; "Shall I lavish away in youthful pleasure and folly the patrimony that must support me my whole life? Shall I indulge myself in rioting and drunkenness, till I have not a morsel of bread? Shall I revel in plays, balls, and music-gardens, till I bring myself to a goal? Shall I waste my substance in regaling a set of wretches, who will turn their backs upon me whenever they have undone me? Shall I pass my youth like a lord, and be a beggar in my old age?"

There is nothing more unaccountable than the common practice in our times, among that part of the people who ought to be the examples of frugality as well as of industry, the citizens of London; I mean the usual way of setting out in life. It seems, generally speaking, as if our traders thought themselves in duty bound to go to the utmost stretch of expense, which their circumstances will afford, and even beyond, the very first year of their setting up. That a young shop-keeper, and his new married wife, whose joint fortunes would not make up five thousand pounds, should begin with sitting in state to receive company, keeping footmen, carriages, and countryhouses, and awkwardly mimicking the extravagances of the other end of the town, before they know how trade may turn out, or how numerous a family of children they may have to provide for; what can be more preposterous? As if the public had so little discernment, as to conclude that people's circumstances were always according to the show they made. How easy is it for any man to increase his expense, if he finds his income increase? And how hard is it to be obliged, after setting out in a grand manner, to retrench, and lower the sails: It is not indeed to be done in trade, without affecting a person's credit, which accordingly obliges many traders to go on in the exorbitant way they first set out in, to their own ruin, and that of others who have been engaged with them. In some countries, insolvency, where a good account of the causes which brought it on cannot be given, is punished with