BATH,October 9,O.S.1746
DEAR BOY:Your distresses in your journey from Heidelberg to Schaffhausen,your lying upon straw,your black bread,and your broken 'berline,'are proper seasonings for the greater fatigues and distresses which you must expect in the course of your travels;and,if one had a mind to moralize,one might call them the samples of the accidents,rubs,and difficulties,which every man meets with in his journey through life.
In this journey,the understanding is the 'voiture'that must carry you through;and in proportion as that is stronger or weaker,more or less in repair,your journey will be better or worse;though at best you will now and then find some bad roads,and some bad inns.Take care,therefore,to keep that necessary 'voiture'in perfect good repair;examine,improve,and strengthen it every day:it is in the power,and ought to be the care,of every man to do it;he that neglects it,deserves to feel,and certainly will feel,the fatal effects of that negligence.
'A propos'of negligence:I must say something to you upon that subject.
You know I have often told you,that my affection for you was not a weak,womanish one;and,far from blinding me,it makes me but more quick-sighted as to your faults;those it is not only my right,but my duty to tell you of;and it is your duty and your interest to correct them.
In the strict scrutiny which I have made into you,I have (thank God)hitherto not discovered any vice of the heart,or any peculiar weakness of the head:but I have discovered laziness,inattention,and indifference;faults which are only pardonable in old men,who,in the decline of life,when health and spirits fail,have a kind of claim to that sort of tranquillity.But a young man should be ambitious to shine,and excel;alert,active,and indefatigable in the means of doing it;and,like Caesar,'Nil actum reputans,si quid superesset agendum.'You seem to want that 'vivida vis animi,'which spurs and excites most young men to please,to shine,to excel.Without the desire and the pains necessary to be considerable,depend upon it,you never can be so;as,without the desire and attention necessary to please,you never can please.'Nullum numen abest,si sit prudentia,'is unquestionably true,with regard to everything except poetry;and I am very sure that any man of common understanding may,by proper culture,care,attention,and labor,make himself whatever he pleases,except a good poet.Your destination is the great and busy world;your immediate object is the affairs,the interests,and the history,the constitutions,the customs,and the manners of the several parts of Europe.In this,any man of common sense may,by common application,be sure to excel.Ancient and modern history are,by attention,easily attainable.Geography and chronology the same,none of them requiring any uncommon share of genius or invention.Speaking and Writing,clearly,correctly,and with ease and grace,are certainly to be acquired,by reading the best authors with care,and by attention to the best living models.These are the qualifications more particularly necessary for you,in your department,which you may be possessed of,if you please;and which,I tell you fairly,I shall be very angry at you,if you are not;because,as you have the means in your hands,it will be your own fault only.