STUDY XIV, " 305 



{o many little prefidents ; others, and they are the 

 moft numerous, wifli to make' theirs alert and 

 lively. One of the great burdens of the leflbn is, 

 an inceflfant fillip of: " Come on, makehafte, don'c 

 " be lazy." To this impulfion fimply, I afcribe 

 the general giddinefs of our youth, and of which 

 the Nation is accufed. It is the impatience of the 

 mafter which, in the firfi; inftance, produces the 

 precipitancy of the fcholars. It, afterwards, ac« 

 quires ftrength, in the commerce of the World, 

 from the impatience of the women. But, through, 

 the progrefs of human life, Is not refledion of 

 much higher importance than promptitude? How 

 many children are deftined to fill fituations which 

 require ferioufnefs and folemnity ? Is not reflec- 

 tion the bafis of prudence, of temperance, of wif- 

 dom, and of moft of the other moral qualities ? 

 For my own part, I have always feen honeft people 

 abundantly tranquil, and rogues always alert. 



There is, in this refpe6t, a vefy perceptible dif- 

 ference, between two children, the one of whom 

 has been educated in his Father's houfe, and the 

 other, at a public fchool. The firft is, beyond all 

 contradiction, more polite, more ingenuous, lefs 

 jealoufly difpofed ; and, from this fingle circum-. 

 ftance, that he has been brought up without the 

 defire of excelling any one, and ftill lefs of furpaf- 

 ling himfelf, according to our great fafiiionabie 



VOL. IV. X phrafeology 



