54 A VOYAGE TO Book I. 



which they generally decline as fait as they roie ; and 

 frequently, before they arrive at that age, when they 

 ihould begin to reap the advantage of their itudies, a 

 natural indolence checks their farther progrefs, and 

 they forfake the Iciences, leaving the lurpriling eíFects 

 of their capacity imperfeél. 



The principal caule of the iliort duration of fuch 

 promifing beginnings, and of the indolent turn fo often 

 feen in thefe bright geniufes, is doubtlefs the want 

 of proper objects for exercifing their faculties, and the 

 fmair hopes of being preferred to any poft anfwerable 

 to the pains they have taken. For as there is in this 

 country neither army nor navy, and the civil employ- 

 ments very few, it is not at all furprifing that the de- 

 fpair of making their fortunes, by this method, ihould 

 damp their ardour for excelling in the fciences, and 

 plunge them into idlenefs, the lure forerunner of vice; 

 where they lofe the ufe of their reaibn, and iiifle thoie 

 good principles which fired them when young and 

 under proper fubjeition. The fame is evident in the 

 mechanic arts, in which they demonfirate a furprifi;ig 

 Ikill in a very little time ; but foon leave thefe alfo 

 imperfeél, without attempting to improve on the me- 

 thods of their mailers. Nothing indeed is more fur- 

 prifíng than the early advances of the mind in this 

 country, children of two or three years of age con- 

 verfing with a regularity and lerioufnels that is rarely 

 feen in Europe at fix or leven ; and at an age when 

 ihey can fcarce fee the light, are acquainted with all 

 the depths of wickcdnefs. 



The genius of the Americans being more forward 

 than that of the Europeans, many have been willing 

 to believe that it alfo fooner decays; and that at fixty 

 years, or before, they have outlived that folid judg- 

 ment and penetration, fo general afnong us at that 

 time of life; and it has been faid that their genius de- 

 cays, while that of the Europeans is haftening to its 

 maturity and perfection. But this is a vulgar preju- 

 dice. 



