THE BEATEN TRACK. 89 



must be observation, and careful and connected 

 observation, all the way from that which was fa- 

 miliarly known before, otherwise there is no se- 

 curity against failure. The man who " loses the 

 points," or gets the " compass in his head " re- 

 versed, may always be assured that he does so in 

 consequence of some deviation or double, that he 

 made, and made just from want of attention to 

 what he was about. As to the fog, there signifies 

 little whether that is in the atmosphere or in the 

 mind; and, indeed, it is far more dangerous in 

 the latter case, the fog of the moor may go off 

 without our attending to it, or we may get out 

 of it ; but we never can escape from the fog of our 

 own inattentive and unobservant minds. 



That there are some principles by which we can 

 find our way, in cases where we can neither see it 

 with our eyes, nor grope it with our hands, is a fact ; 

 and anyone who attentively observes the foot-paths 

 that are formed on a common or field, where 

 there is no hedge, or any thing to determine the 

 direction, may, in part at least, see and understand 

 the reasons. If we can get instruction from the 

 mere fact of treading a path- way across the com- 

 mon, we surely need not despair of getting in- 

 struction from any thing that we choose to ob- 

 serve; and that will be another argument for 

 attending to small and every day matters, mat- 

 ters that lie within our observation, and may ex- 

 ercise our thoughts without expence or loss of 

 time. Why should there be a trodden path at all ? 

 is the first question. People do not follow each 

 other by the scent as dogs follow their prey, and 

 their persons, legs, and dispositions differ. So that 

 they cannot have either the ability or the desire 

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