( 28 ) 
Old men are frequently cenfured for their 
want of indulgence to the natural follies of 
youth. Is it then neceflary that young men 
fhould be fools ? If fo, what becomes of this 
fpecific epithet which alone divides them 
from the brute creation? Or, muft they 
rank with brutes until a certain age? 
I am led to thefe animadverfions by ob- 
ferving, that young men, on their firft ftart- 
ing into life, are generally governed fo ab- 
folutely by that fool Fafhion, as totally to 
forget that they are rational creatures; and 
that in point of drefs (for of that only I am 
now fpeaking) they are ready to facrifice 
every idea of propriety, and even conveni- 
ency, to the ridiculous whim of any defpi- 
cable infect of what is called the beau monde. 
You are not hence to conclude, that I 
would have a young gentleman too fcru- 
puloufly attentive to the rationality of his 
drefs. Something muft be facrificed to 
Fafhion; but a young man of found intel- 
lects will not^in compliance with the whim, 
even of a prince, run into extremes that are 
palpably abfurd. I would not have my fon 
a floven. Total negligence of drefs is an 
affront to fociety: it indicates either an ig- 
norance or contempt of the world 5 but an 
abfo^ 
