favourable to either intellectual or bodily effort; yet the effort ought not, in common, to be forborne on that account. And, after all, if you conduct your studies in a judicious manner, as to plans and hours; and, especially, if you practise with wisdom, that occasional, and even habitual abstemiousness, which I recommended in a preceding section, rely upon it, your seasons of inspiration will occur much more frequently than you suppose, or than liberal feeders commonly experience.

29. Make a point of KEEPING EVERY THING IN

YOUR STUDY IN A STATE OF PERFECT NEATNESS

AND REGULARITY. Whether your books be few or many, keep them in their places, and in perfect order. Let all your manuscripts be so arranged as that you shall be able to lay your hand upon any one of them in a moment. Tie your pamphlets in bundles, in a certain order understood by yourself, and, as soon as possible, get them bound in convenient volumes. Fold, label, and deposite in proper drawers, all loose papers, so as to be at no loss to find any one of them whenever called for. And, in general, let every thing in your study bear the marks of order, system, and perfect neatness. You can have no conception, without having made the experiment, how much time and trouble will be saved by this plan. When you are tempted to think, that you have not book or paper which you have been using into its proper place, ask yourself, whether you will probably find it convenient a week, or a month afterwards, to spend an hour in searching for that, which half a min

time to put a

ute would have sufficed for depositing in its appropriate situation? Let me advise you also to preserve and file copies of all your important letters; and where you cannot find time for this, to keep, at least, a distinct memorandum of the dates, principal contents, conveyance &c. of all such letters. You will, in the end, save more time by this regularity than you can now easily imagine.

30. With one more counsel I shall close this letter; and that I am more at a loss to frame in a satisfactory manner than any of the preceding. It is THAT YOU

ENDEAVOUR TO GUARD AGAINST THOSE INCESSANT

INTERRUPTIONS OF STUDY BY COMPANY, which, unless you take measures to prevent, will not fail to consume a large part of your time, and often to distress you exceedingly. I have more than hinted at this subject in a former letter. But it is one of those, the evil of which, I fear, even " line upon line" will not be sufficient to obviate. Whether you consider your comfort or your improvement, you ought, undoubtedly, to take hold of this matter with a firm hand. Some of the students of the Seminary are so extremely modest, that when a number of their fellow-students drop into their rooms, one after another, and divert them from study for four or five hours together, they cannot summon resolution enough to give the least hint of the distress which it occasions them; but perhaps sit several hours, in a state little short of agony, submitting to the encroachments of those reckless intruders, who, instead of interrupting others, ought themselves to be busy. There are various

ways of shaking off these marauders on the time of honest people. One is, as I stated in a former Letter, to lock your door, and be deaf to all their knocking. Another is, from the moment they seat themselves, to maintain a rigid silence; or, at least, to answer them only in monosyllables. A third plan, is, as soon as any unseasonable visiter sits down, to begin to converse with him on the study in which you happen to be engaged; to ply him vigorously with questions in relation to it, which shall put to a severe test his own acquaintance with it. I once knew a young man who adopted this method, and who resisted every attempt to change the subject; and he very seldom failed to clear his apartment of loungers. But, even all these, some are thoughtless, or iron hearted enough not to regard. With such, the only effectual resort seems to be to state, in so many words, the urgency of your engagements, and your wish to be left alone. One advantage of taking strong measures, in the outset, on this subject, will be, that, by such measures, your fellow-students will most speedily learn your cue in reference to the matter in question, and soon cease to give you trouble. The remedy may be painful ; but it will be likely to effect the most expeditious and complete cure.

LETTER IX.

TAKE FAST HOLD OF INSTRUCTION; LET HER NOT GO. FOR SHE IS THY LIFE. Prov. iv. 13.

HABITS IN THE LECTURE-ROOM,

MY DEAR YOUNg Friend,

It may be supposed, at first view, that the deportment of a student in the Lecture-room, might well be left to instructions and correctives applied on the spot. When the student is immediately under the eye of the professor, and in a situation in which a gentle hint or admonition may be instantly directed to the occurrence which is supposed to demand it; where, it may be asked, is the necessity of laying down a set of formal counsels on paper? 1 have two reasons for not passing over this part of my subject without/ particular notice.

One reason is, that to a Professor who has the least delicacy of feeling, it is always painful to admonish an ingenuous and pious youth of any aberration from strict propriety, in the presence of his companions. Such an admonition, however well intended, and well administered, may inflict a deep wound on the feelings of him who receives it. And if, to avoid this evil, it be administered in private,

one of its most valuable benefits is lost; viz. that of putting others on their guard against a similar fault.

But a second and still stronger reason is, that it is much better, if possible, to prevent such faults from occurring, than to correct them when committed My object is, not to wait until I see improprieties, inadvertently, or otherwise indulged, and then to apply the corrective; but to put conscientious young men on their guard, beforehand, against indulging them, and thus obviate the necessity of inflicting pain on either side.

You must not suppose, from the aggregate of these counsels, that I have been accustomed to see the frequent occurrence of ill-breeding or disorder in our Lecture-rooms. Far from it. On the contrary, the remarkable infrequency of any call for animadversion, or the slightest form of discipline in our Institution, now in the fifteenth year of its course, has been a source of peculiar satisfaction, and, I hope, an occasion of cordial thankfulness. Yet there are theological students of cultivated minds, and of unfeigned piety, who bring with them, from College, or from the Academy, certain habits in the Lectureroom, which, though not criminal, are some of them unseemly, and all disadvantageous; and of which, from mere inconsideration, or inexperience, they see not the evil. A few of these habits I wish to point out, and to place in the light in which much observation convinces me they ought to be contemplated.

I am the more disposed to consider some of these habits in detail, because the correction of them now,

Y