civilly, that fhe thought fo too; upon which the converfation ceased, on my part, for fome time, till the, good-naturedly refuming it, fpoke to me thus: "I fee your embarraffment, and I am fure that the few words you faid to me coft you a great deal; but do not be difcouraged for that reafon, and avoid good company. We fee that you defire to please, and that is the main point you want only the manner, and you think that you want it ftill more than you do. You must go through your noviciate before you can profefs goodbreeding: and, if you will be my novice, I will prefent you to my acquaintance as fuch." You will eafily imagine how much this fpeech pleaf ed me, and how awkwardly I aniwered it; I hemm'd once or twice (for it gave me a bur-in my throat) before I could tell her, that I was very much obliged to her; that it was true that I had a great deal of reafon to diftruft my own behaviour, not being used to fine com. pany; and that I fhould be proud of being her novice, and receiving her inftructions. As foon as I had fum bled out this anfwer, fhe called up three or four pecple to her, and faid, "Do you know that I have un dertaken this young man, and he must be encouraged? As for me, I think I have made a conqueft of him; for he just now ventured to tell me, although tremblingly, that it is warm. You will affift me in polishing him." The company laughed at this lecture, and I was stunned with it. I did not know whether the was serious or in jeft. By turns I was pleafed, afha med, encouraged and dejected. But when I found, afterwards, that both fhe, and thofe to whom the had prefented me, countenanced and protected me in company, I gradually got more affurance, and began not to be ashamed of endeavouring to be civil. I copied the best masters, at first fervilely, afterwards more freely, and at last I joined habit and invention. All this will happen to you, if you perfevere in the defire of pleafing, and fhining as a man of the world. I could with that you would fay to the five or fix men or women with whom you are the most acquainted, that you are fenfible that, from youth and inexperience, you must make many mistakes in good-breeding; that you beg of them to correct you, without referve, wherever they fee you fail; and that you fhall take fuch admonitions as the ftrongest proofs of their friend... fhip. Such a confeffion and application will be very engaging to thofe to whom you make them. They will tell others of them, who will be pleafed with that difpofition, and, in a friendly manner tell you of any little flip or error. The duke de Nivernoist would, I am fure, be charmed, if you dropped fuch a thing to him: adding. that you love to addrefs yourfelf always to the best masters. Obferve alfo the different modes of good-breeding of feveral nations, and conform yourfelf to them refpectively. Ufe an eafy civility with the French, more ceremony with the Italians, and ftill more with the Germans; but let it be without embarraffment,and with ease. Bring it,by ufe,to be habitual to you; for, if it feems unwilling and forced, it will never please. Omnis Ariftippum decuit color, et res.* Acquire an eafinefs and verfatility of manners, as well as of mind; and, like the cameleon, take the hue of the company you are with. There is a fort of veteran women of condition, who, having lived always in the grand monde, † form a young fellow better than all the rules that can be given him. Thefe women, being paft their bloom, are ex-tremely flattered by the leaft attention from a young, perfon; and they will point out to him thofe manners and attentions that pleafed and engaged them, when they were in the pride of their youth and beauty. Wherever you go, make fome of those women your friends, which a very little matter will do. Afk their advice, tell them your doubts or difficulties, as to your behaviour; but take great care not to drop one word of their experience; for experience implies age, and the fufpicion of age, no woman, let her be ever fo old, ever forgives. At that time embaffador from the court of France, at Rome. Every thing was becoming in Ariftippus, both the manner and the thing. +Great world LETTER LXXXVIII. Life of Time...Pun&uality...Useful Reading...Romances cenfured...Dispatch and Method...Method of reading for Improvement. MY DEAR FRIEND, VERY London, February the stb. ERY few people are good ceconomifts of their fortune, and ftill fewer of their time; and yet, of the two, the latter is the most precious. I heartily with you to be a good economift of both; and you are now of an age to begin to think seriously of these two important articles. Young people are apt to think they have fo much time before them, that they may fquander what they please of it; and yet have enough left; as very great fortunes have frequently feduced people to a ruinous profufion. Fatal miftakes, always repented of, but always too late! Old Mr. Lowndes, the famous fecretary of the treafury, in the reigns of king William, queen Anne, and king George the First, ufed to fay, "Take care of the pence, and the pounds will take care of themfelves." To this maxim, which he not only preached, but practifed, his two grandfons, at this time, owe the very confiderable fortunes that he left them. This holds equally true as to time; and I moft ear. neftly recommend to you the care of thofe minutes and quarters of hours, in the courfe of the day, which people think too short to deferve their attention; and yet, if fummed up at the end of the would year, amount to a very confiderable portion of time. For example: you are to be at fuch a place at twelve, by appointment; you go out at eleven, to make two or three vifits firft; thofe perfons are not at home: inftead of fauntering away that intermediate time at a coffee-house, and poffibly alone, return home, write a letter, before-hand, for the enfuing post, or take up good book; I do not mean Defcartes, Mallebranche, Locke, or Newton, by way of dipping, but fome book of rational amusement, and detached pieces; as Horace, Boileau, Waller, La Bruyere, &c. This will be fo * much time faved, and by no means ill employed. Many people lofe a great deal of time by reading for they read frivolous and idle books; fuch as abfurd romances and novels; where characters, that never exifted, are infipidly difplayed, and fentiments, that were never felt, pompously defcribed the oriental ravings and extravagances of the Arabian Nights, and Mogul Tales: or, the new flimfy brochures that now fwarm in France, of fairy tales, Réflections fur le Cœur et l'Esprit, Métaphyfique de l'Amour, Analyfe des beaux Sentiments; † and fuch fort of idle and frivolous ftuff, that nourishes and improves the mind juft as much as whipped cream would the body. Stick to the best established books in every language; the celebrated poets, hiftorians, orators, and philofophers. By these means (to ufe a city metaphor) you will make fifty per cent of that time, of which others do not make above three or four, or probably nothing at all. Many people lose a great deal of their time by lazinefs; they loll and yawn in a great chair,tell themselves that they have not time to begin any thing then, and that it will do as well another time. This is a moft unfortunate difpofition, and the greatest obftruction to both knowledge and business. At your age, you have no right nor claim to lazinefs; I have, if I pleafe, being emeritus. You are but juft lifted in the world, and must be active, diligent, and indefatigable. If ever you propofe commanding with dignity, you muft ferve up to it with diligence. Never put off till to-morrow `what you can do to-day. Difpatch is the foul of bufinefs; and nothing contributes more to dispatch than method. Lay down a method for every thing, and stick to it inviolably, as far as unexpected incidents may allow. Fix one certain hour and day in the week for your accompts, and keep them together in their proper order; by which means they will require very little time, and you can never be much cheated. Whatever letters and papers you keep, * Pamphlets. Reflections on the heart and mind, the metaphyfie of love, angh lysis of fine fentiments. docquet and tie them in their refpective claffes, fo that you may inftantly have recourfe to any one. Lay down a method alfo for your reading, for which you allot a certain fhare of your mornings; let it be in a confiftent and confecutive course, and not in that defultory and immethodical manner in which many people read fcraps of different authors, upon different fubjects. Keep an ufual and fhort common-place book of what you read, to help your memory only, and not for pedantic quotations. Never read hiftory without having maps, and a chronological book, or tables, lying by you, and conftantly recurred to; without which, history is only a confufed heap of facts. One method more I recommend to you, by which I have found. great benefit, even in the most diffipated part of my life; that is, to rife early, and at the fame hour every morning, how late foever you may have fate up the night before. This fecures you an hour or two, at leaft, of reading or reflexion, before the common interruptions of the morning begin; and it will fave your conftitution, by forcing you to go to bed early, at least one night in three. I have received no letter yet, from you or Mr.. Harte.--Adieu ! LETTER LXXXIX. Italian Literature...Dante... Taffo.. Ariofto...Guarini...Petrarch ...Machiavelli... Bocaccio....Guicciardini.... Bentivoglio....and. Davila...English and French Authors. MY DEAR FRIEND, London, February the 8th. YOU have, by this time, I hope and believe, made: fuch a progrefs in the Italian language, that you can read it with eafe;, I mean, the cafy books in it: and indeed, in that, as well as in every other language, the eafieft books are generally the beft; for, whatever au-thor is obfcure and difficult in his own langnage, tainly does not think clearly. This is, in my opinion, the cafe of a celebrated Italian author; to whom the cer |