Pains to me barely to count the Mo- Merchants ney, I would spend, What Labour Accounts. and Pains did it cost my Ancestors, not only to count, but get it? This rational Thought, suggested by this little pains impos'd upon him, wrought so effectually upon his Mind, that it made him take up, and from that time forwards, prove a good Husband. This at least every body must allow, that nothing is likelier to keep a Man within compass, than the having conftantly before his Eyes, the state of his Affairs in a regular course of Ac counts. §. 199. The last Part usually in E-Travel. ducation is Travel, which is commonly thought to finish the Work, and compleat the Gentleman. I confess Travel into Foreign Countries has great Advantages, but the time usually chosen to send young Men abroad is, I think, of all other, that which renders them least capable of reaping those Advantages. Those which are propos'd, as to the main of them, may be reduced to these Two, first Language, secondly an Improvement in Wisdom and Prudence, by see Tunding Men, and conversing with People of Tempers, Customs, and Ways of living, diferent from one another, and especially from those of his Parish and Neighbourhood. But from Sixteen to One and Twenty, which is the ordinary time of Travel, Men are of all their Lives, the least suited to these Improvements. The first Seafon to get Foreign Languages, and from their Tongue to their true Accents, I should think, should be from Seven to Fourteen or Sixteen; and then too a Tutor with them is useful and necessary, who may with those Languages teach them other things. But to put them out of their Parents view at a great distance, under a Governour, when they think themselves too much Men to be governed by others, and yet have not Prudence and Experience enough to govern themfelves, what is it, but to expose them to all the greatest Dangers of their whole Life, when they have the least Fence and Guard against them? Till that boyling boisterous part of Life comes in, it may be hoped, the Tutor may have some Authority. Neither the the stubbornness of Age,nor the Temp Travel Tranci it more governable and safe; and in the after part, Reason and Fore-sight begin a little to take place, and mind a Man of his Safety and Improvement. The time therefore I should think the fittest for a young Gentleman to be sent abroad, would be, either when he is younger, under a Tutor, whom he might be the better for: Or when he was some Years older, without a Governour, when he was of Age to govern himself, and make Observations of what he found in other Countries worthy his Notice, and that might be of use to him after his return: And when too, being throughly acquainted with the Laws and Fashions, the natural and moral Advantages and Defects of his own Country, he has something to exchange, with those abroad, from whose Conversation he hoped to reap any Knowledge. §. 200. The ordering of Travel otherwise is that, I imagine, which makes so many young Gentlemen come back so little improved by it. And if they do bring home with them any Knowledge of the Places and People, they they have seen, it is often an admira- Travel tion of the worst and vainest Fashions they met with abroad, retaining a relish and memory of those Things wherein their Liberty took its first swing, rather than of what should make them better and wiser after their return. And indeed how can it be other wise, going abroad at the Age they do, under a Governour, who is to provide their Necessaries, and make their Observations for them? Thus under the Shelter and Pretence of a Governour, thinking themselves excused from standing upon their own Legs, or being accountable for their own Conduct,they very seldom trouble themselves with Enquiries, or making useful Observations of their own. Their Thoughts run after Play and Pleasure; wherein, they take it as a lessening, to be controul'd; but seldom trouble themselves to examine the Designs, observe the Address, and confider the Arts, Tempers and Inclinations of Men, they meet with; that so they may know how to Comport themselves towards them. Here he that Travels with them, is to skreen S them; |