(18)
"[1]For they ſeldom procure laſting eſteem or affection: you will find your advantage in endeavouring to oblige men by eaſy civilities and real ſervices: but if you gain their favour by flattery, you can keep it no longer than you are willing to be their ſlaves or their tools."
In your amuſements, my advice to you is, to be select and temperate; ſelect, that they may not ſeduce you into any purſuits unworthy of a well inſtructed mind; and temperate, that they may not interfere with your more important labours, and your higher duties. Thoſe amuſsements alone are eligible, which by affording an eaſy and pleaſant exertion of the bodily or mental powers, exhilarate the ſpirits without depraving the taſte, or corrupting the heart. And of innocent amuſements, thoſe are to be preferred which, at the ſame time that they anſwer the purpose of relaxation from ſeverer purſuits, afford ſome advantageous exerciſe of the underſtanding, the imagination, or the moral feelings.
It is an object of great moment, that young perſons ſhould early accuſtom themſelves to fill up a conſiderable portion of their leiſure with reading. Cultivate, my ſon, a taſte for reading, and you will find it an inexhauſtible fund of elegant amuſement, and improving occupation. It will enable you to enjoy many a ſolitary hour, which
- ↑ Lardner's Counſels of Prudence.
