at making them prudent; and prudence, early in life, is but the cautious craft of ignorant ſelf-love.
I have obſerved that young people, to whoſe education particular attention has been paid, have, in general, been very ſuperficial and conceited, and far from pleaſing in any reſpect, becauſe they had neither the unſuſpecting warmth of youth, nor the cool depth of age. I cannot help imputing this unnatural appearance principally to that haſty premature inſtruction, which leads them preſumptuouſly to repeat all the crude notions they have taken upon truſt, ſo that the careful education which they received, makes them all their lives the ſlaves of prejudices.
Mental as well as bodily exertion is, at firſt, irkſome; ſo much ſo, that the many would fain let others both work and think for them. An obſervation which I have often made will illuſtrate my meaning. When in a circle of ſtrangers, or acquaintances, a perſon of moderate abilities aſſerts an opinion with heat, I will venture to affirm, for I have traced this fact home, very often, that it is a prejudice. Theſe echoes have a high reſpect for the underſtanding of ſome relation or friend, and without fully comprehending the opinions, which they are ſo eager to retail, they maintain them with a degree of obſtinacy, that would ſurpriſe even the perſon who concocted them.
I know that a kind of faſhion now prevails of reſpecting prejudices; and when any one dares to face them, though actuated by humanity and armed by reaſon, he is ſuperciliouſly aſked whether his anceſtors were fools. No, I ſhould reply;
