The Young Gentleman and Ladys Monitor, and English Teachers Assistant | Page 9

understand the first, nor quit the book till you are master of
the subject; for unless you do this, you may read it through, and not
remember the contents of it for a week.
38. The books I would particularly recommend, are Cardinal Retz's
maxims, Rochefoucault's moral reflections, Bruyere's characters,
Fontenelle's plurality of worlds, Sir Josiah Child on trade, Bollinbroke's
works; for style, his remarks on the history of England, under the name

of Sir John Oldcastle; Puffendorff's Jus Gentium, and Grotius de Jure
Belli et Pacis: the last two are well translated by Barbeyrac. For
occasional half hours or less, read the best works of invention, wit and
humor; but never waste your minutes on trifling authors, either ancient
or modern.
39. Any business you may have to transact, should be done the first
opportunity, and finished, if possible, without interruption; for by
deferring it we may probably finish it too late, or execute it
indifferently. Now, business of any kind should never be done by
halves, but every part of it should be well attended to: for he that does
business ill, had better not do it at all. And in any point which
discretion bids you pursue, and which has a manifest utility to
recommend it, let not difficulties deter you; rather let them animate
your industry. If one method fails, try a second and a third. Be active,
persevere, and you will certainly conquer.
40. Never indulge a lazy disposition, there are few things but are
attended with some difficulties, and if you are frightened at those
difficulties, you will not complete any thing. Indolent minds prefer
ignorance to trouble; they look upon most things as impossible,
because perhaps they are difficult. Even an hour's attention is too
laborious for them, and they would rather content themselves with the
first view of things than take the trouble to look any farther into them.
Thus, when they come to talk upon subjects to those who have studied
them, they betray an unpardonable ignorance, and lay themselves open
to answers that confuse them. Be careful then, that you do not get the
appellation of indolent, and, if possible, avoid the character of
frivolous.
41. For the frivolous mind is busied always upon nothing. It mistakes
trifling objects for important ones, and spends that time upon little
matters, that should only be bestowed upon great ones. Knick-knacks,
butterflies, shells, and such like, engross the attention of the frivolous
man, and fill up all his time. He studies the dress and not the characters
of men, and his subjects of conversation are no other than the weather,
his own domestic affairs, his servants, his method of managing his
family, the little anecdotes of the neighborhood, and the fiddle-faddle
stories of the day; void of information, void of improvement. These he
relates with emphasis, as interesting matters; in short, he is a male

gossip. I appeal to your own feelings now, whether such things do not
lessen a man in the opinion, of his acquaintance, and instead of
attracting esteem, create disgust.

Modesty.
Modesty is the citidel of beauty and virtue. The first of all virtues is
innocence; the second is modesty.
1. Modesty is both in its source, and in its consequence, a very great
happiness to the fair possessor of it; it arises from a fear of dishonor,
and a good conscience, and is followed immediately, upon its first
appearance, with the reward of honor and esteem, paid by all those who
discover it in any body living.
2. It is indeed a virtue in a woman (that might otherwise be very
disagreeable to one) so exquisitely delicate, that it excites in any
beholder, of a generous and manly disposition, almost all the passions
that he would be apt to conceive for the mistress of his heart, in variety
of circumstances.
3. A woman that is modest creates in us an awe in her company, a wish
for her welfare, a joy in her being actually happy, a sore and painful
sorrow if distress should come upon her, a ready and willing heart to
give her consolation, and a compassionate temper towards her, in every
little accident of life she undergoes; and to sum up all in one word, it
causes such a kind of angelical love, even to a stranger, as good natured
brothers and sisters usually bear towards one another.
4. It adds wonderfully to the make of a face, and I have seen a pretty
well turned forehead, fine set eyes, and what your poets call, a row of
pearl set in coral, shewn by a pretty expansion of two velvet lips that
covered them (that would have tempted any sober man living of my
own age, to have been a little loose in his thoughts, and