第50章 LETTER XL(1)

LONDON,May 27,O.S.1748.

DEAR BOY:This and the two next years make so important a period of your life,that I cannot help repeating to you my exhortations,my commands,and (what I hope will be still more prevailing with you than either)my earnest entreaties,to employ them well.Every moment that you now lose,is so much character and advantage lost;as,on the other hand,every moment that you now employ usefully,is so much time wisely laid out,at most prodigious interest.These two years must lay the foundations of all the knowledge that you will ever have;you may build upon them afterward as much as you please,but it will be too late to lay any new ones.Let me beg of you,therefore,to grudge no labor nor pains to acquire,in time,that stock of knowledge,without which you never can rise,but must make a very insignificant figure in the world.Consider your own situation;you have not the advantage of rank or fortune to bear you up;I shall,very probably,be out of the world before you can properly be said to be in it.What then will you have to rely on but your own merit?That alone must raise you,and that alone will raise you,if you have but enough of it.I have often heard and read of oppressed and unrewarded merit,but I have oftener (I might say always)seen great merit make its way,and meet with its reward,to a certain degree at least,in spite of all difficulties.By merit,I mean the moral virtues,knowledge,and manners;as to the moral virtues,I say nothing to you;they speak best for themselves,nor can I suspect that they want any recommendation with you;I will therefore only assure you,that without them you will be most unhappy.

As to knowledge,I have often told you,and I am persuaded you are thoroughly convinced,how absolutely necessary it is to you,whatever your destination may be.But as knowledge has a most extensive meaning,and as the life of man is not long enough to acquire,nor his mind capable of entertaining and digesting,all parts of knowledge,I will point out those to which you should particularly apply,and which,by application,you may make yourself perfect master of.Classical knowledge,that is,Greek and Latin,is absolutely necessary for everybody;because everybody has agreed to think and to call it so.And the word ILLITERATE,in its common acceptation,means a man who is ignorant of those two languages.You are by this time,I hope,pretty near master of both,so that a small part of the day dedicated to them,for two years more,will make you perfect in that study.Rhetoric,logic,a little geometry,and a general notion of astronomy,must,in their turns,have their hours too;not that I desire you should be deep in any one of these;but it is fit you should know something of them all.

The knowledge more particularly useful and necessary for you,considering your destination,consists of modern languages,modern history,chronology,and geography,the laws of nations,and the 'jus publicum Imperii'.You must absolutely speak all the modern Languages,as purely and correctly as the natives of the respective countries:for whoever does not speak a language perfectly and easily,will never appear to advantage in conversation,nor treat with others in it upon equal terms.

As for French,you have it very well already;and must necessarily,from the universal usage of that language,know it better and better every day:so that I am in no pain about that:German,I suppose,you know pretty well by this time,and will be quite master of it before you leave Leipsig:at least,I am sure you may.Italian and Spanish will come in their turns,and,indeed,they are both so easy,to one who knows Latin and French,that neither of them will cost you much time or trouble.

Modern history,by which I mean particularly the history of the last three centuries,should be the object of your greatest and constant attention,especially those parts of it which relate more immediately to the great powers of Europe.This study you will carefully connect with chronology and geography;that is,you will remark and retain the dates of every important event;and always read with the map by you,in which you will constantly look for every place mentioned:this is the only way of retaining geography;for,though it is soon learned by the lump,yet,when only so learned,it is still sooner forgot.

Manners,though the last,and it may be the least ingredient of real merit,are,however,very far from being useless in its composition;they adorn,and give an additional force and luster to both virtue and knowledge.They prepare and smooth the way for the progress of both;and are,I fear,with the bulk of mankind,more engaging than either.