On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
from my care , and" the relation of master and pupil must now cease f 6 r ever . That relation has subsisted too long * , it huts been too endear injj to leave me indifferent to your future conduct and happiness : and friendship for your worthy parents joins with affection to yourself , to awaken in my
breast every tender solicitude for your welfare : and prompts my riiind to fellow you into a new sphere , engaging in new studies aftel exposed to the impression of new scenes , with anxious and friendly thoughts .
Called to lay aside the authority of a master , though 3 > ou wi'l bear me witness it was always tempered with gentleness , I beg leave to address you as a friend , as a second parent . Your youth
and inexperience , without impeaching jour wisdom and good dispositions , may be supposed not to render you above receiving hints , suited to your new situation .
And may t not flatter myself , that they will carry with them to your heart a force and energy not by their truth and importance merely , but from affection to tne superintendant of your past years .
You now find yourself advanced forward in life , if not to the period of manhood , yet to a period that , generally , entertains manly thoughts and manly projects . Your friends look upon you , you look upon
yourself no longer as the boy , but as tbe young man . The transition is too suddenly made from the school to the academy ; from the
study of grammar to that of phi . losopl | y ; and from the sports of childhood tpthe pursuits / of science . It has often , it may be apprehend , * & w ^^ ypy-w '^ flweii * conceit and vanity , a&d inspiring
Untitled Article
spirit almost above the restraints of discipline and the checks of a , uthority . The period is dangerous , when we are too old to be treated , as children and possess not wisdom and weight of character lo
be regarded as men ; when nna 4-gin ing ourselves too old ; to be un < -, der a strict regimen , we are * K > t old enough to hold and manage the reins of government ourselves *
Youth , in your situation , often feel and conceive they ought to indulge an independence of which they were not before conscious ; and are apt to consider the pro . vince of the tutor as limited to
reading lectures and not as invested with the authority of a governor . They are apt to consider them * selves as their own masters , whether this jurisdiction extends to their time or purse , their studies or manners *
Your good sense * my young friend , will easily discern , that these circumstances are attended with hazard , and that when youth are removed from the injunctions and restraint ^ which su ^ t boyish years , they require the friendly hint and the affectionate
admonition ; and your uncorrupted , ingenuous mind will admit the counsel which a longer acquaintance with life may have taught and which anxious affection dictates .
There is one consideration of vas , t moment ; it is this : Tfyat much , that every thing dependeth on the manner in which you spend your academical years ; on the degree of diligence , prudence and virt ue which you practice , in that period , and on the character which
you thten foraj r It is jour &w < k time , < M * d tike , Wfcr ^* t V * H ' fce In proportion tp the natii r ? an # quantity of tfo seed , which , y # ji , spw .
Untitled Article
228 Letters to a Student . —^ Letter I *
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1812, page 228, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1747/page/20/
-