a steady Integrity, and the vast Benefit and Advantages which it will bring a Man at last.  Were but this sort of Men wise and clear-sighted enough to discern this, they would be honest out of very Knavery, not out of any Love to Honesty and Virtue, but with a crafty Design to promote and advance more effectually their own Interests; and therefore the Justice of the Divine Providence hath hid this truest Point of Wisdom from their Eyes, that bad Men might not be upon equal Terms with the Just and Upright, and serve their own wicked Designs by honest and lawful Means.

Indeed, if a Man were only to deal in the World for a Day, and should never have occasion to converse more with Mankind, never more need their good Opinion or good Word, it were then no great Matter (speaking as to the Concernments of this World) if a Man spent his Reputation all at once, and ventured it at one throw:  But if he be to continue in the World, and would have the Advantage of Conversation whilst he is in it, let him make use of Truth and Sincerity in all his Words and Actions; for nothing but this will last and hold out to the end; all other Arts will fail, but Truth and Integrity will carry a Man through, and bear him out to the last.

T.

[Footnote 1:  Archbishop Tilotson’s Sermons, Vol.  II., Sermon I (folio edition).  Italics in first issue.]

* * * * *

No. 353.  Tuesday, April 15, 1712.  Budgell.

 —­In tenui labor—­

Virg.

The Gentleman who obliges the World in general, and me in particular, with his Thoughts upon Education, has just sent me the following Letter.

  SIR,

I take the Liberty to send you a fourth Letter upon the Education of Youth:  In my last I gave you my Thoughts about some particular Tasks which I conceiv’d it might not be amiss to use with their usual Exercises, in order to give them an early Seasoning of Virtue; I shall in this propose some others, which I fancy might contribute to give them a right turn for the World, and enable them to make their way in it.

The Design of Learning is, as I take it, either to render a Man an agreeable Companion to himself, and teach him to support Solitude with Pleasure, or if he is not born to an Estate, to supply that Defect, and furnish him with the means of acquiring one.  A Person who applies himself to Learning with the first of these Views may be said to study for Ornament, as he who proposes to himself the second, properly studies for Use.  The one does it to raise himself a Fortune, the other to set off that which he is already possessed of.  But as far the greater part of Mankind are included in the latter Class, I shall only propose some Methods at present for the Service of such who expect to advance themselves in the World by their Learning:  In order to which, I shall premise, that many more Estates have been