You must always expect to hear, more or less, from me, upon that important subject of manners, graces, address, and that undefinable ’je ne sais quoi’ that ever pleases.  I have reason to believe that you want nothing else; but I have reason to fear too, that you want those:  and that want will keep you poor in the midst of all the plenty of knowledge which you may have treasured up.  Adieu.

LETTER LXXXVIII

London, November 3, O. S. 1749.

Dear boy:  From the time that you have had life, it has been the principle and favorite object of mine, to make you as perfect as the imperfections of human nature will allow:  in this view, I have grudged no pains nor expense in your education; convinced that education, more than nature, is the cause of that great difference which you see in the characters of men.  While you were a child, I endeavored to form your heart habitually to virtue and honor, before your understanding was capable of showing you their beauty and utility.  Those principles, which you then got, like your grammar rules, only by rote, are now, I am persuaded, fixed and confirmed by reason.  And indeed they are so plain and clear, that they require but a very moderate degree of understanding, either to comprehend or practice them.  Lord Shaftesbury says, very prettily, that he would be virtuous for his own sake, though nobody were to know it; as he would be clean for his own sake, though nobody were to see him.  I have therefore, since you have had the use of your reason, never written to you upon those subjects:  they speak best for themselves; and I should now just as soon think of warning you gravely not to fall into the dirt or the fire, as into dishonor or vice.  This view of mine, I consider as fully attained.  My next object was sound and useful learning.  My own care first, Mr. Harte’s afterward, and of late (I will own it to your praise) your own application, have more than answered my expectations in that particular; and, I have reason to believe, will answer even my wishes.  All that remains for me then to wish, to recommend, to inculcate, to order, and to insist upon, is good-breeding; without which, all your other qualifications will be lame, unadorned, and to a certain degree unavailing.  And here I fear, and have too much reason to believe, that you are greatly deficient.  The remainder of this letter, therefore, shall be (and it will not be the last by a great many) upon that subject.