plodding over the rubbish of antiquity (a cant so common among the
heedless votaries of indolence), dulls the edge of all industry, and is
one of the most powerful ingredients in the Circean potion which
transforms many of the most promising young men into the beastly forms
which, in sluggish idleness, feed upon the labors of others. The
degenerate sentiment, I hope, will never obtain admission in my mind; and,
if my mind should be loitered away in stupid laziness, it will be under
the full conviction of my conscience that I am basely bartering the
greatest benefits with which human beings can be indulged, for the
miserable gratifications which are hardly worthy of contributing to the
enjoyments of the brute creation.

"And as I have grounded myself upon the principle, that my character is,
under the smiles of heaven, to be the work of my own hands, it becomes
necessary for me to determine upon what part of active or of speculative
life I mean to rest my pretensions to eminence. My own situation and that
of my country equally prohibit me from seeking to derive any present
expectations from a public career. My disposition is not military; and,
happily, the warlike talents are not those which open the most pleasing or
the most reputable avenue to fame. I have had some transient thoughts of
undertaking some useful literary performance, but the pursuit would
militate too much at present with that of the profession upon which I am
to depend, not only for my reputation, but for my subsistence.

"I have, therefore, concluded that the most proper object of my present
attention is that profession itself. And in acquiring the faculty to
discharge the duties of it, in a manner suitable to my own wishes and the
expectations of my friends, I find ample room for close and attentive
application; for frequent and considerate observation; and for such
benefits of practical experience as occasional opportunities may throw in