From
this consideration I infer one reason why you should deeply reflect upon
the precepts I have now to offer. Remembering that these little sheets
are all the legacy my affection can bestow upon you, I shall concenter
in them the very quintessence and epitome of all my wisdom. I shall
provide in them a particular antidote to those defects to which nature
has made you most propense.
But I have yet another reason to inforce your attention to what I am
about to write. I was, as I have said, the instructor of your choice.
When I had yet remained neglected in the world, when my honours were
withered by the hand of poverty, when my blossoms appeared in the eyes
of those who saw me of the most brown and wintery complexion, and, if
your lordship will allow me to finish the metaphor, when I stank in
their noses, it was then that your lordship remarked and distinguished
me. Your bounty it was that first revived my native pride. It is true
that it ran in a little dribbling rivulet, but still it was much to me.
Even before you were able to afford me any real assistance, you were
always ready to offer me a corner of your gingerbread, or a marble from
your hoard. Your lordship had at all times a taste for sumptuousness and
magnificence, but you knew how to limit your natural propensity in
consideration of the calls of affinity, and to give your farthings to
your friends.
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