ABSTRACT
The fullness of blood, the strength of passion, the constant call of pleasure, and the harlot-form of vice, will be apt to bear down the sober wisdom and cool reflection, which are the best guard. The two great rocks of life, especially to Youth, are Prosperity and Adversity. If such meet with any degree either of Success or Difficulty in the world, before they have learned great self-denial, they are apt, in the one case, to be blown up by an overweening conceit of their own importance; and, in the other, to be borne down by a timid distrust of their own abilities. Both dispositions are equally prejudicial to virtue — the former so far as it tends not to excite emulation, and inspire to worthy actions; and the latter so far as it checks the native ardor of the soul, and ties it down to inglorious pursuits. But the same means will correct both.
