Page:Counsels to young men (1).pdf/8

(8) But the tranſition from generoſity to careleſsneſs of expence, and from this to downright extravagance, is ſo eaſy, eſpecially with the young, that the caution I now give you is by no means unneceſſary. Many a young perſon, by indulging this habit, has waſted an ample patrimony, and plunged himſelf into inextricable difficulties; whilſt others, with the ſame temper, but without equal reſources, have caſt the burden of their extravagance upon honeſt tradeſmen, whom they have robbed of their property, in a method ſomewhat more circuitous, but certainly not leſs iniquitous, than if they had been guilty of theft or plunder. In caſes the moſt favourable, this diſpoſition prevents more advantageous applications of wealth, and obſtructs the uſeful and meritorious exerciſe of generoſity in offices of humanity.

On the contrary, let me caution you—for in the preſent times there is ſome neceſſity for cautioning even the young, not to indulge an avaricious temper. Avarice is indeed commonly conſidered as the peculiar vice of old age: and perhaps the love of money, as ſuch, is ſeldom found to take poſſeſſion of the heart in early life. But in an age, when riches attract ſuch univerſal attention, when ſo much value is placed upon the decorations which they procure, and when they are rendered in ſuch a