Page:Pleasing art of money-catching (4).pdf/16



, if you would ask me what course you should take, or what you should do that wanteth money; let him first bethink himself to what profession or trade he hath been formerly brought up to. If of the inferior middle sort of tradesmen or artificers, (for those are chiefly concerned in this unhappiness) let such,

First, be very diligent and industrious in their respective trades and callings, and not be slothful in business.

Secondly, Let him take heed of idleness, and all vain and idle companions, that loiter up and down, and squander away their time as it were of no value, though it is the most precious thing in the world, there being nothing in the world that is a more certain indication of ruin and destruction, than the wasting and misimproving of our time. And yet this is done by those that would take it ill to be charged therewith; as for instance, how many are there that spend a great deal of their time in Coffee-houses and Weekly-Clubs! where, tho' but little money is pretended to be spent, yet a great deal of precious time is squandered away and lost! which many that frequent these places never think of, but measure their expenses only by what they might have gained in the time by their labour, and what they might have saved by keeping at their shops.