Page:The Works of Samuel Johnson ... A journey to the Hebrides. The vision of Theodore, the hermit of Teneriffe. The fountains. Prayers and meditations. Sermons.v. 10-11. Parliamentary debates.pdf/398

 *ment of his own mind, will never be enabled to instruct others. Light must strike on the body, by which light can be reflected. The disposition, therefore, which best befits a young man, about to engage in a life of study, is patience in inquiry; eagerness of knowledge; and willingness to be instructed; a due submission to greater abilities and longer experience; and a ready obedience to those from whom he is to expect the removal of his ignorance, and the resolution of his doubts.

How unlike any one, wise in his own conceit, is to excite, or promote in himself, such inclinations, may be easily determined. It is well known that study is not diligently prosecuted, but at the expense of many pleasures and amusements; which no young man will be persuaded to forbear, but upon the most cogent motives, and the strongest conviction. He that is to draw truth from the depths of obscurity, must be fully informed of its value, and the necessity of finding it; he that engages in a state opposite to the pleasures of sense, and the gratification of every higher passion, must have some principle within, strongly implanted, which may enforce industry, and repel temptation. But how shall he, who is already "wise in his own conceit," submit to such tedious and laborious methods of instruction? Why should he toil for that, which, in his own opinion, he possesses; and drudge for the supply of wants, which he does not feel? He has already such degrees of knowledge, as, magnified by his own imagination, exalt him above the rest of mankind; and to climb higher, would be to labour without advantage.

He already has a wide extent of science within his view, and his willingness to be pleased with himself does not suffer him to think, or to dwell on the thought of any thing beyond; and who that sees all would wish to see further? That submission to authority, and that reverence for instruction, which so well becomes every man at his first entrance upon new regions of learning, where all is novelty, confusion, and darkness, and no way is to be