Page:Works of the Late Doctor Benjamin Franklin (1793).djvu/234

224 PRECAUTIONS TO BE USED BY THOSE WHO ARE ABOUT TO UNDERTAKE A SEA VOYAGE.

HEN you intend to take a long voyage, nothing is better than to keep it a ſecret till the moment of your departure. Without this, you will be continually interrupted and tormented by viſits from friends and acquaintances, who not only make you loſe your valuable time, but make you forget a thouſand things which you wiſh to remember; ſo that when you are embarked, and fairly at ſea, you recollect, with much uneaſineſs, affairs which you have not terminated, accounts that you have not ſettled, and a number of things which you propoſed to carry with you, and which you find the want of every moment. Would it not be attended with the beſt conſequences to reform ſuch a cuſtom, and to ſuffer a traveller, without deranging him, to make his preparations in quietneſs, to let apart a few days, when theſe are finiſhed, to take leave of his friends, and to receive their good wiſhes for his happy return?

It is not always in one's power to chooſe a captain; though great part of the pleaſure and happineſs of the paſſage depends upon this choice, and though one muſt for a time be confined to his company, and be in ſome meaſure under his command. If he is a ſocial ſenſible man, obliging, and of a good diſpoſition, you will be ſo much the happier. One ſometimes meets with people of this deſcription, but they are not common; however, if yours be not of this number, if he be a good ſeaman, attentive, careful, and