bed by illness, I have not for more than forty years ever been in bed at nine o'clock in the morning, but commonly up before eight. [Dec. 13, 1748.]
Writing.—Why do you not form your Roman
characters better? for I maintain that it is in every
man's power to write what hand he pleases; and
consequently that he ought to write a good one.
You form, particularly, your ee and your ll in
zigzag, instead of making them straight, as thus,
ee, ll; a fault very easily mended. You will not, I
believe, be angry with this little criticism, when I
tell you that, by all the accounts I have had of late,
from Mr. Harte and others, this is the only criticism
that you give me occasion to make. [Dec. 20,
1748.]
A Portrait.—Consider what lustre and éclat it
will give you when you return here, to be allowed
to be the best scholar, of a gentleman, in England;
not to mention the real pleasure and solid comfort
which such knowledge will give you throughout
your whole life. Mr. Harte tells me another thing
which, I own, I did not expect; it is that, when you
read aloud, or repeat part of plays, you speak very
properly and distinctly. This relieves me from
great uneasiness, which I was under upon account
of your former bad enunciation. Go on, and attend
