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and collected ſtate, will be prepared to ſeize and improve favourable opportunities, to make uſe of every poſſible precaution againſt impending evils, and to meet with equanimity the unavoidable viciſſitudes of life. Add to this, that ſuch a ſedate and compoſed habit of mind will enable you to poſecute whatever you undertake with steady reſolution, and will do more to inſure your ſucceſs than eager and rapid impetuoſity. Perſeverance accompliſhes more than precipitation and there is much good ſenſe in the Perſian adage: 'The patient mule, which travels ſlowly night and day, will in the end, go farther than an Arabian courfer.
At the ſame time that you are diligent to know, and reſolute in governing yourſelf, be careful to avail yourſelf of the wiſdom & experience of other men⟨⟩. This may be done either by aſkıng advice of ſuch friends as you judge capable of giving you good counſel, or by ſtudying ſuch writings as abound with moral wiſdom⟨⟩. The latter method will be exceedingly uſeful in furniſhing you with general principles and particular maxims of conduct, and in preſerving you attentive to the important buſineſs of moral improvement. But in particular caſes, where it is difficult to determine in what manner it may be expedient to act, no guide can be ſo uſeful as a judicious and experienced friend. Guard againſt that conceit which would deprive you of the
