We must not flatter ourselves with coming to the end of our journey in time, if we sleep by the way; and unnecessary delays, in all pressing affairs, are just so much time lost. Action is an important part of the business of life; and “up and be doing” is a motto we ought to keep in mind, as it has guided many a plain plodding man, with steady aim, to carry his point effectually in making his own fortune, and at the same time gaining the esteem of the world. Industry and application to business make amends for the want of a quick and ready wit; but men of great natural abilities, and vivacity of imagination, often presume too much upon the superiority of their genius, and if to this presumption they add pride and conceit, they despise the drudgery of business, and suffer their affairs to go to disorder or ruin, through idleness and neglect.
THE BLACKAMOOR.
A Man having bought a Blackamoor, was so simple as to think that the colour of his skin was only dirt which he had contracted for want of due care under his former master. This fault he fancied might easily be removed by washing, so he ordered the poor Black to be put into a tub, and was at a considerable charge in providing ashes, soap, and scrubbing brushes for the operation. To work they went, rubbing and scouring his skin all over, but to no manner of purpose: for when they had repeated their washings several times, and were grown quite weary, all they got by it was, that the Blackamoor caught cold and died.
APPLICATION.
“What’s bred in the bone will never come out of the flesh.”
Nature cannot by any art or labour be changed; she may indeed be wrought upon and moulded by good council and discipline; but it is in vain to attempt a total transformation of our genius, person, or complexion: therefore our application, assiduity, and pains, when wrong directed, are of no avail. We should, indeed, strive to discover which way the bent of our genius lies, that we may apply ourselves to a judicious cultivation and improvement of it; but we ought to be sure never to thwart or oppose nature’s fixed laws. When men aspire to eminence in any of the various arts or sciences, without being gifted with the innate powers or abilities for such attainments, it is only like attempting to wash the Blackamoor white.
