hese things are certainly lawful, and in themselves
very innocent; nay, they may be needful for health, and to give some
relaxation to the mind, hurried with too much business; but the
needfulness of them is so much made an excuse, and the excess of them is
so injurious to the tradesman's business and to his time, which should
be set apart for his shop and his trade, that there are not a few
tradesmen thus lawfully ruined, as I may call it--in a word, lawful or
unlawful, their shop is neglected, their business goes behind-hand, and
it is all one to the subject of breaking, and to the creditor, whether
the man was undone by being a knave, or by being a fool; it is all one
whether he lost his trade by scandalous immoral negligence, or by sober
or religious negligence.

In a word, business languishes, while the tradesman is absent, and
neglects it, be it for his health or for his pleasure, be it in good
company or in bad, be it from a good or an ill design; and if the
business languishes, the tradesman will not be long before he languishes
too; for nothing can support the tradesman but his supporting his trade
by a due attendance and application.[18]

FOOTNOTES:

[18] [In the above admirable series of plain-spoken advices, the author
has omitted one weighty reason why young tradesmen should not spend
their evenings in frivolous, or otherwise improper company. The actual
loss of time and of money incurred by such courses of conduct, is
generally of less consequence than the losses arising from habitual
distraction of mind, and the acquisition of an acquaintanceship with a
set of idle or silly companions. It is of the utmost importance that
young tradesmen should spend their leisure hours in a way calculated to
soothe the feelings, and enlarge the mind; and in the present day, from
the prevalance of literature, and other rational means for amusement,
they have ample opportunities of doing so.]

CHAPTER X

OF EXTRAVAGANT AND EXPENSIVE LIVING; ANOTHER STEP TO A TRADESMAN'S
DISASTER

Hitherto I have written of tradesmen ruined by lawful and innocent
diversions; and, indeed, these are some of the most dangerous pits for a
tradesman to fall into, because men are so apt to be insensible of the
danger: a ship may as well be lost in a calm smooth sea, and an easy
fair gale of wind, as in a storm, if they have no pilot, or the pilot be
ignorant or unwary; and disasters of that nature happen as frequently as
any others