e?"

"Very little to the credit of his heart or his intellects. Being the
youngest son, the only one who at length survived, and having a
powerful resemblance to herself, he became the mother's favourite. His
constitution was feeble, and he loved to stroll in the woods more than
to plough or sow. This idleness was much against his father's
inclination and judgment; and, indeed, it was the foundation of all his
vices. When he could be prevailed upon to do any thing it was in a
bungling manner, and so as to prove that his thoughts were fixed on any
thing except his business. When his assistance was wanted he was never
to be found at hand. They were compelled to search for him among the
rocks and bushes, and he was generally discovered sauntering along the
bank of a river, or lolling in the shade of a tree. This disposition to
inactivity and laziness, in so young a man, was very strange. Persons of
his age are rarely fond of work, but then they are addicted to company,
and sports, and exercises. They ride, or shoot, or frolic; but this
being moped away his time in solitude, never associated with other young
people, never mounted a horse but when he could not help it, and never
fired a gun or angled for a fish in his life. Some people supposed him
to be half an idiot, or, at least, not to be right in his mind; and,
indeed, his conduct was so very perverse and singular, that I do not
wonder at those who accounted for it in this way."

"But surely," said I, "he had some object of pursuit. Perhaps he was
addicted to books."

"Far from it. On the contrary, his aversion to school was as great as
his hatred of the plough. He never could get his lessons or bear the
least constraint. He was so much indulged by his mother at home, that
tasks and discipline of any kind were intolerable. He was a perpetual
truant; till, the master one day attempting to strike him, he ran out of
the room and never entered it more. The mother excused and countenanced
his frowardness, and the foolish father was obliged to give way. I do
not believe he had two months' schooling in his life."

"Perhaps," said I, "he preferred studying by himself, and at liberty. I
have known boys endowed with great curiosity and aptitude to learning,
who never could endure set tasks, and spurned at the pedagogue and his
rod."

"I have known such likewise, but this was not one of them. I know not
whence he could derive his love of knowledge or the means of acquiring
i