However, He Hoped For The Best;
And In These Hopes, By An Intemperate Confidence In The Fortitude
Of His Head, And The Depth Of His Discretion, Mynheer Might
Possibly Oversee Both In His New Vineyard; And By Discovering His
Nakedness, Become A Laughing Stock To His People.
Even so it fares with the Poor Traveller, sailing and posting
through the politer kingdoms of the globe, in pursuit of knowledge
and improvements.
Knowledge and improvements are to be got by sailing and posting for
that purpose; but whether useful knowledge and real improvements is
all a lottery; - and even where the adventurer is successful, the
acquired stock must be used with caution and sobriety, to turn to
any profit: - but, as the chances run prodigiously the other way,
both as to the acquisition and application, I am of opinion, That a
man would act as wisely, if he could prevail upon himself to live
contented without foreign knowledge or foreign improvements,
especially if he lives in a country that has no absolute want of
either; - and indeed, much grief of heart has it oft and many a time
cost me, when I have observed how many a foul step the Inquisitive
Traveller has measured to see sights and look into discoveries; all
which, as Sancho Panza said to Don Quixote, they might have seen
dry-shod at home. It is an age so full of light, that there is
scarce a country or corner in Europe whose beams are not crossed
and interchanged with others.
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