Prattle, or vain Flashes of Wit and Merriment, but rather in Admonition and Improvement. The Hours which we fpend in Converfation are the most pleasing of any which we enjoy; yet there is very little Care taken to improve ourselves for the frequent Repetition of them. And the common Fault in this Cafe, is that of growing too intimate, and falling into difpleafing Familiarities, where even the Defign of Converfation is inverted. If we were to give a ferious Attention to every trifling, vain, and impertinent Thing faid in Company, we should be ashamed to fpeak or hear; we should perhaps condemn ourselves to a perpetual Silence, more injurious to Converse than unprofitable Discourse. 'Tis a fad thing, when Men have neither Wit enough to fpeak well, nor Judgment enough to hold their Tongues; this is the Foundation of all Impertinence. Who can promise himself, in keeping much Company, to avoid meeting with certain vain, light, familiar, and pofitive People, who are the Speaking Men in Converfation, and compel every one else to hear them? And yet perhaps thefe Men either fpeak before they think, or tediously study for every thing they fay. There is certainly fuch a thing as fpeaking well, Speaking justly, and speaking feafonably. In the Company we keep, we shall of ten meet with Perfons who dilguft us with their ridiculous Expreffions; with the Novelty and Impropriety of the Terms they use, which come from no body's Mouth but their own, and were not defigned by the first Inventors to fignify what they intended them for. They obferve neither Reafon nor Cuftom in their Difcourfe; but speak according to their foolish Whimfies. Fond of being pleasant and fhining in Converfation, they run infenfibly into a peculiar Jargon, which becomes at length their natural Dialect. All their Thoughts are wrapped up in Metaphor; and they are above expreffing any one Thing in the common Way. . How often are we teazed in Company with a Coxcomb, who ftutters out fome of his own Follies and Vanities; has fo little Confideration for the Time, Perfons, or Decency, that he tells every one their own without intending it; and no fooner fets himself down, but he difobliges the whole Table, and does not perceive it? These Companions are fo grating and uneafy, that one would fubmit to be cloistered up in a Cell, rather than fupport the Fatigue of them. I have already obferved, that on our coming into the World, we cannot be too cautious in the Choice of our Company; fo E 2 neither neither can we fet too great a Guard on our Lips, or think we may be careless what Words escape us. We may as easily slip into Offence with our Tongues, as incur Danger by too open and inquifitive Ears; and this Way ruin the Advantages of Converfation; for though the Comforts of buman Life depend on Society, though it is a Pleafure of the first Magnitude, yet Company is fo dangerous, and Speech fo liable to be depraved, that what was intended for our Advantage, becomes often the Source of our greatest Misfortunes. We are apt to count it a Part of our Birthright to let loose our Tongues, and to use the Spur where we should ufe the Bridle. Thus Converfation is generally corrupted; and he that enters into Company, has almost as many Snares as Companions. Every one, by his Discourse, Example, or Behaviour, does recommend to us, or imprint in us, or by a kind of Contagion infenfibly infect us with fome Vice or other; fo that Converfation, which was intended to cultivate our Minds, and civilize the World, hath turned it almost to a Wilderness. But therefore fhall we take Pet at the World? fhall we run into Defarts, to avoid Society, and bury ourselves in Solitude, for fear of being infected? fhall we quit our Stations in Life, turn lavage by ourselves, and and fuffer no Company, for Fear of bad? No, it is fufficient only that we use Caution; that we borrow Affiftances from our Senfe, our Reafon, and our Education; that our Words and Manners be ftrict and unblemish'd; and that we labour neither to be feduced to our Detriment, or lay Snares for trapping of others. This is a Point of fuch Importance, that upon it depends the whole Courfe of young Gentlemen's Lives and Manners: The frequenting with wicked Companions, brings them acquainted with Vice, makes them behold it without Emotion; by Degrees they begin to act it with fome Pleafure, and Time breeds in them a Habit of loving it. St. Auguftine, by a low, but very apt Allufion, has fet out the Danger of ill Company; It is a Nail, fays he, driven into a Poft with a Hammer, which after the first and fecond Stroke, may be drawn out with little Difficulty; but being once driven up to the Head, the Pincers can take no bold to draw. it out; which cannot be done but by Destruction of the Wood. It is even thus in relation to Society: We may be eafily weaned from pernicious Companions, before they are wedged into our Souls, and incorporated with us; but when once they have taken beld of us by a strong and deep-Interest, the Separation cannot be made without imminent Preju E 3 Prejudice. The phyfical Advice of the Principiis obfta; ferò Medicina paratur, Guard against the first Symptoms of your Distemper; for Medicines are applied too late when the Malady has got Head through too long Delays. The Difference of Men is in fome Measure to be read in their Behaviour; and a fhort Obfervation of that will often tell us, as much as a long Conference and Intercourse. It is our Business, therefore, before we fix our Companion, to take out Leffons from his Deportment for our Security; to furvey what Recommendations he carries with him, and be as timorous, as we should be of going aboard a leaky Veffel in a troubled Sea. Now, as the Hazards are great of a dif folute Converfation; fo, on the other Hand, there is nothing that puts better Thoughts in a Man than a good Companion: For Example hath the Force of Precept, and touches the Heart with an Affection to Goodness. It is indeed a fair Step towards Happiness and Virtue, to delight in the Converfation of good and wife Men; and where those cannot be had, it is best to keep no Company at |