4. The fourth condition relative to the keeping of three journals or accounts for the three departments above specified is but an extension of the daily journal. In these a person writes at leisure moments all that he thinks it useful to preserve concerning the three elements of man, with which the three principal means of happiness bestowed on him by nature are connected.

I am far from desiring that volumes should be written, and from imposing any toilsome or extraordinary task. I merely wish that to be done regularly, methodically, and with immense benefit, which many persons already do more or less punctually, but in a desultory manner, and without utility. How many are there* who daily make hasty memorandums on loose papers, to remind them of what they have done or planned to do, or write frivolous and useless notes and letters! Instead of this very common waste of time, which may be said to render existence negative and barren, we class, in houses constructed for the purpose, whatever we deem worth preserving; and sifting the whole as we do, we re

* I here allude to such persons as are habituated to observe and reflect, and generally to those who have received a liberal education.

tain nothing but what is calculated to yield some profit.

In the physical account we follow the course and the variations of our constitution. When the progression is good, the note will be short: if we remark a deviation, it will be desirable to fix the period of it, to state the symptoms, to enquire the cause, and to obviate the consequences. By this practice much more time will be saved than wasted.

As to the moral account, instead of scribbling trivial letters and notes, frequently dictated by slander and malignity, we shall collect for our own use the observations which we daily make on the human heart and passions, without naming or pointing at any particular individual. We shall learn to know ourselves, and acquire, to a certain degree, the command over our inclinations. It will not be every day that we shall have remarks to insert in this journal; but we enter in it at short intervals whatever interests us. We shall be astonished when, at the expiration of one or two years, we turn over the collection we have formed. Relinquish those frivolous or useless customs which run away with so many hours, and you will find a few minutes for this operation,, which will prove to you a powerful medium of

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saving time. Even such days when you have neither pen, ink, nor leisure, snatch a moment, and make a hasty memorandum with pencil of one or two leading words, which will serve, perhaps several days afterwards, to remind you of the idea or circumstance which you were desirous of preserving.

As to the intellectual account, every person who wishes to read with profit makes notes, analyses, or extracts. The only point is to give them a better arrangement, to class them with more method, so that we may be able to turn to them again the more easily without wasting time in looking for what we want. Accordingly, we but improve upon a method generally practised with more or less regularity, by all who read and study.*

I have heard of a man eminent for his talents, a nice and acute observer, whose daily observations are frequently introduced into his works, and furnish him with useful materials; who regularly notes down every night the remarks made during the day, and who derives from this practice, constantly pursued for many years, a delicate tact and a manner of delineating characters that is almost invariably original, interesting, and true. The moral philosopher, the statesman, the orator, the dramatist, whom it more particularly behoves to study men, that they may be able to captivate their understandings, to work

5. The fifth and last condition has, like the others, not escaped censure, and may in fact be attended with some difficulties. It consists in drawing up every six months, or every year, a summary of our physical, moral, and intellectual situation, for the purpose of submitting it, either to a mother, if a person is fortunate enough to have one capable of justifying that honourable confidence, or to affectionate and enlightened relatives, or to a virtuous and sincere friend. These statements, in which self-love proves no bar to disclosure, since the writer speaks of himself in the third person under a fictitious name, and as he would of a stranger, enable him and the friend to whom they are submitted to judge whether there is progression, stagnation, or deviation, and which is the weak part of the faculties that require melioration.

Thus the five conditions of this method are equally practicable, nay even easy, and above all well calculated to render important services to those who chuse to comply with them. It is not then a vain theory; it is a plan which every one has it in his power to execute, which is particu

upon their passions, and to govern their wills, would find valuable resources in such a method as ours.

larly suitable for young people, and which furnishes them with a Mentor and a guide.*

The principal objection is overthrown. There is neither an almost absolute impossibility, nor even any difficulty in following the proposed plan.+

It has been asserted, that it is doubtful whether one youth in ten thousand would have the perseverance to follow the proposed method. To this I can reply, that out of more than thirty young men who learned it, fifteen practised it, and ten in particular have followed it for several years with regularity and success. Nothing, I repeat, is wanting, but perseverance and a will.

† Let us here make a general observation, on which too múch stress cannot be laid, because it points out one of the chief obstacles to the advancement of the sciences and of morals. The philosopher, the man of science, the philanthropist, should rise superior to that error of the vulgar, who are always content to plod on in the old beaten track.

The vulgar have always regarded new, bold, and grand conceptions, which were above the ordinary capacity, as mere speculations and wild theories. Whatever is good, useful, and of general application, was at first new, and above the comprehension of the multitude, and was no doubt deemed impossible before it was discovered and practised. Languages; the alphabet, their element and instrument; writing, arithmetic, printing; the prodigies of mechanics and of navigation; the present results of civilisation, which are less noticed by superficial and inattentive minds, must once have appeared chimerical theories, dreams impossible to be realised. Why should mankind invariably throw discouragements in the way of those who devote