I wish either my father or my mother, or indeed both of
them, as they were in duty both equally bound to it, had
minded what they were about when they begot me; had
they duly considered how much depended upon what they
were then doing;-that not only the production of a rational
Being was concerned in it, but that possibly the happy for-
mation and temperature of his body, perhaps his genius and
the very cast of his mind;-and, for aught they knew to the
contrary, even the fortunes of his whole house might take
their turn from the humours and dispositions which were
then uppermost:-Had they duly weighed and considered
all this, and proceeded accordingly I am verily per-
suaded I should have made a quite different figure in the
world, from that, in which the reader is likely to see me.-
Believe me, good folks, this is not so inconsiderable a thing
as many of you may think it;-You have all, I dare say, heard
of the animal spirits, as how they are transfused from father
to son &c. &c.-and a great deal to that purpose: -Well,
you may take my word, that nine parts in ten of a man's
sense or his nonsense, his successes and miscarriages in this
world depend upon their motions and activity, and the
different tracts and trains you put them into, so that when
hey are once set a-going, whether right or wrong, 'tis not a
halfpenny matter,-away they go cluttering like hey-go-
mad; and by treading the same steps over and over again,
they presently make a road of it, as plain and as smooth as
a garden-walk, which, when they are once used to, the Devil
himself sometimes shall not be able to drive them off it.
Pray, my dear, quoth my mother, have you not forgot to wind
up the clock; _______good G___! cried my father,
making an exclamation, but taking care to moderate his
voice at the same time,-Did ever woman, since the crea-
tion of the world, interrupt a man with such a silly question?
Pray, what was your father saying? Nothing.