第5章

Those，however，ofourcongregation，whoconsideredthemselvesasorthodoxPresbyterians，disapprov’dhisdoctrine，andwerejoin’dbymostoftheoldclergy，whoarraign’dhimofheterodoxybeforethesynod，inordertohavehimsilenc’d。Ibecamehiszealouspartisan，andcontributedallIcouldtoraiseapartyinhisfavour，andwecombatedforhimawhilewithsomehopesofsuccess。Therewasmuchscribblingproandconupontheoccasion；andfindingthat，tho’

anelegantpreacher，hewasbutapoorwriter，Ilenthimmypenandwroteforhimtwoorthreepamphlets，andonepieceintheGazetteofApril，1735。Thosepamphlets，asisgenerallythecasewithcontroversialwritings，tho’eagerlyreadatthetime，weresoonoutofvogue，andIquestionwhetherasinglecopyofthemnowexists。

Duringthecontestanunluckyoccurrencehurthiscauseexceedingly。

Oneofouradversarieshavingheardhimpreachasermonthatwasmuchadmired，thoughthehadsomewherereadthesermonbefore，oratleastapartofit。Onsearchhefoundthatpartquotedatlength，inoneoftheBritishReviews，fromadiscourseofDr。Foster’s。Thisdetectiongavemanyofourpartydisgust，whoaccordinglyabandonedhiscause，andoccasion’dourmorespeedydiscomfitureinthesynod。Istuckbyhim，however，asIratherapprov’dhisgivingusgoodsermonscompos’dbyothers，thanbadonesofhisownmanufacture，tho’thelatterwasthepracticeofourcommonteachers。Heafterwardacknowledg’dtomethatnoneofthosehepreach’dwerehisown；adding，thathismemorywassuchasenabledhimtoretainandrepeatanysermonafteronereadingonly。

Onourdefeat，heleftusinsearchelsewhereofbetterfortune，andIquittedthecongregation，neverjoiningitafter，tho’Icontinu’dmanyyearsmysubscriptionforthesupportofitsministers。

Ihadbegunin1733tostudylanguages；IsoonmademyselfsomuchamasteroftheFrenchastobeabletoreadthebookswithease。

IthenundertooktheItalian。Anacquaintance，whowasalsolearningit，us’doftentotemptmetoplaychesswithhim。

FindingthistookuptoomuchofthetimeIhadtospareforstudy，Iatlengthrefus’dtoplayanymore，unlessonthiscondition，thatthevictorineverygameshouldhavearighttoimposeatask，eitherinpartsofthegrammartobegotbyheart，orintranslations，etc。，whichtasksthevanquish’dwastoperformuponhonour，beforeournextmeeting。Asweplay’dprettyequally，wethusbeatoneanotherintothatlanguage。Iafterwardswithalittlepainstaking，acquir’dasmuchoftheSpanishastoreadtheirbooksalso。

Ihavealreadymention’dthatIhadonlyoneyear’sinstructioninaLatinschool，andthatwhenveryyoung，afterwhichIneglectedthatlanguageentirely。But，whenIhadattainedanacquaintancewiththeFrench，Italian，andSpanish，Iwassurpriz’dtofind，onlookingoveraLatinTestament，thatIunderstoodsomuchmoreofthatlanguagethanIhadimagined，whichencouragedmetoapplymyselfagaintothestudyofit，andImetwithmoresuccess，asthoseprecedinglanguageshadgreatlysmooth’dmyway。

Fromthesecircumstances，Ihavethoughtthatthereissomeinconsistencyinourcommonmodeofteachinglanguages。WearetoldthatitispropertobeginfirstwiththeLatin，and，havingacquir’dthat，itwillbemoreeasytoattainthosemodernlanguageswhicharederiv’dfromit；andyetwedonotbeginwiththeGreek，inordermoreeasilytoacquiretheLatin。Itistruethat，ifyoucanclamberandgettothetopofastaircasewithoutusingthesteps，youwillmoreeasilygainthemindescending；butcertainly，ifyoubeginwiththelowestyouwillwithmoreeaseascendtothetop；

andIwouldthereforeofferittotheconsiderationofthosewhosuperintendtheeducationofouryouth，whether，sincemanyofthosewhobeginwiththeLatinquitthesameafterspendingsomeyearswithouthavingmadeanygreatproficiency，andwhattheyhavelearntbecomesalmostuseless，sothattheirtimehasbeenlost，itwouldnothavebeenbettertohavebegunwiththeFrench，proceedingtotheItalian，etc。；for，tho’，afterspendingthesametime，theyshouldquitthestudyoflanguagesandneverarriveattheLatin，theywould，however，haveacquiredanothertongueortwo，that，beinginmodernuse，mightbeserviceabletothemincommonlife。

Aftertenyears’absencefromBoston，andhavingbecomeeasyinmycircumstances，Imadeajourneythithertovisitmyrelations，whichIcouldnotsoonerwellafford。Inreturning，Icall’datNewporttoseemybrother，thensettledtherewithhisprinting—house。Ourformerdifferenceswereforgotten，andourmeetingwasverycordialandaffectionate。Hewasfastdeclininginhishealth，andrequestedofmethat，incaseofhisdeath，whichheapprehendednotfardistant，Iwouldtakehomehisson，thenbuttenyearsofage，andbringhimuptotheprintingbusiness。ThisIaccordinglyperform’d，sendinghimafewyearstoschoolbeforeItookhimintotheoffice。

Hismothercarriedonthebusinesstillhewasgrownup，whenI

assistedhimwithanassortmentofnewtypes，thoseofhisfatherbeinginamannerwornout。ThusitwasthatImademybrotherampleamendsfortheserviceIhaddepriv’dhimofbyleavinghimsoearly。

In1736Ilostoneofmysons，afineboyoffouryearsold，bythesmall—pox，takeninthecommonway。Ilongregrettedbitterly，andstillregretthatIhadnotgivenittohimbyinoculation。

ThisImentionforthesakeofparentswhoomitthatoperation，onthesuppositionthattheyshouldneverforgivethemselvesifachilddiedunderit；myexampleshowingthattheregretmaybethesameeitherway，andthat，therefore，thesafershouldbechosen。

Ourclub，theJunto，wasfoundsouseful，andaffordedsuchsatisfactiontothemembers，thatseveralweredesirousofintroducingtheirfriends，whichcouldnotwellbedonewithoutexceedingwhatwehadsettledasaconvenientnumber，viz。，twelve。Wehadfromthebeginningmadeitaruletokeepourinstitutionasecret，whichwasprettywellobserv’d；theintentionwastoavoidapplicationsofimproperpersonsforadmittance，someofwhom，perhaps，wemightfinditdifficulttorefuse。Iwasoneofthosewhowereagainstanyadditiontoournumber，but，insteadofit，madeinwritingaproposal，thateverymemberseparatelyshouldendeavortoformasubordinateclub，withthesamerulesrespectingqueries，etc。，andwithoutinformingthemoftheconnectionwiththeJunto。

Theadvantagesproposedwere，theimprovementofsomanymoreyoungcitizensbytheuseofourinstitutions；ourbetteracquaintancewiththegeneralsentimentsoftheinhabitantsonanyoccasion，astheJuntomembermightproposewhatqueriesweshoulddesire，andwastoreporttotheJuntowhatpass’dinhisseparateclub；

thepromotionofourparticularinterestsinbusinessbymoreextensiverecommendation，andtheincreaseofourinfluenceinpublicaffairs，andourpowerofdoinggoodbyspreadingthro’

theseveralclubsthesentimentsoftheJunto。

Theprojectwasapprov’d，andeverymemberundertooktoformhisclub，buttheydidnotallsucceed。Fiveorsixonlywerecompleated，whichwerecalledbydifferentnames，astheVine，theUnion，theBand，etc。Theywereusefultothemselves，andaffordedusagooddealofamusement，information，andinstruction，besidesanswering，insomeconsiderabledegree，ourviewsofinfluencingthepublicopiniononparticularoccasions，ofwhichIshallgivesomeinstancesincourseoftimeastheyhappened。

Myfirstpromotionwasmybeingchosen，in1736，clerkoftheGeneralAssembly。Thechoicewasmadethatyearwithoutopposition；

buttheyearfollowing，whenIwasagainpropos’d（thechoice，likethatofthemembers，beingannual），anewmembermadealongspeechagainstme，inordertofavoursomeothercandidate。

Iwas，however，chosen，whichwasthemoreagreeabletome，as，besidesthepayfortheimmediateserviceasclerk，theplacegavemeabetteropportunityofkeepingupaninterestamongthemembers，whichsecur’dtomethebusinessofprintingthevotes，laws，papermoney，andotheroccasionaljobbsforthepublic，that，onthewhole，wereveryprofitable。

Ithereforedidnotliketheoppositionofthisnewmember，whowasagentlemanoffortuneandeducation，withtalentsthatwerelikelytogivehim，intime，greatinfluenceintheHouse，which，indeed，afterwardshappened。Ididnot，however，aimatgaininghisfavourbypayinganyservilerespecttohim，but，aftersometime，tookthisothermethod。Havingheardthathehadinhislibraryacertainveryscarceandcuriousbook，Iwroteanotetohim，expressingmydesireofperusingthatbook，andrequestinghewoulddomethefavouroflendingittomeforafewdays。