THE WORKS OF VICESIMUS KNOX, D.D. WITH A BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE. IN SEVEN VOLUMES. VOL. II. LONDON: PRINTED FOR J. MAWMAN, LUDGATE STREET, MDCCCXXIV. ESSAYS, MORAL AND LITERARY. No. CXVII. THE FOLLY OF BRINGING UP CHILDREN TO A LEARNED PROFESSION, WITHOUT THE PROBABILITY OF PROVIDING THEM WITH A COMPETENCY. THAT admiration is the effect of ignorance, is a truth universally confessed; and nothing so forcibly excites the wonder of the illiterate plebeian, as the character of profound erudition. Dazzled by the splendour of literary honours, many an honest parent has prevented his son from acquiring a fortune behind the counter, to see him starve in a pulpit. These reflections were occasioned by meeting an old friend at a coffee-house one evening last week. His looks were meagre, his dress shabby, and he sufficiently apologized for the rustiness of his coat by the following narrative: "My father," said he, after some preliminary conversation," was a shoemaker of tolerable business in London; a very honest man, and very much given to reading godly books, whenever he could steal a mo-. ment from the lap-stone and the last. As I was the only child, he took great delight in me, and used frequently to say, that he hoped in time to see me arch VOL. II. B |