Studious to avoid every Suspicion that m[torn] ous to the good opinion which you say you [torn] of my Sincerity, I pass over the usual Formality of [my wr]iting, till I received a Letter from you, and now pay that Debt to Friendship, which tho’ before due I had not an Opportunity of discharging—

By your Letter to me (expressed in very general Terms) you seemed to distrust the Reality of those Sentiments of whi[ch] my first Letter consisted, and to consider them rather as the Effect of Design, than the natural Result of undisguised opinion: The Reason upon which you grounded that Mista[ke] was my dwelling wholly on your good qualifications, without at the same time pointing out such Foibles as I might have observed blended with them. My Answer to this was long, yet imperfect; it defended what I had before advanced, but avoided those Subjects which with little Reason you calld. copious, for lest I might run into a tedious Prolixity, I deferred entering upon that disagreable Part of my Task till a proper opportunity of speaking to you should offer, and hence you may the Meaning of this Expression in my Letter: this then with what I propose to say the first I see you will I believe be sufficient to remove every Doubt &ca.—Many intervening Incidents have hitherto prevented my meeting with this opportunity thinking it therefore uncertain to trust to an Event apparently fortuitous, I have chose this more sure Method of communicating to you what at first I did not intend to commit to Paper.—But before I begin I must entreat you to look upon what follows as the real dictates of dispassionate Reason stripped of Prejudice, and undirected by any Design, except that of advancing your Interest, and in Consequence the thereof my [own] Satisfac[tion] And if in some Instances I should happen to be less tender in point of Expression, than I ought to have been; I beg you will impute it to Accident, and not consider it as flowing from Intention—

I have [of]ten remarked Ambition to be one of your strongest Passions. I have as often been surprised that instead of attending to such Pur[suits] as are most capable of gratifying so noble a Passion, you seem [rath]er to counteract you own Purposes, and ^to^ destroy those very Hopes which you are desirous to establish; I mean by those avocations from Study, whose advantages or rather Pleasures will by no Means compensate for the time necessarily employed in indulging them, and which to me, appear little calculated to answer the nobler Ends of an aspiring Soul.—Tho’ nature has in a singular manner blessed you with abilities, yet don’t depend too much upon their natural Strength; impair not your Talents by barren amusements, but improve them to your own Honour and the Advantages of your Country. Reject the Invitations of Syren Pleasure and fly with hasty Steps the flowery vale of unsubstantial Joys. Altho perhaps it m[ay] flatter our Pride to appear considerable among our Companions, or to bear the Palm in the shadowy Recommendations of Gallantry and Address, yet these at present are certainly not [torn]ole or indeed the proper Objects of attention—Your Good Sense & Circumstances in Life, will at any time command that Influence, to which greater Advantages ought not to be Sacrificed. Confine therefore ^your^ Acquaintance[s] to such select few as instead of interrupting, will forward those Designs, which I wish you had seriously at heart—Sequester your self only for a few Years, a little more from the World; and when you then leave your Closet, like a Star emerging from the Deep, you will Shine with distinguished Lustre. Which of these Caracters would you choose to sustain, That of a Tully1 pleading with resistless Eloquence the Cause of Injured Innocence, and directing with superior Wisdom the important Measures of a Roman Council, or an Ovid gaining by a Lovesick Tale the inconstant Heart of a fickle Mistress: If your prefer the former, be not deterred by reflecting that Labour Application and painful Industry are the only Avenues leading to that Glorious field where Honour Wealth and Fame together live; tho the acquisition is difficult, the Prize is great, you have abilities equal to the Task, dont hesitate a Moment then to enter the List of Competitors, to surmount every Obstacle, and to gain that exalted Summit of useful Knowledge, from which you may [meet?] with a conscious Satisfaction, on all those little Rounds of [Politeness?] daily practiced in Society.

I don’t mean my Friend that you should despise every social Enjoyment, that you should sink into a mere Misanthrope, or that you should deny yourself the Happiness inseparable from a refined Connection with the Sex—This is far from being my Intention, all that I would hereby intimate is, that medio tutissimus ibis2 and that whenever we depart from this, we depart from what undoubtedly is our real Interest—Neither would I have you consider me as assuming the rigid air of an austere Censor; but rather as a Laelius pointing out such Inadvertencies in his Scipio as Friendship would not permit him to conceal, and whose Removal will make no inconsiderable Addition to the Happiness of your Sincere Friend—3