“You may be perfectly at ease as to my anticipations of the changes which I might find at Crediton; they had no relation to anything but the knowledge that we must all of us either improve or worsen as we grow older, and that at no time is this more apparent than when we pass from youth to man- or woman-hood. Those whom I had left girls were now become young women; the change is not so great as from kitten to cat-hood; but if ever you have children of your own, you will then know how the joyousness which they impart diminishes, and the anxieties increase as they grow up. A little of this one feels for those friends to whom we are most attached; and you know that I have as hearty a regard for —— as he has for me. I never knew a better man, and have never known a happier one. A blessing seems to have attended him through life. . . . .
“Now for your own speculations as to the choice of a profession. And let me begin by admonishing you that this is a choice between risks, uncertainties, and difficulties (discomforts might be added to the list); not between two ways, each pleasant alike, and each leading surely to the resting-place which is the object of the journey.
“You hesitate between the professions of theology and
medicine. Morally and intellectually both are wholesome studies for one who
enters upon them
| 138 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 57. |
“As a clergyman, then, you have your fellowship till you choose to vacate it; a less busy, but a less anxious life is before you. Talents and industry may do more for you as a clergyman; good manners and good nature may tell to better account as a physician. But the prudential balance is so nearly equipoised that the determination may fairly be a matter of free choice. With regard to the studies in which they would engage you, I think you would like that of physic best at first, but that the older you grew the better you would like and feel the value of those to which theology would lead you.
“Opinions must always be inherited, and happy are we
who can refer to the title-deeds upon which ours are founded. As you read more
and observe more, what are now prejudices will become principles, and strike
root as such, and as such bring forth fruit in due season. Nullius addictus, &c. is the boast of
| Ætat. 57. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 139 |
“God bless you!
