Amsterdam, 18 December, 1780.
My dearest Portia,--I have this morning sent Mr. Thaxter with my two
sons to Leyden, there to take up their residence for some time, and
there to pursue their studies of Latin and Greek under the excellent
masters, and there to attend lectures of the celebrated professors in
that university. It is much cheaper there than here. The air is
infinitely purer, and the company and conversation are better. It is
perhaps as learned a University as any in Europe.
I should not wish to have children educated in the common schools in
this country, where a littleness of soul is notorious. The masters are
mean-spirited wretches, pinching, kicking, and boxing the children upon
every turn. There is besides a general littleness arising from the
incessant contemplation of stivers and duits, which pervades the whole
people. Frugality and industry are virtues everywhere, but avarice and
stinginess are not frugality. The Dutch say that without a habit of
thinking of every duit before you spend it, no man can be a good
merchant, or conduct trade with success. This I believe is a just maxim
in general, but I would never wish to see a son of mine govern himself
by it. It is the sure and certain way for an industrious man to be rich.
It is the only possible way for a merchant to become the first merchant
or the richest man in the place. But this, is an object that I hope none
of my children will ever aim at. It is indeed true, everywhere, that
those who attend to small expenses are always rich.
I would have my children attend to duits and farthings as devoutly as
the merest Dutchman upon earth, if such attention was necessary to
support their independence. A man who discovers a disposition and a
design to be independent seldom succeeds. A jealousy arises against him.
The tyrants are alarmed on one side lest he should oppose them. The
slaves are alarmed on the other lest he should expose their servility.
The cry from all quarters is, "He is the proudest man in the world. He
cannot bear to be under obligation." I never in my life observed any one
endeavoring to lay me under particular obligations to him, but I
suspected he had a design to make me his dependent, and to have claims
upon my gratitude. This I should have no objection to, because gratitude
is always in one's power. But the danger is that men will expect and
require more of us than honor and innocence and rectitude will permit us
to perform.
In our country, however, any man, with common industry and prudence, may
be independent. But to put an end to this stuff, adieu--most
affectionately adieu.