_The Importance of Punctuality_.


1. It is observed in the writings of _Boyle_, that the excellency of
manufactures and the facility of labor would be much promoted, if the
various expedients and contrivances which lie concealed in private
hands, were, by reciprocal communications, made generally known; for
there are few operations that are not performed by one or other with
some peculiar advantages, which, though singly of little importance,
would, by conjunction and concurrence, open new inlets to knowledge, and
give new powers to diligence.

2. There are in like manner several moral excellencies distributed among
the various classes of mankind, which he that converses in the world
should endeavor to assemble in himself. It was said by the learned
_Cajucius_, that he never read more than one book, by which he was not
instructed; and he that shall inquire after virtue with ardour and
attention, will seldom find a man by whose example or sentiments he may
not be improved.

3. Every profession has some essential and appropriate virtue, without
which there can be no hope of honor or success, and which, as it is more
or less cultivated, confers within its sphere of activity different
degrees of merit and reputation. As the astrologers range the
subdivisions of mankind under the planets which they suppose to
influence their lives, the moralist may distribute them according to the