their business to understand him, not his to understand them: and if he
finds they do not understand him, he will not fail to make their
ignorance be his advantage, unless he is honester and more conscientious
in his dealings than most of the tradesmen of this age seem to be.

FOOTNOTES:

[9] [_Sammel_ is a term of art the brickmakers use for those bricks
which are not well burnt, and which generally look of a pale red colour,
and as fair as the other, but are soft.]




CHAPTER IV

OF THE TRADESMAN ACQUAINTING HIMSELF WITH ALL BUSINESS IN GENERAL


It is the judgment of some experienced tradesmen, that no man ought to
go from one business to another, and launch out of the trade or
employment he was bred to: _Tractent fabrilia fabri_--'Every man to his
own business;' and, they tell us, men never thrive when they do so.

I will not enter into that dispute here. I know some good and
encouraging examples of the contrary, and which stand as remarkable
instances, or as exceptions to the general rule: but let that be as it
will, sometimes providence eminently calls upon men out of one employ
into another, out of a shop into a warehouse, out of a warehouse into a
shop, out of a single hand into a partnership, and the like; and they