Trade must not be entered into as a thing of light concern; it is called
business very properly, for it is a business _for_ life, and ought to be
followed as one of the great businesses _of_ life--I do not say the
chief, but one of the great businesses of life it certainly is--trade
must, I say, be worked at, not played with; he that trades in jest, will
certainly break in earnest; and this is one reason indeed why so many
tradesmen come to so hasty a conclusion of their affairs.

There was another old English saying to this purpose, which shows how
much our old fathers were sensible of the duty of a shopkeeper: speaking
of the tradesman as just opening his shop, and beginning a dialogue with
it; the result of which is, that the shop replies to the tradesman thus:
'Keep me, and I will keep thee.' It is the same with driving the trade;
if the shopkeeper will not keep, that is, diligently attend to his shop,
the shop will not keep, that is, maintain him: and in the other sense it
is harsher to him, if he will not drive his trade, the trade will drive
him; that is, drive him out of the shop, drive him away.

All these old sayings have this monitory substance in them; namely, they
all concur to fill a young tradesman with true notions of what he is
going about; and that the undertaking of a trade is not a sport or game,
in which he is to meet with diversions only, and entertainment, and not
to be in the least troubled or disturbed: trade is a daily employment,
and must be followed as such, with the full attention of the mind, and
full attendance of the person; nothing but what are to be called the
necessary duties of life are to intervene; and even these are to be
limited so as not to be prejudicial to business.

And now I am speaking of the necessary things which may intervene, and
which may divide the time with our business or trade, I shall state the