future services.

I suffered these thoughts to escape me, on this occasion, and
observed that to make my application successful, or useful, it was
necessary to pursue some end. I must look forward to some post
which I might hereafter occupy beneficially to myself or others;
and for which all the efforts of my mind should be bent to qualify
myself.

These hints gave him visible pleasure; and now, for the first
time, he deigned to advise me on this head. His scheme, however,
was not suddenly produced. The way to it was circuitous and long.
It was his business to make every new step appear to be suggested
by my own reflections. His own ideas were the seeming result of
the moment, and sprung out of the last idea that was uttered.
Being hastily taken up, they were, of course, liable to objection.
These objections, sometimes occurring to me and sometimes to him,
were admitted or contested with the utmost candour. One scheme
went through numerous modifications before it was proved to be
ineligible, or before it yielded place to a better. It was easy to
perceive, that books alone were insufficient to impart knowledge:
that man must be examined with our own eyes to make us acquainted
with their nature: that ideas collected from observation and
reading, must correct and illustrate each other: that the value of
all principles, and their truth, lie in their practical effects.
Hence, gradually arose, the usefulness of travelling, of inspecting
the habits and manners of a nation, and investigating, on the spot,
the causes of their happiness and misery. Finally, it was
determined that Spain was more suitable than any other, to the
views of a judicious traveller.