wo, in the hope and indeed reliance upon your care in
return; that you would procure for me a peaceful old age, in which
I might render account to God for the education of my children,
and, without any other concern than the salvation of my soul,
quietly await death. But Providence has so ordered, that I must
now afresh commence the ungrateful task of lesson-giving, and in a
place, too, where this dreary labour is so ill paid, that it will
not support one from one end of the year to the other; and yet it
is to be thought a matter of rejoicing if, after talking oneself
into a consumption, something or other is got by it.

"I am far, my dear Wolfgang, from having the least mistrust in
you--on the contrary, on your filial love I place all confidence
and every hope. Every thing now depends upon fortunate
circumstances, and the exercise of that sound understanding which
you certainly possess, if you will listen to it; the former are
uncontrollable--but that you will always take counsel of your
understanding I hope and pray....

"You are now a young man of twenty-two years of age; here is none
of that seriousness of years which may dissuade a youth, let his
condition be what it may--an adventurer, a libertine, a
deceiver--be he old or young, from courting your acquaintance, and
drawing you into his society and his plans. One may fall into this
danger unawares, and then not know how to recede. Of the other sex
I can hardly speak to you, for there the greatest reserve and
prudence are necessary, Nature herself being our enemy; but
whoever does not employ all his prudence and reserve in his
intercourse, will with difficulty extricate himself from the
labyrinth--_a misfortune that usually ends in death_. How blindly,
through inconsiderate jests, flattery, and play, one may fall into
errors at which the returning reason is ashamed, you may perhaps
have already a little experienced, and it is not my intention to
reproach you. I am persuaded that you do not only consider me as
your father, but as your truest and most faithful friend, and that
you know and see that our happiness or unhappiness--nay, more, my
long life or speedy death is, under God, so to speak, in your
hands. If I know you aright, I have nothing but pleasure to expect
in you, which thought must console me in your absence for