of any degree of consequence--they
become gamblers; and of the many bad passions which gambling sometimes
calls into activity, and of the destructive consequences which it
entails, no one is ignorant. If you once get into the habit of playing,
you will, perhaps, not know when to stop. Cards are very seductive, and
you may find yourself become a gambler almost before you are aware of
it. Perhaps the best plan is _not to know_ how to play, which furnishes
an answer always ready.

Chess is a game of elegance and interest, and the being a good
chess-player, carries with it a certain impression of general ability
and of intellectual activity and resource. Perhaps I may allow that
playing at chess adds a certain degree of interest to the perusal of the
history of a campaign, whether ancient or modern, with its various
moves, its checks and counter-checks, its retreats and _castlings_. But
chess is a fascinating game, and will be apt to make larger demands upon
your time than you can afford. If you indulge in it at all, you must be
peremptory with yourself in resisting its tendency to incroach either
upon your time or your _temper_. Sometimes, too, it requires so much
exertion of thought,--is such a strain upon the mind,--that it hardly
can answer the purposes of relaxation. If you play, by all means read
Franklin's Essay on the Morals of Chess. For clearness of head, for
truth-telling simplicity and honesty of purpose, and for perspicuity and
liveliness of style, Franklin has, perhaps, no superior.

Always recollect that improvement, moral and intellectual, is the great
object for which you were sent to Oxford. With that object nothing must
be suffered to interfere.

I remain, &c. &c.

LETTER VIII.

EXPENSES, AND RUNNING IN DEBT.

MY DEAR NEPHEW,

I do not know exactly what allowance your father has been able to give
you, but whatever it may be, I trust that you are resolutely determined
to keep within it. This will, of course, require a good deal of care and
attention. Many young men, when, upon going to the University, they find
in their pockets a much larger sum than they ever possessed before,
fancy themselves rich, and at liberty to allow themselves various
unnecessary indulgences. The consequence is, that they become entangled
in debts, from which they can never extricate themselves during their
continuance at Oxford. Be on your guard against getting thus hampered.
Take it for granted, that the regul