In short, Conversation is the Aliment of the Genius, the Life of all airy Performances, as Learning is the Soul; the various Humours of Mankind, upon all Occasions, afford the most agreeable Subjects for all sorts of Writings, and I look upon any Performance, tho' done by a Person celebrated for Writing, without the use of Conversation, in some measure incompleat.
If an Author be enclin'd to write for Reformation of Manners, let him repair to St. _Pauls_ or _Westminster-Abbey_, and observe the indecent Behaviour of multitudes of Persons, who make those Sacred Places Assignations of Vice; if you are enclin'd to lash the Follies and Vanities of the fair Sex, retire to the Tea Table and the Theatre; if your Business be to compose a Sermon, or you are engag'd in Theological Studies, resort to _Child's_ Coffee-House in St. _Paul's_ Church-Yard; if you are desirous to depaint the Cheat and the Trickster, I recommend ye to the _Royal-Exchange_ and the Court End of the Town; and if you would write a Poem in imitation of _Rochester_, you need only go to the Hundreds of _Drury_, and you'll be sufficiently furnish'd with laudable Themes.
But Converse at home falls infinitely short of Conversation abroad, and the Advantages attending Travelling are so very great, that they are not to be express'd; this finishes Education in the most effectual manner, and enables a Man to speak and write on all Occasions with a Grace and Perfection, no other way to be attain'd. The Travels of a young Gentleman have not only the effect of transplation of Vegetables, in respect to the encrease of Stature, but also the Consequence of the most beautiful Pruning. How much the Gentlemen of _Scotland_ owe their Capacities to Travelling, is very obvious, there being no Person of Quality in that Kingdom but expends the greatest part of his Fortune in other Countries, to reap the Benefit of it in personal Accomplishments; and a greater Commendation than this to the _Scots_ is, the bestowing the best of Literature upon all manner of Youth educated amongst them.
Whilst the Men of Quality here very often neglect giving their Children the common and necessary Learning, and too frequently entrust their Education with lazy, ignorant, and incogitant Tutors, not to mention the Supineness of Schoolmasters in general throughout _England_; the _North-Britains_ labour in this Particular indefatigably, as they are very sensible that Learning is the greatest Honour of their Country, and the ancient _Britains_ come so near the _Scots_, that amongst the common Persons, in some Parts of _Wales_, you may meet with a Ploughman that speaks tollerable Latin, and a Mason, like the famous _Ben Johnson_, with his _Horace_ and a Trowel.