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is not as it were to be wished it should be & as it may be made
to be. Inspired by the hopes that what I might have to say to on
the subject might now meet with some attention I wrote 2 or 3
Sheets on the OEconomy of the Dockyards while I was descending
the Angora river to Jeneseisk which with what I had before written
at different times during my journey and while at Petersbourg
will make a very considerable addition to what you know of my
having on the subject. On the other hand my judgement being become more comprehensive
than it was when I left you I see the frivolousness of some few of my
former ideas. & on that account The core Upon reflection the errors of my own and of
your judgment also seem to have had one general & frequent source namely
that passionate desire of making every thing perfect, without a sufficient
attention to the relative importance of the different subjects which present
themselves. Hence it has frequently happened that we have laboured long to effect
a purpose very little worthy our attention. The consequence of this is not only
a waste of time but an injury to ones reputation. The public seems much
rather better to support admit of what a man's doing nothing, than of his being occupied about
what appears trifling. So in writing I can cant help being affraid of an appearance
of an overgreat accuracy and of your pursuing your examinations & observations
in too minute details. A reader will not readily pardon your leaving nothing for
his invention to supply; the little confidence you put thereby in his understanding perhaps
even touches his vanity; besides where the ideas are very consequent they rise in his
mind before he can have time to read the words by which you impart them thus he is
under the tiresome necessity of entertaining the same trifling idea twice. The motive I believe
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Identifier: | JB/539/297/002"JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 539. |
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1782-08-02 |
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539 |
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297 |
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002 |
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Correspondence |
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