And he gave me such
a detail of misfortunes now existing, or that were soon to exist,
that he left me half melancholy. Had I known him before I
engaged in this business, probably I never should have done it.
This man continued to live in this decaying place, and to declaim
in the same strain, refusing for many years to buy a house there,
because all was going to destruction; and at last I had the pleasure
of seeing him give five times as much for one as he might have bought
it for when he first began his croaking.
I should have mentioned before, that, in the autumn of the preceding year,
I had form'd most of my ingenious acquaintance into a club of mutual
improvement, which we called the JUNTO; we met on Friday evenings.
The rules that I drew up required that every member, in his turn,
should produce one or more queries on any point of Morals, Politics,
or Natural Philosophy, to be discuss'd by the company; and once
in three months produce and read an essay of his own writing,
on any subject he pleased. Our debates were to be under the direction
of a president, and to be conducted in the sincere spirit of inquiry
after truth, without fondness for dispute, or desire of victory;
and, to prevent warmth, all expressions of positiveness in opinions,
or direct contradiction, were after some time made contraband,
and prohibited under small pecuniary penalties.
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