They have the looks of men at ease, and of
men grateful for that ease: they know their duty, and need not a
reminding look. A servant of yours, Sir Charles, looks as if he would
one day make a figure as a master. How do you manage it?
Perhaps I have been peculiarly fortunate in worthy servants. There is
nothing in my management deserving the attention of this company.
I am going to begin the world anew, nephew. Hitherto, servants have been
a continual plague to me. I must know how you treat them.
I treat them, my lord, as necessary parts of my family. I have no
secrets, the keeping or disclosing of which might give them
self-importance. I endeavour to set them no bad example. I am never
angry with them but for wilful faults: if those are not habitual, I shame
them into amendment, by gentle expostulation and forgiveness. If they
are not capable of a generous shame, and the faults grow habitual, I part
with them; but with such kindness, as makes their fellow-servants blame
them, and take warning. I am fond of seeking occasions to praise them:
and even when they mistake, if it be with a good intention, they have my
approbation of the intention, and my endeavours to set them right as to
the act. Sobriety is an indispensable qualification for my service; and
for the rest, if we receive them not quite good, we make them better than
they were before.
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