Necessity for time-thrift in all cases--Serious men not much in danger from mere frivolity--Greater danger of losing time in our serious pursuits themselves--Time thrown away when we do not attain proficiency--Soundness of former scholarship a good example--Browning's Grammarian--Knowledge an organic whole--Soundness the possession of essential parts--Necessity of fixed limits in our projects of study--Limitation of purpose in the fine arts--In languages--Instance of M. Louis Énault--In music--Time saved by following kindred pursuits--Order and proportion the true secrets of time-thrift--A waste of time to leave fortresses untaken in our rear. You complain of want of time--you, with your boundless leisure! It is true that the most absolute master of his own hours still needs thrift if he would turn them to account, and that too many _never_ learn this thrift, whilst others learn it late. Will you permit me to offer briefly a few observations on time-thrift which have been suggested to me by my own experience and by the experience of intellectual friends? It may be accepted for certain, to begin with, that men who like yourself seriously care for culture, and make it, next to moral duty, the principal object of their lives, are but little exposed to waste time in downright frivolity of any kind. You may be perfectly idle at your own times, and perfectly frivolous even, whenever you have a mind to be frivolous, but then you will be clearly aware how the time is passing, and you will throw it away knowingly, as the most careful of money-economists will throw away a few sovereigns in a confessedly foolish amusement, merely for the relief of a break in the habit of his life. To a man of your tastes and temper there is no danger of wasting too much time so long as the waste is intentional; but you are exposed to time-losses of a much more insidious character.