The Tropical Resident at Home; Letters Addressed to Europeans Returning From India and the Colonies on Subjects Connected With Their Health

General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1866 Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: LETTER III. Choice of place of residence -- Danger of too hasty a decision -- Settling down -- Town and country life -- Reputed cheapness of country living -- Real cause of difference -- Temptation to expenditure not unknown in the country -- Gossip -- Privacy of London -- Asia Minor -- Advantages of London life -- Society -- East Indian Colonies. My Dear D., No question will perhaps more frequently or more anxiously engage your attention after your return home, than where you shall settle down ; and perhaps there is no question which requires more deliberate consideration, nor one which can better wait before receiving a definite answer. There is an old adage, " Never put off till to-morrow what you can do to-day;" but, though generally applicable in the routine of daily life, I hold it would be unwise to act upon it in the present instance. Do not decide in haste, or, to quote another old proverb, you may have occasion to repent at leisure. Look well about you before taking any decisive48 SETTLING DOWN. step in the matter. Many a spot which to your uninitiated eye may appear possessed of manifold and great advantages, will on closer examination prove not to be nearly so eligible as you, in the first blush of English experience, flattered yourself that it was. No man, it appears to me, is in a position to form a correct judgment in the matter, or to make a judicious choice, until after the lapse of at least a year from his arrival at home. In the meantime, go into lodgings, or take a furnished house for a limited period, or travel about, so as to extend your sphere of observation, or let some othe...