The tone of this excerpt can best be described as?

though i employ so much of my time in writing to you, i confess i have often my doubts whether it is to any purpose. i know how unwelcome advice generally is; i know that those who want it most like it and follow it least; and i know, too, that the advice of parents, more particularly, is ascribed to the moroseness, the imperiousness, or the garrulity of old age."

a. scathing and unapologetic
b. reflective and humorous
c. conciliatory and humble
d. annoyed and regretful
e. pitying and melancholy