. The nature of the human mind, and the capabilities of our
species are in like manner a magazine of undiscovered things, till some
mighty genius comes to break the surface, and shew us the wonderful
treasures that lay beneath uncalled for and idle.

Human character is like the contents of an ample cabinet, brought
together by the untired zeal of some curious collector, who tickets his
rarities with numbers, and has a catalogue in many volumes, in which are
recorded the description and qualities of the things presented to our
view. Among the most splendid examples of character which the genius
of man has brought to light, are Don Quixote and his trusty squire, sir
Roger de Coverley, Parson Adams, Walter Shandy and his brother Toby.
Who shall set bounds to the everlasting variety of nature, as she has
recorded her creations in the heart of man? Most of these instances
are recent, and sufficiently shew that the enterprising adventurer, who
would aspire to emulate the illustrious men from whose writings these
examples are drawn, has no cause to despair.

Vulgar observers pass carelessly by a thousand figures in the crowded
masquerade of human society, which, when inscribed on the tablet by
the pencil of a master, would prove not less wondrous in the power
of affording pleasure, nor less rich as themes for inexhaustible
reflection, than the most admirable of these. The things are there, and
all that is wanting is an eye to perceive, and a pen to record them.

As to a great degree we may subscribe to the saying of the wise man,
that "there is nothing new under the sun," so in a certain sense it
may also be affirmed that nothing is old. Both of these maxims may be
equally true. The prima materia, the atoms of which the universe is
composed, is of a date beyond all record; and the figures which have
yet been introduced into the most fantastic chronology, may perhaps be
incompetent to represent the period of its birth. But the ways in which
they may be compounded are exhaustless. It is like what the writers on
the Doctrine of Chances tell us of the throwing of dice. How many men
now exist on the face of the earth? Yet, if all these were brought
together, and if, in addition to this, we could call up all the men that
ever lived, it may be doubted, whether any two would be found so
much alike, that a clear-sighted and acute observer might not surely
distinguish the one from the other. Leibnitz informs us, that no
two leaves of