ughts, and a Critic in Language.

A superficial Knowledge of human Nature, will never qualify a Man to
be a Writer of Characters. He must be a Master of the Science; and
be able to lead a Reader, knowingly, thro' that Labyrinth of the
Passions, which fill the Heart of Man, and make him either a noble or
a despicable Creature. For tho' some, who have never attempted any
thing of this kind, may think it an easy Matter to write two or three
Pages of Morality with Spirit, to describe an Action, a Passion, a
Manner; yet had they made the Experiment, the Event wou'd not have
answer'd their Expectation, and they wou'd have found, that this easy
Work was more difficult than they, at first, imagin'd.

The Features of every single Passion must be known; the Relation which
that Passion bears to another, must be discover'd; and the Harmony and
Discord which result from them must be felt. Many have studied these
Things, but few have thoroughly understood them. The Labour is vast;
'tis almost infinite; and yet without a Knowledge of these Things,
'twill be impossible ever to draw a Character so to the Life, as that
it shall hit one Person, and him only.

We have all of us different Souls, and our Souls have Affections
as different from one another, as our outward Faces are in their
Lineaments. Each Man contains a little World within himself, and
every Heart is a new World. We cannot therefore attain to a perfect
Knowledge of human Nature, by studying others or our selves alone, but
by studying both. 'Tis this Knowledge which sets the Philosopher above
the Peasant, and gives the Preference to one Author above another.
This Knowledge has a Force, something like to that of Magic Charms: by
the help of it one, who is Master of the Science, can turn Men inside
outwards, and expose them to the Eyes of the World, as they really
are, and not as they wou'd fain appear to be. By the help of this
Knowledge an intelligent Writer can form to his Reader the most
agreeable, most instructive Entertainment that can possibly be
desir'd; transport him, with the greatest Ease imaginable, from the
Solitude of his Chamber to Places of the greatest Concourse; there to
see and learn the Virtues of Men; there to see and shun their Vices,
without any danger of being corrupted by the Contagion of a real
Commerce.

How absolutely necessary a thorough Insight into the Heart and
Passions of Man is to a Writer of Characters, will be more evident by
descending