that if Mr. _de la Bruyere_ had, with his View, chosen another Title
for his Book, tho' it wou'd not have been so uncommon, yet wou'd it
have been more proper than the present Title; and the Performance it
self wou'd then, in some Measure, have less deserv'd
Censure.

Tho' Mr. _de la Bruyere's_ Work is not perfect in that Kind, in which
it is pretended to excel, it must nevertheless be confess'd, that it
has many Beauties and Excellencies. To deny this, wou'd be an Affront
to the Judgment of the Gentlemen of the _French_ Academy: But yet our
Complaisance ought not, cannot go so far, as to prejudice our own
Judgment. We cannot think, as [X]some of 'em did, that Mr. _de la
Bruyere_ has excell'd _Theophrastus_, the great Original which he
propos'd to himself. Mr. _de la Bruyere_ had a more modest Opinion
of himself: He wou'd have been proud of the Title of _little
Theophrastus_. And in Truth, it deserves no small Share of Praise, to
come up to _Theophrastus_ in any Degree of Comparison.--If then Mr.
_de la Bruyere_ has committed some Faults, 'tis nothing but what
others have done, both before and since him: But if he has, as I have
already allow'd him to have, some considerable Beauties; 'tis more
than a great many other Authors have, tho' of greater Bulk: And these
Excellencies ought in Justice to be admitted as some Excuse for those
Defects.

[X: Discours de l'Abbe Fleury deja cite.]

SECT. V.

Theophrastus has not only prevented, but he has also out-done the
Moderns in _Characteristic-Writings_. Yet Mr. _de la Rochefoucault_
had an extraordinary Genius. He seems to be the only one, amongst
all the Moderns, who was equal to so great a Work. He had studied Man
in himself; and, in a small Collection of moral Reflexions, he has
laid open the various Forms and Folds of that Heart, which by Nature
is deceitful above all Things. He has given us, as it were, the
Characters of all Mankind, by discovering those secret Springs of Self
Love, which are the Source of all our _Actions_.--Self Love is born
with us; and this great Author has shewn, that there is no Principle
in human Nature so secret, so deceitful: 'Tis so Hypocritical, that it
frequently imposes on it self, by taking the Appearances of Virtue for
Virtue it self. It borrows all the Disguises of Art: It appears in a
thousand Forms, and in a thousand Shapes; but yet the Principle of
Error is still the same.

[Y] ---- _Velut Silvis ubi passim
Palant