non laudandum aut fecit, aut dixit, aut sensit." [Same date.]
The Ruling Passion.—Seek for their particular
merit, their predominant passion, or their prevailing
weakness, and you will then know what to bait your
hook with, to catch them. Man is a composition of
so many and such various ingredients, that it requires
both time and care to analyze him: for
though we have, all, the same ingredients in our
general composition, as reason, will, passions, and
appetites, yet the different proportions and combinations
of them, in each individual, produce that infinite
variety of characters, which, in some particular
or other, distinguishes every individual from
another. Reason ought to direct the whole, but seldom
does. [Sept. 5, 1748.]
Bruyère and Rochefoucault.—I will recommend
to your attentive perusal, now you are going
into the world, two books, which will let you as
much into the characters of men as books can do.
I mean "Les Réflexions Morales de Monsieur de la
Rochefoucault," and "Les Caractères de la Bruyère":
but remember, at the same time, that I only
recommend them to you as the best general maps,
to assist you in your journey, and not as marking
out every particular turning and winding that you
