most diligently to this important article. It is, of all the graces (and they are all necessary), the most necessary one. [Same date.]
The Desire of Praise.—But here let me, as an
old stager upon the theatre of the world, suggest
one consideration to you, which is, to extend your
desire of praise a little beyond the strictly praiseworthy;
or else you may be apt to discover too much
contempt for at least three parts in the five of the
world, who will never forgive it you. In the mass
of mankind, I fear, there is too great a majority of
fools and knaves; who, singly from their number,
must to a certain degree be respected, though they
are by no means respectable. And a man, who will
show every knave or fool that he thinks him such,
will engage in a most ruinous war, against numbers
much superior to those that he and his allies can
bring into the field. Abhor a knave, and pity a
fool in your heart, but let neither of them, unnecessarily,
see that you do so. Some complaisance and
attention to fools is prudent, and not mean; as a
silent abhorrence of individual knaves is often necessary,
and not criminal. [Same date.]
A Compliment.—Lady Chesterfield bids me tell
you that she decides entirely in your favor,[1] against
- ↑ On a German question.
