Flattery.—I recommended to you, in my last, an innocent piece of art; that of flattering people behind their backs, in presence of those who, to make their own court, much more than for your sake, will not fail to repeat, and even amplify the praise to the party concerned. This is of all flattery the most pleasing, and consequently the most effectual. There are other, and many other inoffensive arts of this kind, which are necessary in the course of the world, and which he who practises the earliest, will please the most, and rise the soonest. [May 22, 1749.]
Temper.—The principal of these things, is the
mastery of one's temper, and that coolness of mind,
and serenity of countenance, which hinders us from
discovering, by words, actions, or even looks, those
passions or sentiments, by which we are inwardly
moved or agitated; and the discovery of which,
gives cooler and abler people such infinite advantages
over us, not only in business, but in all the most
common occurrences of life. A man who does not;
possess himself enough to hear disagreeable things,
without visible marks of anger and change of countenance,
or agreeable ones without sudden bursts of
joy and expansion of countenance, is at the mercy
of every artful knave, or pert coxcomb; the former
