- lished about a year ago. I desire that you will read
it over and over again, with particular attention to the style, and to all those beauties of oratory with which it is adorned. Till I read that book, I confess I did not know all the extent and powers of the English language. Lord Bolingbroke has both a tongue and a pen to persuade. [Same date.]
Complicated Machines.—I have often told you
(and it is most true) that, with regard to mankind,
we must not draw general conclusions from certain
particular principles, though, in the main, true ones.
We must not suppose that, because a man is a
rational animal, he will, therefore, always act rationally;
or, because he has such or such a predominant
passion, that he will act invariably and consequentially
in the pursuit of it. No, we are complicated
machines; and though we have one main spring that
gives motion to the whole, we have an infinity of
little wheels, which, in their turns, retard, precipitate,
and sometimes stop that motion. [Dec. 19,
1749.]
Ambition and Avarice.—There are two inconsistent
passions, which, however, frequently accompany
each other, like man and wife; and which, like
man and wife too, are commonly clogs upon each
other. I mean ambition and avarice: the latter is
