The interest which we take in the development of moral truth and in the illustration of human character, is so much stronger than that which we attach to mere matter of fact, that where the two are combined (that is to say, where a supposed fact is made the foundation of a new and striking illustration of character), our attention is, generally speaking, wholly directed to the latter, and we are inclined to take the fact for granted . . . It is, we believe, an established axiom in the art of lying that almost anything may be made credible of almost any person, provided that the imaginary facts are accompanied by a just representation of the behaviour of the person, such as it might be supposed to be under the alleged circumstances: and this will be more strikingly the case, if some trait of his character, not generally observed, but likely to be immediately recognised, is exhibited for the first time.
Page:The Wreck of a World - Grove - 1890.djvu/10
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J. H. FRERE.
