Quem semper acerbum,
Semper honoratum, sic Dii voluistis, habebo[1].
In the measures you will take for Society, you must reckon not to find good things separately. Expect to meet solidity with prolixity; agreeableness with want of sense; and science with ridicule. You will find these Qualities promiscuously blended, not only among those men whom we may, at pleasure, make choice of, or avoid, but even among those whom our interest, or other ties as obligatory shall bind you to. I have convers'd with a Man of the brightest natural parts in the world, who being sometimes weary of the happy facility of his Genius, engag'd in arguments of Science and Religion, in which he betray'd a ridiculous ignorance. I know one of the most learned men in Europe[2], of whom one may learn a thousand things, curious or profound; in whom, nevertheless, you will find a foolish credulity in every thing extraordinary, fabulous, or exceeding belief.
That great master of the Stage, to whom the Romans are more behblden for the beauty of their sentiments, than to their own wit or virtue; Corneille, who sufficiently discovers himself without being named, becomes an ordinary man when he speaks for himself. He dares say any thing for a Greek or a Roman: a Frenchman or Spaniard abates his Courage; and when he speaks for him, he is quite dispirited. He racks his Imagination for all that is noble to adorn his old Heroes, and you would say, that he debarr'd himself the advantage of his own wealth, as if he were not worthy the use of it.
