Page:Works of the Late Doctor Benjamin Franklin (1793).djvu/183

mometer to ſhew him the heat of the weather; and a barometer, to mark when it was likely to prove good or bad; but there being no inſtrument invented to diſcover, at firſt ſight, this unpleaſing diſpoſition in a perſon, he, for that purpoſe, made uſe of his legs; one of which was remarkably handſome, the other, by ſome accident, crooked and deformed. If a ſtranger, at the firſt interview, regarded his ugly leg more than his handſome one, he doubted him. If he ſpoke of it, and took no^ notice of the handſome leg, that was ſufficient to determine my philoſopher to have no further acquaintance with him. Every body has not this two legged inſtrument; but every one, with a little attention, may obſerve vigns of that carping, fault-finding diſpoſition, and take the ſame reſolution of avoiding the acquaintance of thoſe infected with it. I therefore adviſe thoſe critical, querulous, diſcontented, unhappy people, that if they wiſh to be reſpected and beloved by others, and happy in themſelves, they ſhould leave off looking at the ugly leg.