Every Action has its proper Thought, and every Thought its proper
Expression. And these Correspondences are not imaginary, but have a
real Foundation in Nature: For when any one of these is wanting, the
whole is lame and defective, but when they all meet and conspire
together, the Character is then genuine and compleat, the Thing
or Person design'd is drawn to the Life, and the Reader is left
uncertain, whether the Character, that lies before him, is an Effect
of Art, or a real Appearance of Nature.--A Master-Piece of this Kind,
requires the Hand of one who is a Critic in Men and Manners, a Critic
in Thoughts, and a Critic in Language.
A superficial Knowledge of human Nature, will never qualify a Man to
be a Writer of Characters. He must be a Master of the Science; and
be able to lead a Reader, knowingly, thro' that Labyrinth of the
Passions, which fill the Heart of Man, and make him either a noble or
a despicable Creature. For tho' some, who have never attempted any
thing of this kind, may think it an easy Matter to write two or three
Pages of Morality with Spirit, to describe an Action, a Passion, a
Manner; yet had they made the Experiment, the Event wou'd not have
answer'd their Expectation, and they wou'd have found, that this easy
Work was more difficult than they, at first, imagin'd.
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