Mr. _de la Bruyere_ had a more modest Opinion
of himself: He wou'd have been proud of the Title of _little
Theophrastus_. And in Truth, it deserves no small Share of Praise, to
come up to _Theophrastus_ in any Degree of Comparison.--If then Mr.
_de la Bruyere_ has committed some Faults, 'tis nothing but what
others have done, both before and since him: But if he has, as I have
already allow'd him to have, some considerable Beauties; 'tis more
than a great many other Authors have, tho' of greater Bulk: And these
Excellencies ought in Justice to be admitted as some Excuse for those
Defects.
[X: Discours de l'Abbe Fleury deja cite.]
SECT. V.
Theophrastus has not only prevented, but he has also out-done the
Moderns in _Characteristic-Writings_. Yet Mr. _de la Rochefoucault_
had an extraordinary Genius. He seems to be the only one, amongst
all the Moderns, who was equal to so great a Work. He had studied Man
in himself; and, in a small Collection of moral Reflexions, he has
laid open the various Forms and Folds of that Heart, which by Nature
is deceitful above all Things. He has given us, as it were, the
Characters of all Mankind, by discovering those secret Springs of Self
Love, which are the Source of all our _Actions_.
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