--Self Love is born
with us; and this great Author has shewn, that there is no Principle
in human Nature so secret, so deceitful: 'Tis so Hypocritical, that it
frequently imposes on it self, by taking the Appearances of Virtue for
Virtue it self. It borrows all the Disguises of Art: It appears in a
thousand Forms, and in a thousand Shapes; but yet the Principle of
Error is still the same.
[Y] ---- _Velut Silvis ubi passim
Palantes Error certo de Tramite pellit,
Ille sinistrorsum, hic dextrorsum abit: unus utrique
Error, sed variis illudit Partibus._
As Men that lose their Ways in Woods, divide,
Some go on this, and some on t'other Side.
The Error is the same, all miss the Road,
Altho' in different Quarters of the Wood.
Mr. _Creech_.
[Y: Horat. Lib. 2. Sat. 3. v. 48, _&c_.]
'Tis true Mr. _de la Rochefoucault_'s Design was too general, and his
Piece cannot properly be reckoned among _Characteristic-Writings_. But
tho' he did not professedly write Characters, yet this Work shews that
he was very able to do it; and it may be of very great Service to
those, who wou'd attempt any thing in this Kind.
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