capable of the closest application: in a word, there was no profession
in which _Cleanthes_ might not have made a very good figure; but this
won't satisfy him; he takes up an unaccountable fondness for the
character of a line gentleman; all his thoughts are bent upon this,
instead of attending a dissection, frequenting the courts of justice, or
studying the Fathers.

24. _Cleanthes_ reads plays, dances, dresses, and spends his time in
drawing rooms, instead of being a good lawyer, divine, or physician;
_Cleanthes_ is a down-right coxcomb, and will remain to all that knew
him a contemptible example of talents misapplied. It is to this
affectation the world owes its whole race of coxcombs; Nature in her
whole drama never drew such a part; she has sometimes made a fool, but a
coxcomb is always of a man's own making, by applying his talents
otherwise than nature designed, who ever bears an high resentment for
being put out of her course, and never fails of taking revenge on those
that do so.

25. Opposing her tendency in the application of a man's parts, has the
same success as declining from her course in the production of
vegetables; by the assistance of art and an hot bed, we may possibly
extort an unwilling plant, or an untimely sallad; but how weak, how
tasteless, and insipid! Just as insipid as the poetry of _Valerio_.

26. _Valerio_ had an universal character, was genteel, had learning,
thought justly, spoke correctly; 'twas believed there was nothing in
which _Valerio_ did not excel; and 'twas so far true, that there was but
one: _Valerio_ had no genius for poetry, yet was resolved to be a poet;
he writes verses, and takes great pains to convince the town, that
_Valerio_ is not that extraordinary person he was taken for.