with an abundant sweetness of nature, but wants wit, and has a very ill
voice: _Iras_ is ugly and ungenteel, but has wit and good sense.

31. If _Cælia_ would be silent, her beholders would adore her; if _Iras_
would talk, her hearers would admire her; but _Cælia_'s tongue runs
incessantly, while _Iras_ gives herself silent airs and soft languors;
so that 'tis difficult to persuade one's self that _Cælia_ has beauty,
and _Iras_ wit: each neglects her own excellence, and is ambitious of
the other's character: _Iras_ would be thought to have as much beauty as
_Cælia_, and _Cælia_ as much wit as _Iras_.

32. The great misfortune of this affectation is, that men not only lose
a good quality, but also contract a bad one: they not only are unfit for
what they were designed, but they assign themselves to what they are not
fit for; and instead of making a very good, figure one way, make a very
ridiculous one in another.

33. If _Semanthe_ would have been satisfied with her natural complexion,
she might still have been celebrated by the name of the olive beauty;
but _Semanthe_ has taken up an affectation to white and red, and is now
distinguished by the character of the lady that paints so well.

34. In a word, could the world be reformed to the obedience of that
famed dictate, _follow nature_, which the oracle of _Delphos_ pronounced
to _Cicero_ when he consulted what course of studies he should pursue,
we should see almost every man as eminent in his proper sphere as
_Tully_ was in his, and should in a very short time find impertinence
and affectation banished from among the women, and coxcombs and false
characters from among the men.