of _tenebrose Virtues_; or a _serene Prince_, of the _Blood_ of _Occult
Qualities_.

Mr. _Addison_ proceeds,
Were I to give my own Notions of HUMOUR, I should deliver them
after _Plato's_ Manner, in a Kind of Allegory; and by supposing
HUMOUR to be a Person, deduce to him, all his Qualifications,
according to the following Genealogy: TRUTH was the Founder of
the Family, and the Father of GOOD SENSE; GOOD SENSE was the
Father of WIT, who married a Lady of a collateral Line called
MIRTH, by whom he had Issue HUMOUR.
--It is very unfortunate for this _Allegorical_ Description, that
there is not one Word of it just: For TRUTH, GOOD SENSE, WIT, and
MIRTH, represented to be the immediate _Ancestors_ of HUMOUR; whereas
HUMOUR is derived from the _Foibles_, and whimsical _Oddities_
of _Persons_ in real Life, which flow rather from their
_Inconsistencies_, and _Weakness_, than from TRUTH and GOOD SENSE;
Nor is WIT any _Ancestor_ of HUMOUR, but of a quite different
_Family_; it being notorious that much HUMOUR may be drawn from
the Manners of _Dutchmen_, and of the most formal and dull Persons,
who are yet never guilty of WIT. Again, MIRTH is not so properly
the _Parent_ of HUMOUR, as the _Offspring_.--In short, this whole
_Genealogy_ is a _nubilous_ Piece of Conceit, instead of being any
_Elucidation_ of HUMOUR. It is a formal Method of trifling, introduced
under a deep Ostentation of Learning, which deserves the severest
Rebuke.--But I restrain my Pen, recollecting the _Visions_ of MIRZA,
and heartily profess my high Veneration for their admirable Author.

The _Essay_ upon HUMOUR, at the End of this Treatise, written by
Mr. _Congreve_, is next to be considered. It appears, that at first