of Nature.--This Knowledge is great; ’tis the Perfection of Moral
Philosophy; ’tis an inestimable Treasure: But yet if it shou’d fall
into the Hands of one, who wants proper Abilities to communicate his
Knowledge to the World, it wou’d be of no Service but to the Owner: It
wou’d make him, indeed, an able Philosopher, but not an able Writer of
Characters.

The Mind has its peculiar Features as well as the Body; and these
must be represented in their genuine and native Colours, that so the
Picture may strike, and every Reader, who is concern’d in the Work,
may presently discover himself; and those, who are unconcern’d may,
nevertheless, immediately perceive a just Correspondence between that
Piece and Nature.

Every Action has its proper Thought, and every Thought its proper
Expression. And these Correspondences are not imaginary, but have a
real Foundation in Nature: For when any one of these is wanting, the
whole is lame and defective, but when they all meet and conspire
together, the Character is then genuine and compleat, the Thing
or Person design’d is drawn to the Life, and the Reader is left
uncertain, whether the Character, that lies before him, is an Effect
of Art, or a real Appearance of Nature.--A Master-Piece of this Kind,
requires the Hand of one who is a Critic in Men and Manners, a Critic
in Thoughts, and a Critic in Language.

A superficial Knowledge of human Nature, will never qualify a Man to
be a Writer of Characters. He must be a Master of the Science; and
be able to lead a Reader, knowingly, thro’ that Labyrinth of the
Passions, which fill the Heart of Man, and make him either a noble or
a despicable Creature. For tho’ some, who have never attempted any