The [Q]Characters of _Giton_ and _Phebon_ are humorous enough. And
they are allow’d to be kept within the just Bounds of Probability. But
Mr. _de la Bruyere_ has heap’d up so many Particulars and unnecessary
Circumstances, which do not convey any new Ideas, that the Characters
grow languid and tedious.--_Giton_ is respected; every thing that he
says or does is approved of. _Phebon_ is despis’d; no Notice is taken
of what he says or does. The Reason of this Difference is not so
mysterious, but that it may be told in less than two or three Pages.
_Giton_ is rich, and _Phebon_ is poor.

[Q: C. id. ibid. feré.]

Sometimes there is such a Confusion in Mr. _de la Bruyere’s_ Designs,
that one cannot easily discover whether he intended to draw the
Character of a particular Person, or to make a Picture of some
prevailing Vice, or only a moral Reflexion.--Such is the [R]Article of
_Zenobia_. Was it design’d for the Character of _Zenobia_? But ’tis
rather a Description of the Magnificence, and beautiful Situation of
the Palace, which she was then building. Or was it design’d to censure
and lash the Publicans of the Age, for the Extortions which they
practis’d, and the immense Riches which they amass’d by Fraud and
Oppression? But this Satir comes in only by the by, and in a very
jejune Manner. Or lastly, was it intended only for a moral Reflexion
on the sudden Revolutions and Vicissitudes of Fortune? But the Length
of this Article is inconsistent with the nature of a Reflexion; and if
any thing like this was intended, it must come in as the ἐπιμύθιον,
the Moral of the Fable; which will make the Contents of this Article,
still more different from the nature of a Character, than any thing
that has yet been mentioned.