22.  One of the great compositions in our nature is vanity, to which, all men, more or less, give way.  Women have an intolerable share of it.  So flattery, no adulation is too gross for them; those who flatter them most please them best, and they are most in love with him who pretends to be most in love with them; and the least slight or contempt of them is never forgotten.  It is in some measure the same with men; they will sooner pardon an injury than an insult, and are more hurt by contempt than by ill-usage.  Though all men do not boast of superior talents, though they pretend not to the abilities of a Pope, a Newton, or a Bollingbroke, every one pretends to have common sense, and to discharge his office in life with common decency; to arraign therefore, in any shape, his abilities or integrity in the department he holds, is an insult he will not readily forgive.

23.  As I would not have you trust too implicitly to a man, because the world gives him a good character; so I must particularly caution you against those who speak well of themselves.  In general, suspect those who boast of or affect to have any one virtue above all others, for they are commonly impostors.  There are exceptions, however, to this rule, for we hear of prudes that have been made chaste, bullies that have been brave, and saints that have been religious.  Confide only where your own observation shall direct you; observe not only what is said, but how it is said, and if you have penetration, you may find out the truth better by your eyes than your ears; in short, never take a character upon common report, but enquire into it yourself; for common report, though it is right in general, may be wrong in particulars.

24.  Beware of those who, on a slight acquaintance, make a tender of their friendship, and seem to place a confidence in you; ’tis ten to one but they deceive and betray you:  however, do not rudely reject them upon such a supposition; you may be civil to them, though you do not entrust them.  Silly men are apt to solicit your friendship, and unbosom themselves upon the first acquaintance:  such friends cannot be worth hearing, their friendship being as slender as their understanding; and if they proffer their friendship with a design to make a property of you, they are dangerous acquaintance indeed.

25.  Not but the little friendships of the weak may be of some use to you, if you do not return the compliment; and it may not be amiss to seem to accept those of designing men, keeping them, as it were, in play, that they may not be openly your enemies; for their enmity is the next dangerous thing to their friendship.  We may certainly hold their vices in abhorrence, without being marked out as their personal enemy.  The general rule is to have a real reserve with almost every one, and a seeming reserve with almost no one; for it is very disgusting to seem reserved, and very dangerous not to be so.  Few observe the true medium.  Many are ridiculously misterious upon trifles and many indiscreetly communicative of all they know.