morality, you will find it fully and admirably stated in ‘Les Lettres d’un Provincial’, by the famous Monsieur Pascal; and it is a book very well worth your reading.  Few people see what they see, or hear what they hear; that is, they see and hear so inattentively and superficially, that they are very little the better for what they do see and hear.  This, I dare say, neither is, nor will be your case.  You will understand, reflect upon, and consequently retain, what you see and hear.  You have still two years good, but no more, to form your character in the world decisively; for, within two months after your arrival in England, it will be finally and irrevocably determined, one way or another, in the opinion of the public.  Devote, therefore, these two years to the pursuit of perfection; which ought to be everybody’s object, though in some particulars unattainable; those who strive and labor the most, will come the nearest to it.  But, above all things, aim at it in the two important arts of speaking and pleasing; without them all your other talents are maimed and crippled.  They are the wings upon which you must soar above other people; without them you will only crawl with the dull mass of mankind.  Prepossess by your air, address, and manners; persuade by your tongue; and you will easily execute what your head has contrived.  I desire that you will send me very minute accounts from Rome, not of what you see, but, of who you see; of your pleasures and entertainments.  Tell me what companies you frequent most, and how you are received.

LETTER XCVII

London, December 19, O. S. 1749.

Dear boy:  The knowledge of mankind is a very use ful knowledge for everybody; a most necessary one for you, who are destined to an active, public life.  You will have to do with all sorts of characters; you should, therefore, know them thoroughly, in order to manage them ably.  This knowledge is not to be gotten systematically; you must acquire it yourself by your own observation and sagacity; I will give you such hints as I think may be useful land-marks in your intended progress.

I have often told you (and it is most true) that, with regard to mankind, we must not draw general conclusions from certain particular principles, though, in the main, true ones.  We must not suppose that, because a man is a rational animal, he will therefore always act rationally; or, because he has such or such a predominant passion, that he will act invariably and consequentially in the pursuit of it.  No.  We are complicated machines:  and though we have one main-spring, that gives motion to the whole, we have an infinity of little wheels, which, in their turns, retard, precipitate, and sometimes stop that motion.  Let us exemplify.  I will suppose ambition to be (as it commonly is) the predominant passion of a minister of state; and I will suppose that minister to be an able one.  Will he, therefore,