The nice Reader therefore, instead of being offended to find the peculiar Features of one Vice interspers’d in the Character of another, ought, on the contrary, to admire the Judgment and Accuracy of Theophrastus in this Respect: For this Mixture does not proceed from Inaccuracy, but is founded in Nature: And ’tis the Work of a sagacious Head, as well to discover the near Relations that are between different things, as to separate those Things, which by Nature are nearly related, but yet are really distinct.
The Beauty of every Kind of Writing arises from the Conformity which it bears to Nature; and therefore the Excellency of Characteristic-Writings must consist in exact Representations of human Nature.—This Harmony between Art and Nature may be call’d Justice: And tho’ the Boundaries of it may be more extensive in those Works, in which a greater Range is allow’d to the Imagination, yet still, Invention and Fiction must be admitted in Characteristic-Writings, when the Characters design’d are of a general Nature; for then the Writer does not copy from an individual Original, and all the Extravagances of Nature are natural, when they are well represented.
It requires, I own, a great deal of Penetration to hit exactly this Point of Reality: But then it must be confess’d, that as the great difficulty of Characteristic-Writing consists in this, so does the main Beauty and Force of it too: For Objects are apt to affect and move us according to their Presence or Absence; and a Character will naturally strike us more forcibly, the more the Images, which it consists of, are lively and natural; because the Object is then most present to our Mind.
Since every Feature must be drawn exactly to the Life, great Care must be taken, that the Strokes be not too faint, nor yet too strong: For Characteristic-Justice is to be observ’d as strictly by the Writers of this Kind, as Poetic-Justice is to be by Poets. That Medium must be copied, which Nature it self has mark’d out; whatever falls short of it is poor and insipid, whatever is above it is Rant and Extravagance.
[E]Quodcunque ostendis mihi sic, incredulus odi.
And whatsoever contradicts my Sense,
I hate to see, and never can believe.
Ld. Roscommon.
A consummate Delicacy of Sentiments, and an exquisite Judgment are the very Soul of Characteristic-Writing; for every particular Stroke, as well as the whole Character, has a proper Degree of Perfection. To attain this Point, and to bring the several Parts, as well as the Whole, exactly to this Pitch, is the Work of a sagacious Head, and of a perfect Judgment.—An Author, in this Kind, must not dwell too long upon one Idea: As soon as the masterly Stroke is given, he must immediately pass on to another Idea. This will give Life to the Work, and serve to keep up the Spirit of the Writing, and of the Reader too: For if, after the masterly Stroke is given, the Author shou’d, in a paraphrastical Manner, still insist upon the same Idea, the Work will immediately flag, the Character grow languid, and the Person characteris’d will insensibly vanish from the Eyes of the Reader.
An honest Writer, who has the Profit as well as the Pleasure of his Reader in View, ought always to tell the Truth. But as he is at Liberty to chuse his manner of telling it, so that Method of Instruction ought to be observ’d in Characteristic-Writings, which will keep up the good Humour of the Reader, altho’ he is, at the same Time, made sensible of his Errors. And this Artifice ought industriously to be pursu’d, since the proper Management of it is so necessary to the Success of Characteristic-Writings. For those who love and admire Truth themselves, must yet be sensible that ’tis generally unwelcome, both to themselves and to others, when the Point of Self-Interest is concern’d. And the Reason of it is, not because Truth is really ugly and deform’d, but because it presents to our View certain Inconsistencies and Errors, which Self-Love will not allow us to condemn. And therefore the great Art and Difficulty, in making Truth pleasant and profitable, is so to expose Error, as not to seem to make any Attacks upon the Province of Self-Love.
[F]Omne vafer vitium ridenti Flaccus amico
Tangit, & admissus circum præcordia ludit,
Callidus excusso Populum suspendere naso.
With conceal’d Design,