The Works of Mons. de La Bruyere Volume 1; The Characters, or Manners of the Age (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1752 Excerpt: ... proved. J must tell you that the Prince who unites alJ these in a single Person, very well deserves the Name of Great. _ __ rT7-r., Of MAN, LE T us not bi vnjry with Men, when we. fee them stubborn, ungrateful, unjust, proud, Lovers of themselves and forgetful of pthersy they are made lo, it is their Nature;.it.would-be quarrelling with the Stone for falling, or, with the Flame for ascending. In one scrise Men are not fickle, or only in. Trifles: They change their Habits, . Language, Fashions, ' Cefcmoiiies, and sometimes their Taste; but tiny are immutable in their Depravity; are tenaciously adherent to what is ill, and never depart from an Indifference for. Virtue.. SteicismlsA meer Fancy, . an Imagery something like Plato Repuijiick. The Stoicvfr feign that a Man may laugh at Poverty; be insensible of Injuries, Ingratitude, or the Loss p his Estate, Parents and Friends; look unconcernedly on Death, as something really indifferent, which oiijjht not to make bim merry-....iu or or melancholy; may master Pleasure or Pain; may undergo the Torments of Fire or Sword without the least Sigh or Tear; and this Phantom cf Virtue, this ideal Firmners, they are 'pleased to stile the Wise Man. They have lest Mankind in Possession of all their natural Desects, not one Vice or Foible have they exposed in its proper Light. Instead of painting Vice in its frightful and ridiculous Forms, to inspire an avoidance of it, they have forged an Idea of Persection and Heroism, of which Men are not capable, and exhorted them to visionary Impossibilities. Thus this Wife Man that is to be, or will never be, but in Imagination, finds himself naturally above all Uls and Eventsi the most excruciating' 'tt of the Gout, or Cholick, cannot extort: from him the least Complaint; he wo...