se 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 praecordia ludit,
Callidus excusso Populum suspendere naso._

[F: Persius Sat. I. V. 116, &c.]

----With conceal'd Design,
Did crafty _Horace_ his low Numbers join:
And, with a sly insinuating Grace,
Laugh'd at his Friend, and look'd him in the Face:
Wou'd raise a Blush, where secret Vice he found;
And tickle, while he gently prob'd the Wound.
With seeming Innocence the Crowd beguil'd;
But made the desp'rate Passes, when he smil'd.
Mr. _Dryden_.

This was the Character of one of the greatest _Roman_ Poets; and in
this Art, amongst the Moderns, [G]_Benserade_ particularly excell'd,
if we may believe his Successor and Panegyrist _Pavillon_.

[G: Dictionaire de _Bayle_. Artic. _Benserade._ Not. L.]

What is the proper Style for _Characteristic-Writings_ is briefly laid
down by [H]_Libanius_ in the following Words. +Ergase ten ethopoiian
charakteri saphei, suntomo, anthero, apoluto, apellagmeno pases plokes
te kai schematos+. "When you describe Manners you must use a plain,
concise, florid, easy Style, free from all artificial Turns and
Figures." Every Thing must be even, smooth, easy and unaffected;
without any of those Points and Turns, which convey to the Mind
nothing but a low and false Wit, in which our Moderns so much abound,
and in which they seem to place their greatest Beauties.

[H: Ap. _Is. Casaub._ Proleg. ad Theophrast.]

The primary Standard for Style is the Nature of the Subject: And
therefore, as _Characteristic-Writings_ are professed Representations
of Nature, an Author in this Way is immediately concern'd to use a
simple and natural Style: Nor has he any Reason to fear, that this
will any ways prejudice his Performance, and make it appear low, flat
and insipid; for in Reality there is nothing more noble than a true
Simplicity, and nothing more beautiful than Nature, when it appears in
the easy Charms of its own native Dress.

In _Characteristic-Writings_ both the Way of Thinking and the Style
must be Laconic: Much must be contained in a little Compass. Brevity
of Diction adds new Life to a g