The Reader will however excuſe me, if I adviſe him not to run them over with too much Haſte and Indifference; ſuch Readers will, I promiſe them, find little to admire in this Book, whoſe Beauties (if it have any) require the ſame Attention to diſcover them, with which the Author herſelf hath conſidered that Book of Nature, whence they are taken. In Books, as well as Pictures, where the Excellence lies in the Expreſſion or Colouring only, the firſt Glance of the Eyes acquaints us with all the Perfection of the Piece; but the niceſt and moſt delicate Touches of Nature are not ſo ſoon perceived. In the Works of Cervantes or Hogarth, he is, I believe, a wretched Judge, who diſcovers no new Beauties on a ſecond, or even a third Peruſal.
And here I cannot controll myſelf from averring, that many Touches of this kind appear to me in theſe Letters; ſome of which I cannot help thinking as fine, as I have ever met with in any of the Authors, who have made human Nature their Subject.
As ſuch Obſervations are generally ſuppoſed to be the Effects of long Experience in, and much Acquaintance with Mankind,
