Essays on Shakespeare's Dramatic Characters: With an Illustration of Shakespeare's Representation of National Characters, in That of Fluellen (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from Essays on Shakespeare's Dramatic Characters: With an Illustration of Shakespeare's Representation of National Characters, in That of Fluellen

The study Of human nature has been Often and variously recommended. Know thyself, was a precept so highly esteemed by the venerable sages Of antiquity, that they ascribed it to the Delphian oracle*. By reducing it to practice, we learn the dignity Of human nature. Our emulation is excited by contemplating our divine origi nal: and, by discovering the capacity and extent of our faculties, we become desirous Of higher improvement. Nor would the practice of this apophthegm enable'us mere ly to elevate and enlarge our desires, but also, to purify and refine them; to withstand the solicitations Of groveling appetites, and subdue their violence: for improvement in virtue consists in duly regulating our inferior.

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