: That he had expended one Part of the
Income of this Fortune in discovering a Taste superior to most, by Works where
the highest Dignity was united with the purest Simplicity, and another Part in
displaying a Degree of Goodness superior to all Men, by Acts of Charity to
Objects whose only Recommendations were their Merits, or their Wants: That he
was most industrious in searching after Merit in Distress, most eager to relieve
it, and then as careful (perhaps too careful) to conceal what he had done: That
his House, his Furniture, his Gardens, his Table, his private Hospitality, and
his public Beneficence all denoted the Mind from which they flowed, and were all
intrinsically rich and noble, without Tinsel, or external Ostentation: That he
filled every Relation in Life with the most adequate Virtue: That he was most
piously religious to his Creator, most zealously loyal to his Sovereign; a most
tender Husband to his Wife, a kind Relation, a munificent Patron, a warm and
firm Friend, a knowing and a chearful Companion, indulgent to his Servants,
hospitable to his Neighbours, charitable to the Poor, and benevolent to all
Mankind. Should I add to these the Epithets of wise, brave, elegant, and indeed
every other amiable Epithet in our Language, I might surely say,
 
- Quis credet? nemo Hercule! nemo;
Vel duo, vel nemo.
 
And yet I know a Man who is all I have here described. But a single Instance
(and I really know not such another) is not sufficient to justify us, while we
are writing to thousands who never heard of the Person, nor of any Thing like
him. Such Raræ Aves should be remitted to the Epitaph-Writer, or to some Poet,
who may condescend to hitch him in a Distich, or to slide him into a Rhime with
an Air of Carelessness and Neglect, without giving any Offence to the Reader.
    In the last Place, the Actions should be such as may not only be within the
Compass of human Agency, and which human Agents may probably be supposed to do;
but they should be likely for the very Actors and Characters themselves to have
performed: For what may be only wonderful and surprizing in one Man, may become
improbable, or indeed impossible, when related of another.
    This last Requisite is what the dramatic Critics call Conservation of
Character, and it requires a very extraordinary Degree of Judgment, and a most
exact Knowledge of human Nature.
    It is admirably remarked by a most excellent Writer, That Zeal can no more
hurry a Man to act in direct
