 Virgil.
    In the next Place, we must admonish thee, my worthy Friend, (for, perhaps,
thy Heart may be better than thy Head) not to condemn a Character as a bad one,
because it is not perfectly a good one. If thou dost delight in these Models of
Perfection, there are Books enow written to gratify thy Taste; but as we have
not, in the Course of our Conversation, ever happened to meet with any such
Person, we have not chosen to introduce any such here. To say the Truth, I a
little question whether mere Man ever arrived at this consummate Degree of
Excellence, as well as whether there hath ever existed a Monster bad enough to
verify that
 
- nulla virtute redemptum
A vitiis -14
 
in Juvenal: Nor do I, indeed, conceive the good Purposes served by inserting
Characters of such angelic Perfection, or such diabolical Depravity, in any Work
of Invention: Since from contemplating either, the Mind of Man is more likely to
be overwhelmed with Sorrow and Shame, than to draw any good Uses from such
Patterns; for in the former Instance he may be both concerned and ashamed to see
a Pattern of Excellence, in his Nature, which he may reasonably despair of ever
arriving at; and in contemplating the latter, he may be no less affected with
those uneasy Sensations, at seeing the Nature, of which he is a Partaker,
degraded into so odious and detestable a Creature.
    In Fact, if there be enough of Goodness in a Character to engage the
Admiration and Affection of a well-disposed Mind, though there should appear
some of those little Blemishes, quas humana parum cavit natura, they will raise
our Compassion rather than our Abhorrence. Indeed, nothing can be of more moral
Use than the Imperfections which are seen in Examples of this Kind; since such
form a Kind of Surprize, more apt to affect and dwell upon our Minds, than the
Faults of very vicious and wicked Persons. The Foibles and Vices of Men in whom
there is great Mixture of Good, become more glaring Objects, from the Virtues
which contrast them, and shew their Deformity; and when we find such Vices
attended with their evil Consequence to our favourite Characters, we are not
only taught to shun them for our own Sake, but to hate them for the Mischiefs
they have already brought on those we love.
    And now, my Friend, having given you these few Admonitions, we will, if you
please, once more set forward with our History.
 

                                   Chapter II

Containing the Arrival of an Irish Gentleman, with very extraordinary Adventures
                            which ensued
