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Article ON THE DIFFERENT MODES OF REASONING ← Page 2 of 4 →
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On The Different Modes Of Reasoning
Let a beautiful woman , youpg , elegant , and full of gallantry , such as liistory represents the celebrated Cleopatra , who by the infi pityof her charms , the magic of her wit , the voluptuousness of her caresses , makes her lover daily taste all the delights that could be found in variety—in whose arms , to use the emphatic language of Diyden , " desire springs from enjoyment ; " let such . a woman appear in an assembly of prudes , whose chastity is secured by age and ugliness , how will her beauties
and talents be despised!—Sheltered from seduction , beneath the Medusean shield of deformity , these prudes have no idea of the pleasure arising from the flattering infatuation and fond solicitations of a lover ; they cannot conceive the difficulty which a beautiful woman finds in resisting the importunity of the man she loves , and the vanity of making him the confident of all her secret charms : they will therefore fall with fury upon this lovel y woman , and place her weakness * mong crimes of the blackest dye .
But let a prude , in her turn , appear in a circle of coquettes , she will there meet with as little respect as superciliousness can shew fo levity , and as much contempt as beauty can express for deformity . To be revenged on her prudery they will tell her , that the beauty who yields to love , and the ordinary woman who resists that passion , are both prompted by the same motive ; the one seeks an admirer of ber charmsthe other toavoid the means of her disgrace and censer
, ; quently there is no difference , but what beauty makes , between the prude and the woman of galjantry . . Thus the different opinions , passions , and prejudices of mankind exult over each other . The ostentatious minister of State , who will ¦ not know merit in a mean condition , is despised in his turn by men of sense and learning ,
" Foolish mortal ! '" cry they;—* - " on what dost thou pride thyself ? — -Art thou vain of the crowds that kneel before thee ? - ^ -Know ! whatever thy folly may suppose , this homage is not paid to thee , but to thy place . Thou , of thyself , art nobody : what lustre thou hast is reflected by the favour of thy Sovereign . Behold the vapours that arise from the mud of those marshes ; sustained in the air , they are changed into gaudy clouds : the }* shinelike theewith a splendor
, , borrowed from the sun ; but should that luminary for a moment withdraw his beams , their brightness is lost , and they sink into the mud whence they rose . " As contrary passions excite reciprocal contempt , a different turn of mind produces nearly the same effect . Necessitated to relish only such ideas as are analogous to our own
, it is impossible for us to admire a turn of mind very different . For this reason the mathematician has commonly a greater esteem for the metaphj'sician than the poet , while the poet has . a higher opinion of the orator than of either . Thus , with the best intentions , illustrious men of different tastes set little value on each other . To be convinced of the reality of this
contempt , which is always reciprocal , let us listen \ . o the language of men of genius . Like several mountebanks dispersed in a market-place , each calls .admirers to himself and thinks that he alone can deserve them
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Different Modes Of Reasoning
Let a beautiful woman , youpg , elegant , and full of gallantry , such as liistory represents the celebrated Cleopatra , who by the infi pityof her charms , the magic of her wit , the voluptuousness of her caresses , makes her lover daily taste all the delights that could be found in variety—in whose arms , to use the emphatic language of Diyden , " desire springs from enjoyment ; " let such . a woman appear in an assembly of prudes , whose chastity is secured by age and ugliness , how will her beauties
and talents be despised!—Sheltered from seduction , beneath the Medusean shield of deformity , these prudes have no idea of the pleasure arising from the flattering infatuation and fond solicitations of a lover ; they cannot conceive the difficulty which a beautiful woman finds in resisting the importunity of the man she loves , and the vanity of making him the confident of all her secret charms : they will therefore fall with fury upon this lovel y woman , and place her weakness * mong crimes of the blackest dye .
But let a prude , in her turn , appear in a circle of coquettes , she will there meet with as little respect as superciliousness can shew fo levity , and as much contempt as beauty can express for deformity . To be revenged on her prudery they will tell her , that the beauty who yields to love , and the ordinary woman who resists that passion , are both prompted by the same motive ; the one seeks an admirer of ber charmsthe other toavoid the means of her disgrace and censer
, ; quently there is no difference , but what beauty makes , between the prude and the woman of galjantry . . Thus the different opinions , passions , and prejudices of mankind exult over each other . The ostentatious minister of State , who will ¦ not know merit in a mean condition , is despised in his turn by men of sense and learning ,
" Foolish mortal ! '" cry they;—* - " on what dost thou pride thyself ? — -Art thou vain of the crowds that kneel before thee ? - ^ -Know ! whatever thy folly may suppose , this homage is not paid to thee , but to thy place . Thou , of thyself , art nobody : what lustre thou hast is reflected by the favour of thy Sovereign . Behold the vapours that arise from the mud of those marshes ; sustained in the air , they are changed into gaudy clouds : the }* shinelike theewith a splendor
, , borrowed from the sun ; but should that luminary for a moment withdraw his beams , their brightness is lost , and they sink into the mud whence they rose . " As contrary passions excite reciprocal contempt , a different turn of mind produces nearly the same effect . Necessitated to relish only such ideas as are analogous to our own
, it is impossible for us to admire a turn of mind very different . For this reason the mathematician has commonly a greater esteem for the metaphj'sician than the poet , while the poet has . a higher opinion of the orator than of either . Thus , with the best intentions , illustrious men of different tastes set little value on each other . To be convinced of the reality of this
contempt , which is always reciprocal , let us listen \ . o the language of men of genius . Like several mountebanks dispersed in a market-place , each calls .admirers to himself and thinks that he alone can deserve them