Alexandria Advertiser And Commercial Intelligencer

From the Commercial Gazette:

THE REFLECTOR-No. VIII.

"It is easier to know mankind in general than any one man in particular."

My neighbour Sciomnis is thought by his acquaintance to have a very philosophic way of thinking. I can never hear him converse without admiring his talents and being enlightened by his information. It is remarked of him, that he has made human nature the chief object of his study. Nor do I conceive it is paying him too high a compliment to say that he can analyze all the springs and properties of the soul with as much skill and propriety as the ablest artist can define the machinery of a watch. Yet my good neighbour has always been unfortunate in his most intimate connexions, and has suffered innumerable vexations from the insincerity and fickleness of his friends. Perhaps no man has been more frequently deceived in his opinions of individuals, or smarted more severely by listening to the impulse of credulity.

I have had the curiosity to search out the cause why a person so apparently sagacious, is often the dupe of those, who are, in all respects, inferior to himself.—It is difficult to assign a reason why a man who discovers so much discernment, when speaking of mankind in the aggregate, should in all his personal concerns never rightly estimate a single character. A person of the most slender abilities may easily palm himself upon Sciomnis for a man of solid understanding; and the most bare-faced knaves have gulled him out of his money, by such tricks and evasions, as scarce required ordinary precaution to guard against. In short, my learned friend is wise for every body but himself. He can tell his acquaintance with almost a prophetic spirit, how to estimate characters and measures; and teach them with a peculiar degree of certainty how to escape the vices and follies that are floating in Society. But he himself can steer clear of none of them. His secrets are often bro't to light through the weakness of some of his associates; and his hopes are as often blasted through the knavery of others.

I find the mystery in this whole affair to be nothing more than this, that my neighbor has strong passions as well as a strong understanding. His feelings are so irritable and vigorous that his reason can never assume its full sway in directing concerns of a personal nature. The impulse of some passion beguiles him insensibly, and foils that discernment which is conspicuous on occasions where he is totally disinterested. His maxims and reflections bear the marks of a comprehensive genius; while his life discovers a repetition of imprudent acts, which have flowed from a heart susceptible to the slightest touch. If he happens to be flattered he forgets at once that flattery is an article used by designing men, and in the ardor of his vanity, commits himself without reserve to the insinuations of the flatterer. This looks very extraordinary, as he frequently in the moments of reflection, expatiates to his friends on the danger of putting confidence in men of smooth insinuating manners. But why do I descend to particulars in designating the character of Sciomnis. It is sufficient to say, that although his knowledge of human nature is very acute and extensive, yet he is so much the slave of whatever passion is uppermost, that he is betrayed into a thousand indiscretions, and exposed to innumerable disappointments. He understands mankind in the aggregate; while the application of his knowledge to particular cases is erroneous and unfortunate.