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. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.