PREFACE.
When it is considered, that in the indulgence of the good or bad Passions of the Human Mind, depends the happiness or misery of mankind, I shall not be accused of having chosen a subject beneath the province of my pen; I shall, on the other hand, have my fears even of being unequal to the task. I indulge, however, a hope, that aided by the talents of the inimitable Le Brun, I may be able to place an inscription at least, beneath the portraits he has so admirably delineated, and which may have some effect on the mind of the young reader, who, when he observes that the best people look best and most happy, will be inclined to become of the best.