Credulity may be said to be the child of ignorance, and the mother
of distress. A wise man will not suffer himself to be imposed upon
by slender artifices and idle tales; but the credulous man is easily
deluded, and subjects himself to numberless misfortunes. He is ever
the dupe of designing knaves, and of needy adventurers, who are always
intent upon serving themselves at the expence of others. They fasten
upon opulent men of weak minds, as the objects of delusion, and for
this purpose, tempt them with proposals of apparently advantageous
schemes, which they have ready made out, to entice their victims to
embark along with them. By credulity, they hope to establish their own
fortune, and provided this be done, they care not, even if the ruin of
their unsuspecting associates follow. It will likewise ever be found
that when an honest man and a knave happen to become partners in the
same common interest, the latter, whenever necessity pinches, will be
sure to shift for himself, and leave the former in the lurch.
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