When we are commended for our performances by people of much flattery
or little judgment, we should be sure not to value ourselves upon
it; for want of this caution, many a vain unthinking man has at once
exposed himself to the censure of the world. A buffoon, though he would
not be fit to open his mouth in a senate, or upon a subject where sound
sense and a grave and serious behaviour are expected, may be very
agreeable to a company disposed to be mirthful over a glass of wine.
It is not the diverting a little, insignificant, injudicious audience
or society, which can gain us a proper esteem, or insure our success,
in a place which calls for a performance of the first rate. We should
have either allowed abilities to please the most refined tastes, or
judgment enough to know that we want them, and to have a care how we
submit ourselves to the trial. And, if we have a mind to pursue a
just and true ambition, it is not sufficient that we study barely to
please; but it is of the greatest moment whom we please, and in what
respect, otherwise we may not only lose our labour, but make ourselves
ridiculous into the bargain.
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