Having thus denied veracity both to Plutarch and _himself_, this Idler, in the very next page, leaps at once from the wildest scepticism to the wildest credulity. The paragraph is too long for insertion; but the tenor of it is, that 'a man's account of himself, left behind him unpublished, may be _depended on_;' because, 'by self-love all have been so often betrayed, _that_ (now for the strangest flight of nonsense) all are on the watch against its artifices.' In his Dictionary, _temperance_ is defined to be '_moderation opposed to gluttony and drunkenness_.' And he has since defined 'sobriety or temperance' to be '_nothing_ but the forbearance of _pleasure_[12].' This maxim needs no comment. 'A man will, in the hour of darkness and fatigue, be content to leave behind him every thing but _himself_[13].' Here the Doctor supposes, that a person can leave _himself_ behind _himself_. When the reader examines the passage in the original, he will be convinced, that this cannot be an error of the press only. Had the Rambler, when he crossed Tweed, left behind him his pride, his indolence, and his vulgarity, he would have returned a much wiser, better, and happier man than he did. _Form_, he explains to be, 'the external appearance of any thing, shape;' but, when speaking of hills in the North of Scotland, he says, 'the appearance is that of matter incapable of FORM[14]!' He has seen _matter_, not only destitute, but incapable of _shape_. He has seen an _appearance_ which is incapable of _external_ appearance. And yet, in the same book, he seems to regret the weakness of his vision. Beauty is 'that assemblage of graces which pleases the eye.' But, in the Idler[15], he displays his true idea of beauty; and it is a very lame piece of philosophy. Judge from a few samples: 'If a man, born blind, was to recover his sight, and the most beautiful woman was to be brought before him, he could not determine whether she was handsome or not. Nor if the most handsome and most deformed were produced, could he any better determine to which he should give the preference, having seen only these two.' And again, 'as we are then more accustomed to beauty than deformity, we may conclude _that_ to be the reason why we approve and admire it.' Moreover, 'though habit and custom cannot be said to be the cause[16] of beauty, IT is certainly the cause of our liking it[17]. I have no doubt, but that, if we were more used to deformity than beauty, deformity would then lose the idea now annexed to it, and take that of beauty; as if the whole world should agree that _yes_ and _no_ should change their meanings, _yes_ would then deny, and _no_ would affirm.' This is such a perfection of nonsense, that the reader will, perhaps, think it a forgery; but he will find it _verbatim et literatim_, and the whole number is in the same stile.