Abel Boyer, a Huguenot who settled in London in 1689, devoted himself to
language, history, and literature. As a linguist, he tutored Allen
Bathurst and the Duke of Gloucester in French, prepared a textbook for
English students of French, compiled a French and English dictionary, and endeavored to promote a better understanding between France and England by translating works of each nation into the language of the other. As a historian, he recorded the principal events of English national life from 1688 to 1729. As a literary figure, he wrote a play that was approved by Dryden and published two collections of characters.
Coming in on the great flood of character books which reached its crest
in the seventeenth century, Boyer's collections were part of the final
surge before the character was taken over by Steele and handed on to the
novelists. The first was _Characters of the Virtues and Vices of the
Age; or, Moral reflections, maxima, and thoughts upon men and manners. Translated from the most refined French wits ... and extracted from the most celebrated English writers.... Digested alphabetically under proper titles_ (1695). The second, resembling the first in design but considerably enlarged, was published in 1702 under the title _The English Theophrastus: Or The Manners of the Age. Being the Modern Characters Of The Court, the Town, and the City_. No author is given on the title page, but the work is usually ascribed to Boyer because his name appears beneath the dedication.
That Boyer's purpose in preparing _The English Theophrastus_ was moral
is evident in the preface, where he describes the subject of his book as
the "Grand-Lesson, _deliver'd by the_ Delphian _Oracle_, Know thy Self: _Which certainly is the most important of a Man's Life_." Distempers of the mind, he continues, like those of the body, are half cured when well known. Although philosophers of all ages have agreed in their aim to expose human imperfections in order to rectify them, their methods have differed. Those moralists who have inveighed magisterially against man's vices generally have been "_abandon'd to the ill-bred Teachers of Musty Morals in Schools, or to the sowr Pulpit-Orators_." Those who, by "_nipping Strokes of a Side-wind Satyr, have endeavour'd to tickle Men out of their Follies_," have been welcomed and caressed by the very people who were most abused. Since self-love waves the application, satire, unless bluntly direct, can fail as completely as reprehension.
Modern moralists, according to Boyer, have pursued a third course and
cast their observations on men and manners into the entertaining form
employed by Theophrastus, Lucian, Plutarch, and Diogenes Laertius. Among
the moderns, La Rochefoucauld, Saint-Evremond, and La Bruyère are
admired by all judicious readers. From these French writers Boyer has
selected materials for the groundwork of his collection. He has added
passages from Antoninus, Pascal, and Gratian; from the English authors
Bacon, Cowley, L'Estrange, Raleigh, Temple, Dryden, Wycherley, Brown
and others; and from his own pen. They range from a single line to a
passage of several pages. Those of English origin are distinguished by
"_an_ Asterism," his own remarks by inverted commas. Other matter is
unmarked.
Although Boyer has used as his title _The English Theophrastus_, examination of the sections here reprinted will show that he has departed from the way of the Greek master. Instead of sharply defined portraits, Boyer offers maxims, reflections, and manners, after the French pattern. Gathered from a variety of sources, these observations are sometimes related to one another only by their common subject matter, but often they have been altered and rearranged by Boyer for sharper focus and unity. A few examples will make his method clear.