BOOK II PART I
sign the following reason. We can never have a
vanity of resembling in trifles any person, un-
less he be possessed of very shining qualities,
which give us a respect and veneration for him.
These qualities, then, are, properly speaking,
the causes of our vanity, by means of their rela-
tion to ourselves. Now after what manner are
they related to ourselves? They are parts of the
person we value, and consequently connected
with these trifles; which are also supposed to
be parts of him. These trifles are connected
with the resembling qualities in us; and these
qualities in us, being parts, are connected with
the whole; and by that means form a chain of
several links of the person we resemble. But
besides that this multitude of relations must
weaken the connexion; it is evident the mind,
in passing from the shining qualities to the triv-
ial ones, must by that contrast the better per-