Page:Characteristicks of men, manners, opinions, times Vol 1.djvu/96

82 ment throughout; and try what certain Knowledge or Assurance of things may be recover'd, in that very way, by which all Certainty, you thought, was lost, and an endless Scepticism introduc'd.

F a Native of were on a sudden transported into, and placed either at  or  at a time of Carnival, when the general Face of Mankind was disguis'd, and almost every Creature wore a Mask; 'tis probable he wou'd for some time be at a stand, before he discoverd the Cheat: not imagining that a whole People cou'd be so fantastical, as upon Agreement, at an appointed time, to transform themselves by a Variety of Habits, and make it a solemn Practice to impose on one another, by this universal Confusion of Characters and Persons. Tho he might at first perhaps have look'd on this with a serious eye, it wou'd be hardly possible for him to hold his Countenance, Rh