Page:Memoirs of Hyppolite Clairon (Volume 1).djvu/66

 flection and writing are two such different things; it appears so extraordinary to me to comprehend any thing without the aid of physiognomy, gesture, and speech; I am so diffident of myself; that I tremble as much in taking up the pen as I once did in appearing before the public.—Friendship imposes the task upon me, and my compliant disposition cannot resist. Without any regular plan, perhaps without any system, but certainly without vanity, I am about to trace what I deem necessary to the attainment of this art,—an art much more difficult than it is generally supposed to be.