comes them to remember that it is the Fault, and not the Excellence of Wit to defile its own Nest, and not to spare its own Friends and Relations, for the Sake of a Jest.
The truth is, the Extremes of Raillery are more offensive than those of Stupidity: It is a Work of such a tender and subtil Spirit, that it cannot be decently perform'd by all Pretenders to it; nor does it always agree well with the Temper of our Nation; which as it has a greater Courage than to suffer Derision, so it has a firmer Virtue than to be wholly taken up about deriding of others. Such Men are therefore to know, that all things are capable of abuse from the same Topicks by which they may be commended; they are to consider, that Laughter is the easiest and the slenderest Fruit of Wit; they are to understand, that it proceeds from the Observation of the Deformity of things; but that there is a nobler and more masculine Pleasure, which is rais'd from beholding their Order and Beauty: From thence they may conclude, how great the Difference is between them and the real Philosophers; for while Nature has only form'd them to be pleas'd with its Irregularities and Monsters, it has given the other the Delight of knowing and studying its most beautiful Works.
In plain Terms, a universal Abuse of every thing, though it may tickle the Fancy never so much, is inhuman Madness; as one of the Antients well expresses it, who calls such Mirth humanis Bacchari rebus. If all things were made the Subjects of such Humour, all worthy designs would soon be laugh'd out of the World; and for our present Sport, our Posterity would become barbarous. All good Enterprises ought to find Assistance when they are begun, Applause when
