ithout the least regard to Modesty and Decency, in a
Christian Country to mock Religion and jerk with spiteful Satire Men
of Vertue and inoffensive Behaviour.

WIT is likewise misapply'd, when exercis'd to ridicule any unavoidable
Defects and Deformities of Body or Mind; for since nothing is a moral
Blemish, but as it is the Effect of our own Choice, nothing can be
disgraceful but what is voluntary, and brought freely upon our selves;
and since nothing is the proper Object of Raillery and Ridicule, but
what is shameful, it must be a Violence to Reason and Humanity, to
reproach and expose another for any thing that was not in his Power to
escape. And therefore to make a Man contemptible, and the Jest of
the Company, by deriding him for his mishapen Body, ill figur'd Face,
stammering Speech, or low Degree of Understanding, is a great Abuse of
ingenious Faculties.

Nor is it a less criminal Use of this Talent, when it is exercis'd
in lascivious and obscene Discourses. The Venom is not less, but more
infectious and destructive, when convey'd by artful Insinuation and a
delicate Turn of Wit; when impure Sentiments are express'd by Men of a
heavy and gross Imagination, in direct and open Terms, the Company
are put out of Countenance, and nauseate the Coarseness of the
Conversation: but a Man of Wit gilds the Poison, dresses his wanton
Thoughts in a beautiful Habit, and by slanting and side Approaches,
possesses the Imagination of the Hearers, before his Design is well
discover'd; by which means he more effectually gains Admission to the
Mind, and fills the Fancy with immodest Ideas.

Nothing can be more ill-manner'd, or disagreeable to Persons of Vertue
and Sobriety of Manners, than wanton and obscene Expressions; on
which Subject the excellent Archbishop _Tillotson_ has the following
Paragraph: "Nothing that trespasses upon the Modesty of the Company,
and the Decency of Conversation, can become the Mouth of a wise and
vertuous Person. This kind of Conversation would fain pass for Wit
among some sort of Persons, to whom it is acceptable; but whatever
savours of Rudeness and Immodesty, and Ill-Manners, is very far from
deserving that Name; and they that are sober and vertuous cannot
entertain any Discourse of this kind, with Approbation and Acceptance.
A well bred Person will never offend in this way. And therefore it
cannot but be esteem'd as an Affront to modest Company, and a rude
presuming upon their Approbation, impude