ire_ a generous free Indignation, without any
sneaking Fear or Tenderness; It being a sort of partaking in the Guilt
to keep any Terms with Vices.

It is from hence that _Juvenal_, as a _Satirist_, is greatly superior
to _Horace_; But indeed many of the short Compositions of _Horace_,
which are indiscriminately ranged together, under the general Name
of _Satires_, are not properly such, but Pieces of _Raillery_ or
_Ridicule_.

As _Raillery_, in order to be decent, can only be exercised upon
_slight_ Misfortunes and Foibles, attended with no deep Mischief, nor
with any Reproach upon real Merit, so it ought only to be used between
_Equals_ and _Intimates_; It being evidently a Liberty too great to
be taken by an _Inferior_; and too inequitable to be taken by a
_Superior_, as his Rank shields him from any Return.

_Raillery_ is the most agreeable, when it is founded on a _slight_
Embarrassment or Foible, which upon being unfolded, appears to have
arisen from the _real Merit_, or from the _Excess_ of any _Virtue_,
in the Person attack'd.

But yet this Embarrassment must always be _real_, and attended with
the Chagrin or Confusion of the _rally'd_ Person, or capable of being
fairly suppos'd to have been so; otherwise the Attack will be void of
all Poignancy, and Pleasure to the Company; And evaporate either into
_indirect Flattery_, or else into the _Insipid_.

Thus, to attack a _fine Lady_ upon the Enemies she has made, by the
mischievous Effects of her Beauty, will be properly genteel indirect
_Flattery_--if it be well conducted,--otherwise, the _Insipid_; But
it cannot be deem'd _Raillery_; It being impossible to suppose the
Lady _really_ chagrin'd by such an imaginary Misfortune, or uneasy
at any Explanation upon this Subject;

_Raillery_ ought soon to be ended; For by long keeping the Person
attack'd, even in a _slight_ Pain, and continuing to dwell upon
his Mis-adventures, you become rude and ill-natur'd;--Or if the
_Raillery_ be only turn'd upon an Embarrassment, arising from the
Excess of Merit or Abilities, Yet if it be long confined upon the same
Subject, the Person it is pointed at, will either suspect that your
Aim is, to leave some _Impression_ against him, or else that you are
designing him a tedious dark _Compliment_; And accordingly he will
either regard you with Hatred or Contempt;--Much less should a
Person, who introduces himself as a Subject of _Raillery_, insist long
upon it; For either he wi