one Thing for another. This is a Way of proceeding quite contrary to Metaphor and Allufion; wherein, for the most part, lies that Entertainment and Pleafantry of Wit, which Atrikes fo lively on the Fancy, and is therefore fo acceptable to all People.

1

This Definition of Wit and Judgment must be acknowledged to be very Philofo-phical; but ftill it gives us a juft Idea how : far our Wit may go, and keep its Quality; › and how effential Judgment is to its Regu lation. I fhall purfue this Theme no further than in a few fupplemental Rules, for the Ufe and Application of our Wit in Company: We fhould endeavour to wear out the Vein of Pedantry and Affectation, to have our Senfe efteem'd to its Merit: We fhould check in ourselves all Vanities of glittering, on the Imagination of another with the Lu-ftre of our Parts; we fhould learn to think: with the Wife, but talk with the Vulgar; to. keep our fublime Notions to ourselves and i converfe in the common received Sentiments > of Mankind: To believe, that though nothing fo much gains upon the Affections as extempore Eloquence, yet that we very rarely meet with any who excel in it; that if we refolve to please, we fhould never fpeak, to gratify any particular Vanity and Paffion of our own, but always with a Defign either to divert or inform the Company: That

we should talk extremely little of our felves, to avoid putting on an Air of Wisdom by fpeaking in Proverbs, or deciding Controverfies with fhort Sentences; and to take care to be fometimes filent, on a Subject where every one is fatisfy'd we could fpeak well; for by this, we fall often be thought. no less knowing in other Matters, where, perhaps, we are wholly ignorant. The Obfervation of thefe few Rules, I am fatisfied, will fecure real Wit from Odium, and establish the Reputation of an imaginary one, where Con duct alone conceals Folly.

Now, as all the World, more, or lefs, as I have before obferv'd, are Pretenders to Wit, fo every one is ambitious of putting in his Claim to a Share of Humour. It is, indeed, much easier to describe what is not Humour, than what it is; and very difficult to define it otherwife than CCWLEY has done Wit, by Negatives. Among all Kinds of Writing, there is none in which Authors are more apt to mifcarry, than in Works of Humour, as there are none in which they are more ambitious to excel. It is not an Imagination that teems with Monsters, an Head that is filled with extravagant Conceptions, that furnish out Productions of Humour; fo neither are unreasonable Diftortions of the Countenance, whimfical Gefticulations of the Body, and an abfurd

Set

Set of furprizing and incongruous Notions, to be esteem'd fuch in Conversation.

True Humour must always lie under the Check of Reason; and it requires the Direc-tion of the nicest Judgment, by fo much the more as it indulges itfelf in the moft bound-lefs Freedoms. In fhort, it must consist in a Pleafantry deriv'd from Nature; in Vivacity and Mirth without Affectation, bounded by Truth, and fupported by good Senfe. For this Reafon, a Coxcomb can never arrive to an Hmourift: He may give himself awkard and ftrain'd Airs, run into a Length of Oddities in Behaviour, and pretend to be obftinate in fome Particulars; yet cannot go out of his own Character. It is a very juft and a common Obfervation upon the Natives of this Island, that in their different Degrees, and in their feveral Profeffions and Employ-ments, they abound as much, and, perhaps, more, in good Senfe, than any People; and yet, at the fame Time, there is fcarce an Englishman, of any Life and Spirit, that has not fome odd Caft of Thought, fome original! Humour, that diftinguishes him from his Neighbour. This national Mark is visible among us in every Rank and Degree of Men, from the Perfons of the first Quality and politeft Senfe, down to the rudeft and moft ignorant of the People. Every Me-chanick has a particular Caft of Head, and

Turn!

Turn of Wit, or fome uncommon Whim, as a Characteriftick that diftinguishes him from others of his Trade, as well as from the Multitudes that are upon a Level with him.

I confefs, by an agreeable Singularity of Temper, we may furnish out a perpetual Change of Entertainment to ourselves, and diverfify all our Converfations with a Variety of Mirth; but as I would have a Gentleman not too confcious of his Wit, fo neither would I have him ftrain too hard in Purfuit of Humour. It often throws People unawares into a Form of Buffoonery, and runs them into an habitual Carriage, that favours of Pedantry and Affectation. We should rather be con-tent to follow Nature, and be guided by Senfe, than endeavour to entertain at the Expence of our Characters; and chufe to be confidered as Men of found Reason, rather, than be counted Prodigies of Humour.

DRINKING.

229

DRINKING..

T

HERE are many Intemperances which we fall into in the Courfe of our Lives, as it were, with out Defign, through Complai fance, or the Importunities of ompany: Of this Sort, principally is Drinking. We are generally initiated into the Science, before the Liquor is in the leaft palatable: But we confent to difoblige our Tafte meerly in Compliance, 'till by the babitual Obfeqiousnefs, we grow to a Relish of the Luxury, and then continue the Debauch by Inclina

tion.

A Method of pending one's Time agreeably· is a Thing fo little ftudied, that the common Amusement of our young Gentlemen, is Drinking. This Way of Entertainment. has Cuftom of its Side; but as much as it has prevailed, I believe, there have been very

few