doubtful immortality by being pilloried in Pope's _Dunciad_.

Throughout his writings Blackmore has a good deal to say about Wit,
and much about the abuse of it. While Swift in the _Tale of a Tub_
scolds the Wits for their addiction to nonsense and irreligion,
Blackmore goes still further in the _Satyr_, seeing Wit as something
which, in common practice, is evil and vicious, to be eradicated as
quickly as possible. It is the enemy of virtue and religion (in the
Preface to _Creation_, 1712, he links it with atheism), a form of
insanity, in opposition to 'Right Reason', and the seducer of young
men. Combatting its iniquities, Blackmore proposes to set up a Bank
and Mint of Wit to assure that it will be refined and purified. By
this process, the works of Dryden, Congreve, Southerne, Wycherley,
Garth, and Vanbrugh will be melted down to separate the sludge from
the pure metal. In the _Nature of Man_ (1711) he takes a more kindly
attitude towards Wit and pairs it with Sense, Reason, Genius, and even
Piety. While he is moderate in his denunciation of Wit in the _Essay
upon Wit_, he does insist that even at its best it can never be noble.
Wit is harmful, he states, because it is often employed in immoral
subjects, raillery, ridicule, and satire. It is chiefly useful as
ornamentation: "The Addition of Wit to Proper Subjects, is like the
artful Improvement of the Cook, who by his exquisite Sauce gives to a
plain Dish, a pleasant and unusual Relish".

Addison's _Freeholder_ essay (No. 45) was inspired by Blackmore's
_Essay upon Wit_, to which he paid a compliment in his opening remarks
(much to the disgust of Swift, who accused him of double-dealing).
Although Addison had praised Blackmore's _Creation_ warmly in the
_Spectator_ No. 339, he had not always been friendly, for earlier
Blackmore had sneered at Addison in the _Satyr against Wit_, a jibe