_Moderns_; But the _Characters_ he exhibits are of _satirical_, and
_deceitful_, or of a _peevish_ or _despicable_ Species; as _Volpone_,
_Subtle_, _Morose_, and _Abel Drugger_; In all of which there is
something very justly to be _hated_ or _despised_; And you feel
the same Sentiments of _Dislike_ for every other _Character_ of
_Johnson_'s; so that after you have been _gratify'd_ with their
_Detention_ and _Punishment_, you are quite tired and disgusted with
their Company:--Whereas _Shakespear_, besides the peculiar _Gaiety_ in
the _Humour_ of _Falstaff_, has guarded him from disgusting you with
his _forward Advances_, by giving him _Rank_ and _Quality_; from being
_despicable_ by his real good _Sense_ and excellent _Abilities_; from
being _odious_ by his _harmless Plots_ and _Designs_; and from being
_tiresome_ by his inimitable Wit, and his new and incessant _Sallies_
of highest _Fancy_ and _Frolick_.

This discovers the _Secret_ of carrying COMEDY to the highest Pitch of
Delight; Which lies
in drawing the Persons exhibited, with such chearful and amiable
_Oddities_ and _Foibles_, as you would chuse in your own
_Companions_ in _real Life;
--otherwise, tho' you may be diverted at first with the _Novelty_ of a
Character, and with a proper _Detection_ and _Ridicule_ of it, yet its
_Peevishness_, _Meanness_, or _Immorality_, will begin to disgust you
after a little Reflection, and become soon _tiresome_ and _odious_; It
being certain, that
whoever cannot be endured as an _accidental_ Companion in _real
Life_, will never become, for the very same Reasons, a _favorite
comic Character_ in the Theatre.

This _Relish_ for _generous_ and _worthy_ Characters alone, which