An Essay towards Fixing the True Standards of Wit, Humour, Railery, Satire, and Ridicule (1744) by Corbyn Morris
page 76 of 88 (86%)
page 76 of 88 (86%)
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of _Sense_, as may secure him from being trampled upon, or becoming
absolutely contemptible; In such an Adventure the Mortification, and Distress of _Horace_, would be excessively whimsical and severe; especially as he would be depriv'd of all Succour and Relief; being in Decency oblig'd, not only to suppress all Anger or Uneasiness, but, what is exquisitely quick, to receive this whole Treatment with the utmost Complacency; An _Embarrassment_ of this sort, finely described, would have yielded the greatest Pleasure to the Reader, and carried the _Raillery_ upon _Horace_, without hurting or degrading him, to the highest Degree of _Poignancy_; And from hence may be conceiv'd, what delightful Entertainments are capable of being drawn from _Humour_ and _Raillery_. It is also easy to apprehend, that the several Subjects of _Wit_, _Humour_, _Raillery_, _Satire_, and _Ridicule_, appear not only _singly_ upon many Occasions, or _two_ of them combined together, but are also frequently united in other Combinations, which are more _complicate_; An Instance of the Union together of _Humour_, _Raillery_, and _Ridicule_, I remember to have read somewhere in _Voiture_'s Letters; He is in _Spain_, and upon the Point of proceeding from thence to some other Place in an _English_ Vessel; After he has written this Account of himself to a Lady at _Paris_, he proceeds in his Letter to this Purpose; "You may perhaps apprehend, that I shall be in some Danger this Voyage, of falling into the Hands of a _Barbary_ Corsair; But to relieve you from all such Fears, I shall beg Leave to tell you, what my honest Captain has inform'd me himself, for my own Satisfaction; He suspected, it seems, that I might have some Uneasiness upon this Head; and has therefore privately assured |
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