Nor knew to fix revenge. DRYDEN.

There is nothing that more betrays a base, ungenerous spirit than
the giving of secret stabs to a man's reputation. Lampoons and
satires, that are written with wit and spirit, are like poisoned
darts, which not only inflict a wound, but make it incurable. For
this reason I am very much troubled when I see the talents' of
humour and ridicule in the possession of an ill-natured man. There
cannot be a greater gratification to a barbarous and inhuman wit,
than to stir up sorrow in the heart of a private person, to raise
uneasiness among near relations, and to expose whole families to
derision, at the same time that he remains unseen and undiscovered.
If, besides the accomplishments of being witty and ill-natured, a
man is vicious into the bargain, he is one of the most mischievous
creatures that can enter into a civil society. His satire will then
chiefly fall upon those who ought to be the most exempt from it.
Virtue, merit, and everything that is praiseworthy, will be made the
subject of ridicule and buffoonery. It is impossible to enumerate
the evils which arise from these arrows that fly in the dark; and I
know no other excuse that is or can be made for them, than that the
wounds they give are only imaginary, and produce nothing more than a
secret shame or sorrow in the mind of the suffering person. It must
indeed be confessed that a lampoon or a satire do not carry in them
robbery or murder; but at the same time, how many are there that
would not rather lose a considerable sum of money, or even life
itself, than be set up as a mark of infamy and derision? And in
this case a man should consider that an injury is not to be measured
by the notions of him that gives, but of him that receives it.

Those who can put the best countenance upon the outrages of this