PART IV.
SECT. I.
By this time (my Friend!) you may possibly, I hope, be satisfy'd, that as I am in earnest in defending Raillery, so I can be sober too in the Use of it. 'Tis in reality a serious Study, to learn to temper and regulate that Humour which Nature has given us, as a more lenitive Remedy against Vice, and a kind of Specifick against Superstition and melancholy Delusion. There is a great difference between seeking how to raise a Laugh from every thing; and seeking, in every thing, what justly maybe laugh'd at. For nothing is ridiculous except what is deform'd: Nor is any thing proof against Raillery, except what is handsom and just. And therefore 'tis the hardest thing in the World, to deny fair Honesty the use of this Weapon, which can never bear an Edge against her-self, and bears against every thing contrary.
