The Reader no doubt is before-hand
with me, and concludes, that I mean the _Tatler_ and _Spectator_,
which for the greatest Part, have all the Perfection of Writing, and
all the Advantages of Wit and Humour, that are requir'd to entertain
and instruct the People: And it must chiefly be owing to the great
Depravity of Manners in these loose and degenerate Times, that such
worthy Performances have produc'd no better Effects.
But this excellent and amiable Qualification of the Mind is too apt to
be abus'd and perverted to ill purposes. Instead of being ingag'd on
the Side of Vertue, and us'd to promote just Notions and Regularity of
Life, it is frequently employ'd to expose the most Sacred Things,
to turn Gravity and reserv'd Behaviour into Ridicule, to keep in
Countenance Vice and Irreligion, and with a petulant and unrestrain'd
Liberty, to deride the Principles and Practices of the wisest and best
of Men. The Conversation of ingenious Libertines generally turns upon
Reveal'd Religion and the venerable Teachers of it; or on those of
the Laity, who seem most sincere in the Belief of Christianity, and
express the greatest Conformity in their Actions to the Precepts of
it. Nothing gives so high a Seasoning to their Raillery, and more
improves the Taste of their Jests, than some sharp and pointed
Ingredients, that wound Religion and the Professors of it; whereof
some are made the Entertainment of the Company by these facetious
Scoffers, and expos'd as Persons fetter'd with Prepossessions, and
biass'd by Notions of Vertue, deriv'd from Education and the early
Instructions of canting Parents.
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