A Writer who makes fame the chief end of his endeavours, and would be
more desirous of pleasing than of improving his readers, might find
an inexhaustible fund of mirth in politics. Scandal and satire are
never-failing gratifications to the public. Detraction and obloquy
are received with as much eagerness as wit and humour. Should a writer
single out particular persons, or point his rallery at any order of
men, who by their profession ought to be exempt from it; should he
slander the innocent, or satirize the miserable; or should he, even
on the proper subjects of derision, give the full play to his mirth,
without regard to decency and good-manners; he might be sure of
pleasing a great part of his readers, but must be a very ill man, if
by such a proceeding he could please himself.
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