But it is possible, that satire may not do much good: men may rise in
their affections to their follies, as they do to their friends, when they
are abused by others: it is much to be feared, that misconduct will never
be chased out of the world by satire; all therefore that is to be said for
it is, that misconduct will certainly be never chased out of the world by
satire, if no satires are written: nor is that term unapplicable to graver
compositions. Ethics, heathen and Christian, and the Scriptures
themselves, are, in a great measure, a satire on the weakness and iniquity
of men; and some part of that satire is in verse too: nay, in the first
ages, philosophy and poetry were the same thing; wisdom wore no other
dress: so that, I hope, these satires will be the more easily pardoned
that misfortune by the severe. Nay, historians themselves may be
considered as satirists, and satirists most severe; since such are most
human actions, that to relate, is to expose them.
No man can converse much in the world, but, at what he meets with, he must
either be insensible, or grieve, or be angry, or smile.
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