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To J. GAI, Efq;

Dec. 16, 1731.

Am astonished at the Complaints occafion'd by a late Epiftle to the Earl of Burlington; and I fhould be afflicted were there the least just Ground for 'em. Had the Writer attack'd Vice, at a Time when it is not only tolerated but triumphant, and fo far from being concealed as a Defect, that it is proclaimed with Oftentation as a Merit; I fhould have been ap préhenfive of the Confequence: Had he fatirized Gamefters of a hundred thoufand pounds Fortune, acquired by fuch Methods as are in daily practice, and almost univerfally encouraged Had he overwarmly defended the Religion of his Country, against such Books as come from every Prefs, are publickly vended in every Shop, and greedily bought by almoft every Rank of Men; or had he called our excellent Weekly Writers by the fame Names which they openly beftow on the greatest Men in the Miniftry, and out of the Ministry, for which they are all unpunished, and moft rewarded:

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In any of thefe Cafes, indeed, I might have judged him too prefumptuous, and perhaps.. have treinbled for his Rashness.

I could not but hope better for this small and modeft Epiftle, which attacks no one Vice whatsoever; which deals only in Folly, and not Folly in general, but a fingle Species of it; that only Branch, for the oppofite Excellency to which, the Noble Lord to whom it is written muft neceffarily be celebrated. I fancied it might efcape Cenfure, efpecially feeing how tenderly thefe Follies are treated, and really lefs accused, than Apologized for,

Yet hence the Poor are cloath'd, the Hungry fed,
Health to himself, and to his Infants Bread
The Lab'rer bears.

Is this fuch a Crime, that to impute it to a Man must be a grievous Offence? 'Tis an Innocent Folly, and much more Beneficent than the Want of it; for Ill Tafte employs more hands, and diffufes Expence more. than a Good one. Is it a Moral Defect? No, it is but a Natural one; a Want of Tafte. It is what the best good Man living may be liable to: The worthieft Peer may live exemplarily in an ill-favour'd Houfe, and the best reputed Citizen be pleased with a vile Garden. I thought (I fay) the Author had

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the common Liberty to obferve a Defect, and to compliment a Friend for a Quality that distinguishes him which I know not how any Quality fhould do, if we were not to remark that it was wanting in others.

But, they fay, the Satire is Perfonal. I thought it could not be fo, because all its Reflexions are on Things. His Reflexions are not on the Man, but his House, Garden, &c. Nay, he refpects (as one may fay) the Perfons of the Gladiator, Amphitheatre, the Nile and the Triton; He is only forry to fee them (as he might be to fee. any of his Friends) ridiculous, by being in the wrong Place, and in bad Company. Some fancy, that to say a Thing is Perfonal, is the fame as to fay it is Unjust, not confidering, that nothing can be Just that, is not Perfonal. Iam afraid that "all fuch Writings and Difcour-Y " fes as touch no Man, will mend no Man." The Good-Natured, indeed, are apt to be alarmed at any thing like Satire; and the Guilty readily concur with the Weak for a plain Reason, because the Vicious look upon Folly as their Frontier:

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No wonder thofe who know Ridicule belongs to them, find an inward Confolation

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in removing it from themselves as far as they can; and it is never fo far, as when they can get it fixed on the best Characters. No wonder those who are Food for Satirifts, fhould rail at them as Creatures of Prey; every Beaft born for our Ufe would be ready to call a Man fo.

I know no Remedy, unless people in our Age would as little frequent the Theatres, as they begin to do the Churches; unlefs Comedy were forfaken, Satire filent, and every man left to do what feems good in his own Eyes, as if there were no King, no Priest, no Poet in Ifrael.

But I find myself obliged to touch a Point, on which I must be more ferious; it well deferves I fhould: I mean the malicious Application of the Character of Timon, which I will boldly fay, they would impute to the Perfon the most different in the World from a Man-hater, and the Perfon whofe Tafle and Encouragement of Wit have often been fhewn in the righteft Place. The Author of that Epistle must certainly think fo, if he has the fame Opinion of his own Merit as Authors generally have; for he has been favoured by this very Perfon.

Why, in God's Name, muft a Portrait, apparently collected from twenty different Men, be applied to one only? Has it his Eye? No, it is very unlike. Has it his Nofe

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or Month? No, they are totally differing. What then, I beseech you? Why, it has the Mole on his Chin. Very well; but muft the Picture therefore be his, and has no other man that Blemish?

Could there be a more melancholy Inftance how much the Tafte of the Publick is vitiated, and turns the most falutary and seasonable Phyfick into Poifon, than if amidst the Blaze of a thousand bright Qualities in a Great Man, they should only remark there is a Shadow about him, as what Eminence is without? I am confident the Author was incapable of imputing any fuch to One, whose whole Life (to ufe his own Expreffion in Print of him) is a continued Series of good and generous Actions.

I know no man who would be more concerned, if he gave the leaft Pain or Offence to any innocent Perfon; and none who would be lefs concerned, if the Satire were challenged by any one at whom he would really aim it. If ever that happens, I dare engage he will own it, with all the Freedom of one whofe Cenfures are juft, and who fets his Name to them.

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