--
You must _love_ him for your _own_ sake,--At the same time you cannot
but _love_ him for _his own_ Talents; And when you have _enjoy'd_
them, you cannot but _love_ him in _Gratitude_;--He has nothing to
disgust you, and every thing to give you Joy;--His _Sense_ and his
_Foibles_ are equally directed to advance your Pleasure; And it is
impossible to be tired or unhappy in his Company.
This _jovial_ and _gay_ Humour, without any thing _envious_,
_malicious_, _mischievous_, or _despicable_, and continually
_quicken'd_ and adorn'd with _Wit_, yields that peculiar Delight,
without any _Alloy_, which we all feel and acknowledge in _Falstaff's_
Company.--_Ben Johnson_ has _Humour_ in his _Characters_, drawn with
the most masterly Skill and Judgment; In Accuracy, Depth, Propriety,
and Truth, he has no _Superior_ or _Equal_ amongst _Ancients_ or
_Moderns_; But the _Characters_ he exhibits are of _satirical_, and
_deceitful_, or of a _peevish_ or _despicable_ Species; as _Volpone_,
_Subtle_, _Morose_, and _Abel Drugger_; In all of which there is
something very justly to be _hated_ or _despised_; And you feel
the same Sentiments of _Dislike_ for every other _Character_ of
_Johnson_'s; so that after you have been _gratify'd_ with their
_Detention_ and _Punishment_, you are quite tired and disgusted with
their Company:--Whereas _Shakespear_, besides the peculiar _Gaiety_ in
the _Humour_ of _Falstaff_, has guarded him from disgusting you with
his _forward Advances_, by giving him _Rank_ and _Quality_; from being
_despicable_ by his real good _Sense_ and excellent _Abilities_; from
being _odious_ by his _harmless Plots_ and _Designs_; and from being
_tiresome_ by his inimitable Wit, and his new and incessant _Sallies_
of highest _Fancy_ and _Frolick_.
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