This discovers the _Secret_ of carrying COMEDY to the highest Pitch of
Delight; Which lies
in drawing the Persons exhibited, with such chearful and amiable
_Oddities_ and _Foibles_, as you would chuse in your own
_Companions_ in _real Life;
--otherwise, tho' you may be diverted at first with the _Novelty_ of a
Character, and with a proper _Detection_ and _Ridicule_ of it, yet its
_Peevishness_, _Meanness_, or _Immorality_, will begin to disgust you
after a little Reflection, and become soon _tiresome_ and _odious_; It
being certain, that
whoever cannot be endured as an _accidental_ Companion in _real
Life_, will never become, for the very same Reasons, a _favorite
comic Character_ in the Theatre.
This _Relish_ for _generous_ and _worthy_ Characters alone, which
we all feel upon the _Theatre_, where no Biass of Envy, Malice, or
personal Resentment draws us aside, seems to be some Evidence of our
_natural_ and _genuin_ Disposition to _Probity_ and _Virtue_; tho' the
Minds of most Persons being early and deeply _tinged_ with vicious
Passions, it is no wonder that _Stains_ have been generally mistaken
for _original Colours_.
It may be added, that _Humour_ is the most exquisite and delightful,
when the _Oddities_ and _Foibles_ introduc'd are not _mischievous_ or
_sneaking_, but _free_, _jocund_, and _liberal_; and such as result
from a generous Flow of Spirits, and a warm universal _Benevolence_.
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