3. If in _Raillery_ the Sting be given too deep and severe, it
will sink into Malice and Rudeness, And your Pleasure will not be
justifiable; But _Satire_, the more deep and severe the Sting of it
is, will be the more excellent; Its Intention being entirely to root
out and destroy the Vice.
4. It is a just Maxim upon these Subjects, that in _Raillery_ a
good-natur'd Esteem ought always to appear, without any Resentment
or Bitterness; In _Satire_ a generous free Indignation, without any
sneaking Fear or Tenderness; It being a sort of partaking in the Guilt
to keep any Terms with Vices.
It is from hence that _Juvenal_, as a _Satirist_, is greatly superior
to _Horace_; But indeed many of the short Compositions of _Horace_,
which are indiscriminately ranged together, under the general Name
of _Satires_, are not properly such, but Pieces of _Raillery_ or
_Ridicule_.
As _Raillery_, in order to be decent, can only be exercised upon
_slight_ Misfortunes and Foibles, attended with no deep Mischief, nor
with any Reproach upon real Merit, so it ought only to be used between
_Equals_ and _Intimates_; It being evidently a Liberty too great to
be taken by an _Inferior_; and too inequitable to be taken by a
_Superior_, as his Rank shields him from any Return.
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