indeed makes a

    simplician

   of him; so goes he persecuting others till some one or other at last (as

    chollerick

   as he is

    abusive) cudgel

   him for his pains; when he goes

    grumbling

   away in a mighty

    choler

   , saying,

    They understand not jest

   , when indeed tis rather

    he

   .

    —Veteres ita miratur, laudatque!—

    HOR.

    The wits of old he praises and admires.

   "It is very remarkable," says Addison, "that notwithstanding we fall short at present of the ancients in poetry, painting, oratory, history, architecture, and all the noble arts and sciences which depend more upon genius than experience; we exceed them as much in doggerel, humour, burlesque, and all the trivial arts of ridicule." As this fine observation stands at present only in the form of a general assertion, it deserves, I think, to be examined by a 

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