Essay upon Wit | Page 9

greater Importance, and therefore deserve
more Esteem than those, who only are subservient to our Recreation;
for the World may still subsist, and continue in very comfortable
Circumstances without one, but not without the other: And 'tis easy to
name some learned and powerful Communities, the Envy and Terror of
their Neighbours, who tho they abound in Men of good Sense and
diligent Application to Business, yet have few Wits and Jesters among
them to make them merry.
The Truth of what I have asserted will farther appear, if we reflect that
generally Men of a plain Understanding and good Sense, but of great
Industry and Capacity for Business, are in all Governments advanc'd to
Posts of Trust and great Employments in the State, while meer Wits are
regarded as Men of the lowest Merit, and accordingly are promoted to
the meaner and less profitable Places, being look'd on, by reason of
their Inapplication and volatile Temper, as unfit for a higher Station.
Another pernicious Abuse of Wit is that which appears in the Writings
of some ingenious Men, who are so hardy as to expose from the Press
the most venerable Subjects, and treat Vertue and Sobriety of Manners
with Raillery and Ridicule. Several, in their Books, have many
sarcastical and spiteful Strokes at Religion in general, while others
make themselves pleasant with the Principles of the Christian. Of the
last kind this Age has seen a most audacious Example in the Book
intitul'd, A Tale of a Tub. Had this Writing been publish'd in a Pagan or
Popish Nation, who are justly impatient of all Indignity offer'd to the
Establish'd Religion of their Country, no doubt but the Author would
have receiv'd the Punishment he deserv'd. But the Fate of this impious
Buffoon is very different; for in a Protestant Kingdom, zealous of their
Civil and Religious Immunities, he has not only escap'd Affronts and
the Effects of publick Resentment, but has been caress'd and patroniz'd
by Persons of great Figure and of all Denominations. Violent
Party-Men, who differ'd in all Things besides, agreed, in their Turn, to
shew particular Respect and Friendship to this insolent Derider of the
Worship of his Country, till at last the reputed Writer is not only gone
off with Impunity, but triumphs in his Dignity and Preferment. I do not
know, that any Inquiry or Search was ever made after this Writing, or
that any Reward was ever offer'd for the Discovery of the Author, or

that the infamous Book was ever condemn'd to be burnt in Publick:
Whether this proceeds from the excessive Esteem and Love that Men in
Power, during the late Reign, had for Wit, or their defeat of Zeal and
Concern for the Christian Religion, will be determin'd best by those,
who are best acquainted with their Character.
But the most extensive Abuse of Parts and Ingenuity, appears in the
loose Productions of our Writers to the Stage. It was the Complaint of
the celebrated Wit of _Spain, Michael de Cervantes_, before-cited, that
the Comedies in his Time were not only extravagant and monstrous in
their Contrivance, but likewise the Exemplars of Vice and
Representations of Lewdness: But had the Plays in Spain, at that Time,
been as Immoral and Unchaste as the daily Entertainments of the
British Theatre, which have a manifest Tendency to vitiate the Taste of
the People, fill their Imaginations with obscene Ideas, and their Lives
with Levity, Idleness and Luxury; I say, if that great Man, whose
Judgment was equal to his admirable Genius, had seen Religion and
Vertue so derided, and Modesty, Reservedness, and Decency so
insulted and expos'd, his Zeal for the Honour of his Country, and his
Love of Mankind, would have animated him to have attack'd the
Comick Poets with the same Spirit, with which he assaulted the
prevailing Folly of his Age, the Romantick Atchievements of Knights
Errant; his Wit and good Sense would have made those merry Authors
as odious for poisoning the People with their loose and immoral
Writings, as he made the others ridiculous for their extravagant and idle
Tales.
No doubt a Comedy may be so contriv'd, that it may at once become
delightful, and promote Prudence and Sobriety of Manners; that is,
when the Characters are well chosen, justly delineated, and every
where distinguish'd; When the various Manners are exactly imitated
and carry'd on with Propriety and Uniformity; when the principal
Action contains an instructive Moral, and all the Parts in a regular
Connexion, Dependance and Proportion, illustrate and support each
other, and have a manifest Influence on the main Event; When the
Incidents are well imagin'd, and result from the Manners of the
Dramatick Persons, when the Turns are surprizing, the Knots or
Obstructions natural and unconstrain'd, and the unraveling of them, tho