but thro'
their Hands. If that be secur'd to us by Authority, I, for my part, am
very ready to sacrifice the Privilege of _Irony_, tho so much in fashion
among all Men; being persuaded, that a great Part of the _Irony_
complain'd of, has its rise from the _want of Liberty to examine into the
Truth of Things_; and that if that _Liberty_ was prevalent, it would,
without a Law, prevent all that _Irony_ which Men are driven into for want
of Liberty to speak plainly, and to protect themselves from the Attacks of
those who would take the Advantage to ruin them for direct Assertions; and
that such Authors as _Rabelais_, _Saint Aldegonde_, _Blount_, _Marvel_,
_Thekeringil_, and many others, would never have run into that Excess of
_Burlesque_, for which they are all so famous, had not the Restraint from
writing _seriously_ been so great.

"If [61] Men are forbid to speak their Minds _seriously_ on certain
Subjects, they will do it _ironically_. If they are forbid at all upon
such Subjects, or if they find it dangerous to do so, they will then
redouble their Disguise, involve themselves in mysteriousness, and talk so
as hardly to be understood, or at least not plainly interpreted by those
who are dispos'd to do them a Mischief. And thus _Raillery_ is brought
more in fashion, and runs into an Extreme. 'Tis the persecuting Spirit has
rais'd the _bantering_ one: And want of Liberty may account for want of a
true Politeness, and for the Corruption or wrong Use of Pleasantry and
Humour.

"If in this respect we strain the just Measure of what we call _Urbanity_,
and are apt sometimes to take a buffooning rustick Air, we may thank the
ridiculous Solemnity and sour Humour of our _Pedagogues_: or rather they
may thank themselves, if they in particular meet with the heaviest of this
kind of Treatment. For it will naturally fall heaviest, where the
Constraint has been the severest. The greater the Weight is, the bitterer
will be the Satire. The higher the Slavery, the more exquisite the
Buffoonery.

"That this is really so, may appear by looking on those Countries where
the spiritual Tyranny is highest. For the greatest of _Buffoons_ are the
_Italians_: and in their Writings, in their freer sort of Conversations,
on their Theatres, and in their _Streets_, _Buffoonery_ and _Burlesque_
are in the highest Vogue. 'Tis the only manner in which the poor cramp'd
Wretches can discharge a free Thought. We must yield to 'em the
Superiority in this sort of Wit. For what wonder is it if we, who have
more Liberty, have less Dexterity in that egregious way of _Raillery_ and
_Ridicule_?"

Liberty of _grave_ Examination being fix'd by Law, I am, I say, ready to
sacrifice the Privilege of _Irony_, and yield to have a Law enacted to
prevent it. I am, moreover, willing to leave the drawing up such a Law to
your self; who honestly and impartially say[62], that all who _droll_, let
them be of any Party, let them _droll for the Truth or against it_, should
be equally punish'd.

Thus this grand Affair of _Irony_, _Banter_, and _Ridicule_; this last
persecuting Pretence, upon which you would set the Humours and Passions of
People, who are all at quiet, on float, and make a Fermentation, and
raise a Persecution against particular People, seems perfectly settled, by
yielding to your own Terms.


IV. Let me here add, that I am apt to think, that when you draw up your
Law, you will find it so very difficult to settle the Point of _Decency_
in Writing, in respect to all the various kinds of _Irony_ and _Ridicule_,
that you will be ready to lay aside your Project; and that you will be no
more able to settle that _Point of Decency_, than you would be to settle
by Law, that _Cleanliness_ in Clothes, and that Politeness in Dress,
Behaviour, and Conversation, which become Men of Quality and Fortune in
the World, and should be habitual to them: And that, if you are able to do
that to your own Satisfaction, you will