f him you speak to, or brings Blushes into his Face, is a
degree of Murder; and it is, I think, an unpardonable Offence to shew a
Man you do not care, whether he is pleased or displeased. But won't you
then take a Jest? Yes: but pray let it be a Jest. It is no Jest to put
me, who am so unhappy as to have an utter Aversion to speaking to more
than one Man at a time, under a Necessity to explain my self in much
Company, and reducing me to Shame and Derision, except I perform what my
Infirmity of Silence disables me to do.

_Callisthenes_ has great Wit accompanied with that Quality (without
which a Man can have no Wit at all) a Sound Judgment. This Gentleman
rallies the best of any Man I know, for he forms his Ridicule upon a
Circumstance which you are in your Heart not unwilling to grant him, to
wit, that you are Guilty of an Excess in something which is in it self
laudable. He very well understands what you would be, and needs not fear
your Anger for declaring you are a little too much that Thing. The
Generous will bear being reproached as Lavish, and the Valiant, Rash,
without being provoked to Resentment against their Monitor. What has
been said to be a Mark of a good Writer, will fall in with the Character
of a good Companion. The good Writer makes his Reader better pleased
with himself, and the agreeable Man makes his Friends enjoy themselves,
rather than him, while he is in their Company. _Callisthenes_ does this
with inimitable Pleasantry. He whispered a Friend the other Day, so as
to be overheard by a young Officer, who gave Symptoms of Cocking upon
the Company, That Gentleman has very much of the Air of a General
Officer. The Youth immediately put on a Composed Behaviour, and behaved
himself suitably to the Conceptions he believed the Company had of him.
It is to be allowed that _Callisthenes_ will make a Man run into
impertinent Relations, to his own Advantage, and express the
Satisfaction he has in his own dear self till he is very ridiculous, but
in this case the Man is made a Fool by his own Consent, and not exposed
as such whether he will or no. I take it therefore that to make Raillery
agreeable, a Man must either not know he is rallied, or think never the
worse of himself if he sees he is.

_Acetus_ is of a quite contrary Genius, and is more generally admired
than _Callisthenes_, but not with Justice. _Acetus_ has no regard to the
Modesty or Weakness of the Person he rallies; but if his Quality or
Humilit