to assure that it will be refined and purified. By
this process, the works of Dryden, Congreve, Southerne, Wycherley,
Garth, and Vanbrugh will be melted down to separate the sludge from
the pure metal. In the _Nature of Man_ (1711) he takes a more kindly
attitude towards Wit and pairs it with Sense, Reason, Genius, and even
Piety. While he is moderate in his denunciation of Wit in the _Essay
upon Wit_, he does insist that even at its best it can never be noble.
Wit is harmful, he states, because it is often employed in immoral
subjects, raillery, ridicule, and satire. It is chiefly useful as
ornamentation: "The Addition of Wit to Proper Subjects, is like the
artful Improvement of the Cook, who by his exquisite Sauce gives to a
plain Dish, a pleasant and unusual Relish".

Addison's _Freeholder_ essay (No. 45) was inspired by Blackmore's
_Essay upon Wit_, to which he paid a compliment in his opening remarks
(much to the disgust of Swift, who accused him of double-dealing).
Although Addison had praised Blackmore's _Creation_ warmly in the
_Spectator_ No. 339, he had not always been friendly, for earlier
Blackmore had sneered at Addison in the _Satyr against Wit_, a jibe
that drew Steele's reply in _Commendatory Verses_.

Blackmore's _Essay upon Wit_ appeared in his _Essays upon Several
Subjects_; the one-volume first edition of this work was published
in 1716 and was followed by the second edition, in two volumes, the
following year. The present reprint is from the first edition. The
1716 _Freeholder_ No. 45 here reproduced is from the edition of 1758.
Both copies are owned by the University of Michigan.

Richard C. Boys

University of Michigan

AN ESSAY UPON WIT.

The Inclinations of Men, in this their degenerate State, carry them
with great Force to those voluptuous Objects, that please their
Appetites and gratify their Senses; and which not only by their
early Acquaintance and Familiarity, but as they are adapted to the
prevailing Instincts of Nature, are more esteem'd and pursu'd than all
other Satisfactions. As those inferior Enjoyments, that only affect
the Organs of the Body are chiefly coveted, so next to these, that
light and facetious Qualification of the Mind, that diverts the
Hearers and is proper to produce Mirth and Alacrity, has, in all
Ages, by the greatest Part of Mankind, been admir'd and applauded. No
Productions of Human Understanding are receiv'd with such a general
Pleasure and App