ally as he would be depriv'd of all Succour and Relief; being in
Decency oblig'd, not only to suppress all Anger or Uneasiness, but,
what is exquisitely quick, to receive this whole Treatment with the
utmost Complacency; An _Embarrassment_ of this sort, finely described,
would have yielded the greatest Pleasure to the Reader, and carried
the _Raillery_ upon _Horace_, without hurting or degrading him, to the
highest Degree of _Poignancy_; And from hence may be conceiv'd, what
delightful Entertainments are capable of being drawn from _Humour_ and
_Raillery_.

It is also easy to apprehend, that the several Subjects of _Wit_,
_Humour_, _Raillery_, _Satire_, and _Ridicule_, appear not only
_singly_ upon many Occasions, or _two_ of them combined together,
but are also frequently united in other Combinations, which are
more _complicate_; An Instance of the Union together of _Humour_,
_Raillery_, and _Ridicule_, I remember to have read somewhere
in _Voiture_'s Letters; He is in _Spain_, and upon the Point of
proceeding from thence to some other Place in an _English_ Vessel;
After he has written this Account of himself to a Lady at _Paris_,
he proceeds in his Letter to this Purpose;

"You may perhaps apprehend, that I shall be in some Danger this
Voyage, of falling into the Hands of a _Barbary_ Corsair; But to
relieve you from all such Fears, I shall beg Leave to tell you,
what my honest Captain has inform'd me himself, for my own
Satisfaction; He suspected, it seems, that I might have some
Uneasiness upon this Head; and has therefore privately assured
me, that I have no need to be afraid of being taken with him; for
that whenever it is likely to come to this, he will infallibly
blow up the Ship with his own Hands;--After this, I presume, you
will be perfectly easy, that I am in no Danger of going to
_Sallee_;"

This is exquisitely _rich_; The brave and odd Fancy of the _English_
Captain, in finding out for himself, and _privately_ communicating to
_Voiture_, this Method of Security from Slavery, abounds with the
highest _Humour_; At the same time the honest Tar, as a _Projecter_,
is excessively open to _Ridicule_, for his Scheme to blow them all
up, in order to prevent their being taken Prisoners; There is besides
these, a very full _Raillery_, which _Voiture_ here opens upon
_himself_; For as this Adventure, which he is going to be engaged in,
has been attended, as yet, with no Mischief; nor is cert