nly is this
he is far worse than the _Buffoon_, since they study to _delight_,
this only to _offend_; they to make _merry_, but this onely to make
you _mad_, whence wo be t' ye of he discovers and _imperfection_ or
_fault_ in you, for he never findes a _breach_ but he makes a _hole_
of it; nor a _hole_ but he _tugs_ at it so long till he tear it quite;
giving you for reason of his _incivility_, because (forsooth) _it
troubled you_, which would make any civil man cease troubling you. So
he wears his _wit_ as _Bravo's_ do their swords, to mischief and
offend others, not as _Gentlemen_ to defend themselves: and tis
_crime_ in him, what is _ornament_ in others; he being onely a _wit_
at that, at which a good _wit_ is a _fool_. Especially he triumphs
over your modest men; and when he meets with a _simple body_, passes
for a _wit_, but a _wit_ indeed makes a _simplician_ of him; so goes
he persecuting others till some one or other at last (as _chollerick_
as he is _abusive) cudgel_ him for his pains; when he goes _grumbling_
away in a mighty _choler_, saying, _They understand not jest_, when
indeed tis rather _he_.

* * * * *

THE ADVENTURER.

_VOLUME THE FOURTH._

_--Tentanda via est; qua me quoque possim
Tollere humo, victorque viram volitare per ora._ VIRG.

On vent'rous wing in quest of praise I go,
And leave the gazing multitude below.

A NEW EDITION, ILLUSTRATED WITH FRONTISPIECES.

LONDON: PRINTED FOR SILVESTER DOIG, ROYAL EXCHANGE, EDINBURGH.

1793.

* * * * *

No. CXXVII. Tuesday, January 22. 1754.

_--Veteres ita miratur, laudatque!--_
HOR.
The wits of old he praises and admires.

"It is very remarkable," says Addison, "that notwithstanding we fall
short at present of the ancients in poetry, painting, oratory,
history, architecture, and all the noble arts and sciences which
depend more upon genius than experience; we exceed them as much in
doggerel, humour, burlesque, and all the trivial arts of ridicule." As
this fine observation stands at present only in the form of a general
assertion, it deserves, I think, to be examined by a deduction of
particulars, and confirmed by an allegation of examples, which may
furnish an agreeable entertainment to those who have ability and
inclination to remark the revolutions of human wit.

That Tasso, Ariosto, and Camoens, the three