It requires an almost painful Attention to mark the Propriety and Accuracy of Johnson, and your Satisfaction arises from Reflection and Comparison; But the Fire and Invention of Shakespear in an Instant are shot into your Soul, and enlighten and chear the most indolent Mind with their own Spirit and Lustre.—­Upon the whole, Johnson’s Compositions are like finished Cabinets, where every Part is wrought up with the most excellent Skill and Exactness;—­ Shakespear’s like magnificent Castles, not perfectly finished or regular, but adorn’d with such bold and magnificent Designs, as at once delight and astonish you with their Beauty and Grandeur.

RAILLERY is a genteel poignant Attack of a Person upon any slight Foibles, Oddities, or Embarrassments of his, in which he is tender, or may be supposed to be tender, and unwilling to come to a free Explanation.

  SATIRE is a witty and severe Attack of mischievous Habits or
   Vices;

RIDICULE is a free Attack of any Motly Composition, wherein a real or affected Excellence and Defect both jointly appear, glaring together, and mocking each other, in the same Subject.

Hence the Aim of Raillery, is to please you, by some little Embarrassment of a Person; Of Satire, to scourge Vice, and to deliver it up to your just Detestation; And of Ridicule, to set an Object in a mean ludicrous Light, so as to expose it to your Derision and Contempt.

It appears therefore that Raillery and Ridicule differ in several Circumstances.

1. Raillery can only be employ’d in relation to Persons, but Ridicule may be employ’d in what relates either to Persons, or other Objects.

2. Raillery is us’d only upon slight Subjects, where no real Abilities or Merit are questioned, in order to avoid degrading the Person you attack, or rendering him contemptible; Whereas Ridicule observes no such Decency, but endeavours really to degrade the Person attack’d, and to render him contemptible.

3. Raillery may be pointed at a whimsical Circumstance, only because a Person is known to be tender upon it; and your Pleasure will arise from the Embarrassment he suffers, in being put to an Explanation;—­ Thus a young Gentleman may be rallied upon his Passion for a Lady;—­ At the same Time there may be no Ground for Ridicule in this Circumstance, as it may no way deserve your Derision or Contempt.

4.  As it thus appears that there are Subjects of Raillery, into which Ridicule cannot justly be admitted; So there are Subjects of Ridicule, wherein your Derision and Contempt are so strongly excited, that they are too gross for Raillery;—­As a person tossed in a Blanket; or the unfortunate Attack which another has made upon a Windmill.