There are other Combinations of Wit, Humour, Raillery, Satire, and Ridicule, where four of them, or all five, are united in one Subject;—­Like various Notes in Music, sounding together, and jointly composing one exquisite Piece of Harmony;—­Or like different Rays of Light, shining together in one Rainbow:  It is pleasant to divide these Combinations, and to view as with a Prism, the different Rays united in each; of which Humour, like the Red, is eminent for its superior Force and Excellence;—­When the Judgment is thus capable of parting, and easily assigning the several Quantities, and Proportions of each, it heightens our Pleasure, and gives us an absolute Command over the Subject; But they are often so intimately mix’d, and blended together, that it is difficult to separate them clearly, tho’ they are all certainly felt in the same Piece;—­Like the different Flavours of rich Fruits, which are inseparably mix’d, yet all perfectly tasted, in one Pine-Apple.

Raillery, and Satire, are extremely different;

1. Raillery, is a genteel poignant Attack of slight Foibles and Oddities; Satire a witty and severe Attack of mischievous Habits and Vices.

2.  The Intention of Raillery, is to procure your Pleasure, by exposing the little Embarrassment of a Person; But the Intention of Satire, is to raise your Detestation, by exposing the real Deformity of his Vices.

3.  If in Raillery the Sting be given too deep and severe, it will sink into Malice and Rudeness, And your Pleasure will not be justifiable; But Satire, the more deep and severe the Sting of it is, will be the more excellent; Its Intention being entirely to root out and destroy the Vice.

4.  It is a just Maxim upon these Subjects, that in Raillery a good-natur’d Esteem ought always to appear, without any Resentment or Bitterness; In Satire a generous free Indignation, without any sneaking Fear or Tenderness; It being a sort of partaking in the Guilt to keep any Terms with Vices.

It is from hence that Juvenal, as a Satirist, is greatly superior to Horace; But indeed many of the short Compositions of Horace, which are indiscriminately ranged together, under the general Name of Satires, are not properly such, but Pieces of Raillery or Ridicule.

As Raillery, in order to be decent, can only be exercised upon slight Misfortunes and Foibles, attended with no deep Mischief, nor with any Reproach upon real Merit, so it ought only to be used between Equals and Intimates; It being evidently a Liberty too great to be taken by an Inferior; and too inequitable to be taken by a Superior, as his Rank shields him from any Return.