It is no uncommon thing to meet with impudent fools, so very eager of
being thought wits, that they will run great hazards in attempting to
shew themselves such, and will often persist in their awkward raillery
to the last degree of offence. But these kind of folks, instead of
raising themselves into esteem, are held in contempt by men of sense;
and though the generous and the brave may scorn to suffer themselves to
be ruffled by the insolent behaviour of every ass that offends them,
yet such sparks must not from thence conclude, that they will not meet
with retorts in kind from men far superior to themselves in mental
endowments; or that their unseasoned wit will always escape a more
proper, but a different chastisement.
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