It seems then _Executions_ are only for _Greatness_; and _Quality_. _Justice_ is not to strike much _lower_ than a _Prince_. _Private People_ may do what they _please_. They are too _few_ for _Mischief_, and too _Little_ for _Punishment_! This would be admirable Doctrine for _Newgate_, and give us a general _Goal-Delivery_ without more ado. But in _Tragedy_ (says the _Mock Astrologer_.) _the Crimes are likewise Horrid_, so that there is a necessity for Severity and Example. And how stands the matter in _Comedy_? Quite otherwise. There the _Faults are but the follies of Youth, and the Frailties of Human Nature_.[321] For Instance. There is nothing but a little Whoring, Pimping, Gaming, Profaness _&c_, And who could be so hard hearted to give a Man any Trouble for This? Such Rigours would be strangely Inhumane! A _Poet_ is a better natur'd Thing I can assure you. These little Miscarrages _move Pity and Commiseration, and are not such as must of necessity be Punish'd_.[322] This is comfortable Casuistry! But to be Serious. Is Dissolution of Manners such a Peccadillo? Does a Profligate Conscience deserve nothing but Commiseration? And are People damn'd only for _Humane Frailties_? I perceive the Laws of Religion and those of the _Stage_ differ extreamly! The strength of his Defence lies in this choice Maxim, that the _Cheif End of Comedy is Delight_. He questions _whether Instruction has any thing to do in Comedy_; If it has, he is sure _'tis no more then its secondary end_: _For the business of the Poet is to make you laugh_.[323] Granting the Truth of this Principle, I somewhat question the serviceableness of it. For is there no Diversion to be had unless Vice appears prosperous, and rides at the Head of Success. One would think such a preposterous, distribution of Rewards, should rather shock the Reason, and raise the Indignation of the _Audience_. To laugh without reason is the Pleasure of Fools, and against it, of something worse. The exposing of Knavery, and making _Lewdness_ ridiculous, is a much better occasion for Laughter. And this with submission I take to be the End of _Comedy_. And therefore it does not differ from _Tragedy_ in the End, but in the _Means_. Instruction is the principal Design of both. The one works by Terror, the other by Infamy. 'Tis true, they don't move in the same Line, but they meet in the same point at last. For this Opinion I have good Authority, besides what has been cited already.