Of those, who according to the description given of them by Ennius, could more easily retain in their mouths a hot iron, than a keen saying; these are a sort of people, who seem to claim a right of making error pass for sterling gold, of converting comedy into tragedy, injurious treatment into good behaviour, and of converting honey also into poison. Their tongues may be compared to those of the lions, which are so rough and sharp, that wherever they lick they take the skin off. They are also called hummers; and so they are, for like wasps, hornets, flies, and all other vile insects of the humming kind, they the instant they have hummed, implant their sting. LXVIII. But let them make what parade they will of their abilities, they can never escape being noted for malignant or troublesome people; and whether they are one or the other, all honest men should either discard them from their company, or restrain them by threatenings. The Count de Amayuelas, whom I became acquainted with in my youth, said to a gentleman of this kind, who had taken frequent occasions to say rude and ill-natured things to him, under the pretence of being jocose, Friend Don N. I have bore with several indelicacies from you, and you may vent as many more upon me as you think proper, but let it be understood between us from henceforward, that for every indelicacy you must expect a stab. By which intimation, he took the sting out of the tail of the hummer. LXIX. There is a serious fault in hummers, and one that they very frequently commit, which is their exercising their banter upon common-place things, and general topics, and pointing their sneers, for example, against the rank, or nation of the person they attack. I am obliged for this observation, to that great master of Urbanity Quintilian; these are his words: _Male etiam dicitur quod in plures convenit: si, aut nationes totæ incessantur, aut ordines, aut conditio, aut studia multorum._ People of steril geniuses, are the most apt to fall into this absurdity, who being at a loss what to say concerning men’s actions or personal qualities, fall upon some common-place observations, respecting their condition, country, &c.