but it is generally employed either in praise or satire.

Though the best epigrams are said to be such as are comprised in two or four verses, we are not to under- stand it as if none can be perfect which exceed those limits. Neither the ancients nor moderns have been so scrupulous with respect to the length of their epigrams; but however, brevity in general is always to be studied in these compositions.

For examples of good epigrams in the English lan- guage, we shall make choice of several in the different tales we have mentioned; some remarkable for their delicate turn and simplicity of expression; and others for their salt and sharpness, their equivocating pun, or pleasant allusion. In the first place, take that of Mr