ABSTRACT
Conversation is the brightest and most beautiful Part of Life; 'tis an Emblem of the Enjoyment of a future State; for suitable Society is a heavenly Life. There is a strange Incongruity in the Behaviour of the People, that they fill their Mouths with the foul Repetition of Actions, and Things which their own Practicing in Private condems them for, nay, which they would be asham'd to do in Publick. Talking Bawdy, that Sodomy of the Tongue has the most of ill Manners, and the least of a Gentleman in it, of any Part of common Discourse. Besides, there is a spreading Evil in telling a false Story as true, namely, that you put it into the Mouths of others, and it continues a brooding Forgery to the End of Time. They mistake much, who think Religion, or a strict Morality, discomposes the Temper, sowres the Mind, and unfits a Man for Conversation.
