Scurrility has no object in view but incivility; if it is uttered from feelings of petulance, it is mere abuse; if it is spoken in a joking manner, it may be considered raillery.
Less than we imagine, from abusive words in controversy, does one individual, who is the vilified object, suffer harm. Vials of wrath in constant use, like uncorked bottles, lose the potency of their contents from too much exposure to the air; and disputants laugh in each other’s faces after having with hard adjectives metaphorically boxed one another’s ears.
