Wit is of all the most elegant recreation: the image enters the mind with gayety, and gives a sudden flash, which is extremely pleaWit thereby gently elevates without straining, raises mirth without dissoluteness, and relaxes while it entertains.

sant.

Wit in the expression, commonly called a play of words, being a bastard sort of wit, is reserved for the last place. I proceed to examples of wit in the thought; and first of ludicrous images.

Falstaff, speaking of his taking Sir John Coleville of the Dale: Here he is, and here I yield him; and I beseech your Grace, let it be book'd with the rest of this day's deeds; or, by the Lord, I will have it in a particular ballad else, with mine own picture on the top of it, Coleville kissing my foot: to the which course if I be enforc'd, if you do not all show like gilt twopences to me; and I, in the clear sky of fame, o'ershine you as much as the full moon doth the cinders of the element, which show like pins' heads to her; believe not the word of the Noble. Therefore let me have right, and let desert mount.

Second Part Henry IV. Act IV. Sc. 3.

I knew, when seven justices could not take up a quarrel, but when the parties were met themselves, one of them thought but of an if; as, if you said so, then 1 said so; and they shook hands, and swore brothers; Your if is the only peacemaker; much virtue is in if. Shakspeare.

For there is not through all Nature, another so callous, and insensible a member, as the world's posteriors, whether you apply to it the toe or the birch.

Preface to a Tale of a Tub. The war hath introduced abundance of polysyllables, which will never be able to live many more campaigns. Speculations, operations, preliminaries, ambassadors, palisadoes, communication, circumvallation, battalions, as numerous as they are, if they attack us too frequently in our coffeehouses, we shall certainly put them to flight, and cut off the rear. Tatler, No. 230.

Speaking of Discord,

She never went abroad, but she brought home such a bundle of monstrous lies, as would have amazed any mortal, but such as knew her; of a whale that had swallowed a fleet of ships; of the lions being let out of the Tower to destroy the Protestant religion; of the Pope's being seen in a brandy-shop at Wapping, &c. History of John Bull, Part I. Ch. 16.

The other branch of wit in the thought, namely, ludicrous combinations and oppositions, may be traced through various ramifications. And, first, fanciful causes assigned that have no natural relation to the effects produced:

[Exit.

Lancaster. Fare you well, Falstaff; I, in my condition, Shall better speak of you than you deserve. Falstaff. I would you had but the wit; 'twere better than your dukedom. Good faith, this same young sober-blooded boy doth not love me; nor a man cannot make him laugh; but that's no marvel, he drinks no wine. There's never any of these demure boys come to any proof; for thin drink doth so overcool their blood, and making many fish-meals, that they fall into a kind of male greensickness; and then, when they marry, they get wenches. They are generally fools and cowards; which some of us should be too, but for inflammation. A good sherris-sack hath a twofold operation in it: it ascends me into the brain; dries me there all the foolish, dull, and crudy vapors which environ it; makes it appre hensive, quick, forgetive, full of nimble, fiery, and delectable shapes; which deli vered o'er to the voice, the tongue, which is the birth, becomes excellent wit. The

second property of your excellent sherris is, the warming of the blood, which before cold and settled, left the liver white and pale; which is the badge of pusillanimity and cowardice: but the sherris warms it, and makes it course from the inwards to the parts extreme; it illuminateth the face, which, as a beacon, gives warning to all the rest of this little kingdom, man, to arm; and then the vital commoners and inland petty spirits muster me all to their captain, the heart, who, great, and puff'd up with his retinue, doth any deed of courage: and thus valor comes of sherris. So that skill in the weapon is nothing without sack, for that sets it a-work; and learning a mere hoard of gold kept by a devil, till sack commences it, and sets it in act and use. Hereof comes it that Prince Harry is valiant; for the cold blood he did naturally inherit of his father, he hath, like lean, steril, and bare land, manured, husbanded, and till'd, with excellent endeavor of drinking good and good store of fertile sherris, that he is become very hot and valiant. If I had a thousand sons, the first human principle I would teach them, should be to forswear thin potations, and to addict themselves to sack.

Second Part of Henry IV. Act IV. Sc. 7.

The trenchant blade, toledo trusty,

For want of fighting was grown rusty,
And ate into itself, for lack

Of some body to hew and hack.

The peaceful scabbard where it dwelt,
The rancor of its edge had felt;
For of the lower end two handful,
It had devoured, 'twas so manful;
And so much scorn'd to lurk in case,
As if it durst not show its face.

Speaking of physicians,

Hudibras, Canto I.

Le bon de cette profession est, qu'il y a parmi les morts une honnêteté, une discrétion la plus grande du monde; jamais on n'en voit se plaindre du médecin qui l'a tué. Le Médicin malgré lui.

Admirez les bontes, admirez les tendresses,

De ces vieux esclaves du sort.

Ils ne sont jamais las d'acquérir des richesses,
Pour ceux qui souhaitent leur mort.

Benda. Lard, he has so pester'd me with flames and stuff-I think I shan't endure the sight of a fire this twelvemonth. Old Bachelor, Act II. Sc. 8.

To account for effects by such fantastical causes, being highly ludicrous, is quite improper in any serious composition. Therefore the following passage from Cowley, in his poem on the death of Sir Henry Wooton, is in a bad taste.

He did the utmost bounds of knowledge find,
He found them not so large as was his mind.
But, like the brave Pellaan youth, did moan,
Because that art had no more worlds than one.
And when he saw that he through all had past,
He dy'd, lest he should idle grow at last.

Fanciful reasoning:

Falstaff. Imbowell'd!if thou imbowel me to-day, I'll give you leave to powder me, and eat me to-morrow! 'Sblood, 'twas time to counterfeit, or that hot termagant Scot had paid me scot and lot too. Counterfeit! I lie, I am no counterfeit; to die is to be a counterfeit; for he is but the counterfeit of a man, who hath not the life of a man; but to counterfeit dying, when a man thereby liveth, is to be no counterfeit, but the true and perfect image of life indeed.

First Part, Henry IV. Act V. Sc. 4.

Clown. And the more pity that great folk should have countenance in this world to drown or hang themselves, more than their even-christian.

Hamlet, Act V. Sc. 1.

Pedro. Will you have me, Lady? Beatrice. No, my Lord, unless I might have another for working days. Your Grace is too costly to wear every day.

Much Ado about Nothing, Act II. Sc. 1. Jessica. I shall be saved by my husband; he hath made me a Christian. Launcelot. Truly the more to blame he; we were Christians enough before, e'en as many as could well live by one another: this making of Christians will raise the price of hogs; if we grow all to be pork-eaters, we shall not have a rasher on the coals for money. Merchant of Venice, Act III. Sc. 5.

In western clime there is a town,

To those that dwell therein well known;
Therefore there needs no more be said here,
We unto them refer our reader:
For brevity is very good

When w' are, or are not understood.

But Hudibras gave him a twitch,
As quick as lightning, in the breech,
Just in the place where honor's lodg'd,
As wise philosophers have judg'd;
Because a kick in that part, more

Hurts honor, than deep wounds before.

Hudibras, Canto I.

Ibid. Canto III.

Ludicrous junction of small things with great, as of equal impor

tance:

This day black omens threat the brightest fair
That e'er deserved a watchful spirit's care:
Some dire disaster, or by force, or slight:
But what, or where, the fates have wrapt in night:
Whether the nymph shall break Diana's law;
Or some frail china jar receive a flaw;
Or stain her honor, or her new brocade;
Forget her pray'rs, or miss a masquerade;
Or lose her heart, or necklace, at a ball;

Or whether Heav'n has doom'd that Shock must fall.

Rape of the Lock, Canto II. 101.

Joining things that in appearance are opposite. As for example, where Sir Roger de Coverley, in the Spectator, speaking of his widow,

That he would have given her a coal-pit to have kept her in clean linen; and that her finger should have sparkled with one hundred of his richest acres.

Premises that promise much and perform nothing. Cicero upon that article says,

Sed scitis esse notissimum ridiculi genus, cum aliud expectamus, aliud dicitur: hic nobismet ipsis noster error risum movet. De Oratore, 1. ii. cap. 63. Beatrice. With a good leg and a good foot, uncle, and money enough in his purse, such a man would win any woman in the world, if he could get her good-will. Much Ado about Nothing, Act II. Sc. 1. Beatrice. I have a good eye, uncle, I can see a church by day-light. Ibid.

Again,

Again,

Le médecin que l'on m'indique
Sait le Latin, le Grec, l'Hébreu,
Les belles lettres, la physique,
La chimie et la botanique.
Chacun lui donne son aveu:
Il auroit aussi ma pratique ;
Mais je veux vivre encore un peu.

Vingt fois le jour le bon Grégoire
A soin de fermer son armoire.
De quoi pensez-vous qu'il a peur ?
Belle demande! Qu'un voleur
Trouvant une facile proie,

Ne lui ravisse tout son bien.

Non; Grégoire a peur qu'on ne voie
Que dans son armoire il na rien.

L'athsmatique Damon a cru que l'air des champs
Répareroit en lui le ravage des ans,

Il s'est fait, à grands frais, transporter en Bretagne.
Orvoyez ce qu'a fait l'air natal qu'il a pris!

Damon seroit mort à Paris :

Damon est mort à la campagne.

Having discussed wit in the thought, we proceed to what is verbal only, commonly called a play of words. This sort of wit depends, for the most part, upon choosing a word that has different significations by that artifice hocus-pocus tricks are played in language, and thoughts plain and simple take on a very different appearance. Play is necessary for man, in order to refresh him after labor; and accordingly man loves play, even so much as to relish a play of words: and it is happy for us, that words can be employed, not only for useful purposes, but also for our amusement. This amusement, though humble and low, unbends the mind; and is relished by some at all times, and by all at some times.

It is remarkable, that this low species of wit, has among all nation3 been a favorite entertainment, in a certain stage of their progress toward refinement of taste and manners, and has gradually gone into disrepute. As soon as a language is formed into a system, and the meaning of words is ascertained with tolerable accuracy, opportunity is afforded for expressions that, by the double meaning of some words, give a familiar thought the appearance of being new; and the penetration of the reader or hearer is gratified in detecting the true sense disguised under the double meaning. That this sort of wit was in England deemed a reputable amusement, during the reigns of Elizabeth and James I., is vouched by the works of Shakspeare, and even by the writings of grave divines. But it cannot have * But you know that it is the masked kind of the ludicrous when we expect one thing and another is said—here we laugh at our own mistake. De Oratore, l. ii. cap. 63

any long endurance: for as language ripens, and the meaning of words is more and more ascertained, words held to be synonymous diminish daily; and when those that remain have been more than once employed, the pleasure vanishes with the novelty.

I proceed to examples, which, as in the former case, shall be distributed into different classes.

A seeming resemblance from the double meaning of a word:
Beneath this stone my wife doth lie;

She's now at rest, and so am I.

A seeming contrast from the same cause, termed a verbal antithesis, which has no despicable effect in ludicrous subjects:

Dispensary, Canto 2

While Iris his cosmetic wash would try
To make her bloom revive, and lovers die,
Some ask for charms, and others philters choose,
To gain Corinna, and their quartans lose.
And how frail nymphs, oft by abortion, aim
To lose a substance, to preserve a name.
While nymphs take treats, or assignations give.

Other seeming connections from the same cause:
Will you employ your conqu'ring sword,
To break a fiddle, and your word?
To whom the knight with comely grace
Put off his hat to put his case.

Ibid. Canto 3.

Rape of the Lock.

Hudibras, Canto 2.

Ibid. Part 3. Canto 3

Here Britain's statesmen oft the fall foredoom
Of foreign tyrants, and of nymphs at home;
Here thou, great Anna! whom three realms obey,
Dost sometimes counsel take-and sometimes tea.

Rape of the Lock, Canto 3. 1. 5.

O'er their quietus where fat judges dose,
And lull their cough and conscience to repose.

Speaking of Prince Eugene:

This general is a great taker of snuff as well as of towns.

Exul mentisque domusque.

Dispensary, Canto 1.

Pope, Key to the Lock. Metamorphoses, l. ix. 409.

The exile from his mind and his home.

A sceming opposition from the same cause:
Hic quiescit qui nunquam quievit.