unless there is at the same time a perception, or supposed perception, of some incongruity or unsuitableness. Such perception of unsuitableness may be expected to give to the whole emotion a new and specific character, which every one is acquainted with from his own experience, but which, as before intimated, it is difficult to express in words.

◊ 290. Of what is understood by wit.

The subject of emotions of the ludicrous is closely connected with what is termed Wit. This last-named subject, therefore, which it is of some importance to understand, naturally proposes itself for consideration in this place. In regard to WIT, as the term is generally understood at the present time, there is ground to apprehend, that an emotion of the ludicrous is always, in a greater or less degree, experienced in every instance of it.

This being the case, we are led to give this definition, viz. WIT consists in suddenly presenting to the mind an assemblage of related ideas of such a kind as to occasion feelings of the ludicrous.-This is done in a variety of ways; and, among others, in the two following.

291. Of wit as it consists in burlesque or in debasing objects.

The first method which wit employs in exciting the feelings of the ludicrous, is by debasing those things which are grand and imposing; especially those which have an appearance of greater weight, and gravity, and splendour than they are truly entitled to. Descriptions of this sort are termed burlesque.

An attempt to lessen what is truly and confessedly serious and important, has, in general, an unpleasant effect, very different from that which is caused by true wit. And yet it is the case, that objects and actions truly great and sublime may sometimes be so coupled with other objects, or be represented in such new circumstances, as to excite very different feelings from what they would otherwise.

In the practice of burlesque, as on all other occasions of wit, there is a sudden and uncommon assemblage of related ideas. Sometimes this assemblage is made by means of a formal comparison. Take, as an instance, the following comparison from Hudibras:

"And now had Phoebus in the lap
Of Thetis taken out his nap;

And, like a lobster boiled, the morn

From black to red began to turn."

We find illustrations of burlesque also in those instances where objects of real dignity and importance are coupled with things mean and contemptible, although there is no direct and formal comparison made. As in this instance from the above-mentioned book:

"For when the restless Greeks sat down

So many years before Troy-town,
And were renowned, as Homer writes,
For well-soled boots no less than fights."

In these instances we have related ideas. In the first, there is undoubtedly an analogy between a lobster and the morning, in the particular of its turning from dark to red. But however real it may be, it strikes every one as a singular and unexpected resemblance. In the other passage, it is not clear that Butler has done anything more than Homer, in associating the renown of the Greeks with their boots as well as their valour. But to us of the present day the connexion of ideas is hardly less uncommon and singular, not to say incongruous, than in the former.

§ 292. Of wit when employed in aggrandizing objects.

The second method which wit employs in exciting emotions of the ludicrous, is by aggrandizing objects which are in themselves inconsiderable. This species of wit may be suitably termed mock-majestic or mock-heroic. While the former kind delights in low expressions, this is the reverse, and chooses learned words and sonorous combinations. In the following spirited passage of Pope, the writer compares dunces to gods, and Grub-street to heaven:

"As Berecynthia, while her offspring vie
In homage to the mother of the sky,
Surveys around her in the bless'd abode
A hundred sons, and every son a god;

Not with less glory mighty Dulness crowned,

Shall take through Grub-street her triumphant round;
And her Parnassus glancing o'er at once,

Behold a hundred sons, and each a dunce."

In this division of wit are to be included those instances where grave and weighty reflections are made on mere trifles. In this case, as in others, the ideas are in some respects related, or have something in common; but the grouping of them is so singular and unexpected, that we cannot observe it without considerable emotion. "My galligaskins, that have long withstood The winter's fury and encroaching frosts,

By time subdued, (what will not time subdue!)
A horrid chasm disclose."

But it is not to be supposed that wit is limited to the methods of assembling together incongruous ideas which have just been referred to. A person of genuine wit excites emotions of the ludicrous in a thousand ways, and which will be so diverse from each other, that it will be found exceedingly difficult to subject them to any rules.

293. Of the character and occasions of humour.

Closely connected with the general subject of ludicrous emotions and of wit, is that of Humour. It is well known that we often apply the terms humour and humorous to descriptions of a particular character, whether written or given in conversation, and which may be explained as follows.

It so happens that we frequently find among men what seems to us a disproportion in their passions; for instance, when they are noisy and violent, but not durable. We find inconsistencies, contradictions, and disproportions in their actions. They have their foibles, (hardly any one is without them,) such as self-conceit, caprice, foolish partialities, and jealousies.—Such incongruities in feeling and action cause an emotion of surprise, like an unexpected combination of ideas in wit. Observing them, as we do, in connexion with the acknowledged high traits and responsibilities of human nature, we can no more refrain from an emotion of the ludicrous, than we can on seeing a gentleman of fine clothes and high dignity making a false step and tumbling into a gutter. A person who can seize upon these specialities in temper and conduct, and set them forth in a lively and exact manner, is called a man of humour; and his descriptions are termed humorous descriptions.

DD

294. Of the practical utility of feelings of the ludicrous.

It is not impossible that the feelings which we have examined in this chapter may have the appearance, to some minds, of being practically useless. If this were the fact, it would be at variance with the economy of the mind in other respects; which gives evidence everywhere that its original tendencies are ingrafted upon it for some practical ends. But it is not so. The feeling of the ludicrous (or, as it is sometimes called, the sense of ridicule) is attended with results which, although they may not be perfectly obvious at first, will be found, on a little examination, to be of no small moment. It is entirely clear, that it constitutes one of the important guides and aids which nature has appointed of human conduct. Scarcely any one is willing to undergo ridicule, even in its milder and more acceptable forms; much less to subject himself to the "world's dread laugh." And many persons would be less attentive to the decencies and proprieties of personal conduct, and of the intercourse of life, than they are in fact, were it not for the fear of this species of retribution. It is true it is not powerful enough, nor is it the appropriate instrument to attack the more marked depravities incident to our nature, the strongholds of its sin; but it is unquestionably an effective and useful agent in its application to whatever is mean, incongruous, and unseemly.-See, in connexion with this subject, Campbell's Philosophy of Rhetoric, bk. i., ch. iii., and Beattie on Laughter and Ludicrous Compositions.

CHAPTER VI.

INSTANCES OF OTHER SIMPLE EMOTIONS.

◊ 295. Emotions of cheerfulness, joy, and gladness.

UNDER the general head of Emotions there are many other simple feelings which merit some attention. Although they are, perhaps, not less essential to our nature, and not less important than those which have been already attended to, we do not find so many difficulties in

their examination, and but a few remarks will be wanting to explain them.

We begin with the emotion of cheerfulness. Of the nature of this feeling none can be supposed to be ignorant. It exists, in a greater or less degree, throughout the whole course of our life. It is seen in the benignant looks, and is heard in the garrulity of old age; it sheds its consolations over the anxieties and toils of manhood, and reigns with a sort of perpetual spring in youth.

The words joy and delight express a high degree of cheerfulness; the feeling is the same; the difference is in its greater intensity. The word gladness is nearly synonymous with these last, but seems to be applied particularly when the joy is of a more sudden and less permanent

character.

§ 296. Emotions of melancholy, sorrow, and grief.

While there are many things in life which are fitted to make us cheerful and happy, every one must know that for wise purposes a degree of bitterness is mingled in our cup, and that circumstances occur from time to time which are of an opposite tendency. And these prove to us occasions of melancholy, which is the name of another specific simple emotion.

There are different degrees of this emotion, as well as of that of cheerfulness. We sometimes express the very slightest degree of it by the words uneasiness or discontent. When the feeling of melancholy is from any circumstance greatly increased, we usually give it the name of sorrow; so that sorrow seems to hold nearly the same relation to melancholy that joy does to cheerfulness.

The word grief also has nearly the same relation to sorrow that gladness has to joy. As far as the mere feeling is concerned which they represent, the two words grief and sorrow may be regarded as synonymous with each other; with this exception, that the term grief is commonly employed when the sorrow exists suddenly and with great strength. Hence grief sometimes shows itself by external signs, and even in frantic transports; while sorrow, even when it is deeply rooted, is more tacit, enduring, and uncommunicative.