The materials employed by wit in the grotesque pieces she exhibits, are partly derived from those common fountains of whatever is directed to the imaginative powers, the ornaments of elocution, and the oratorical figures, similé, apostrophe, antithesis, metaphor; partly from those she in a manner appropriates to herself, irony, hyperbolé, allusion, parody, and (if the reader will pardon my descending so low) paronomasia', and pun. The limning of wit differs from the rhetorical painting above described in two respects. One is, that in the latter there is not only a resemblance requisite in that particular on which the comparison is founded, but there must also be a general similitude in the nature and quality of that which is the basis of the imagery, to that which is the theme of discourse. In respect of dignity, or the impression they make upon the mind, they must be things homogeneous. What has magnificence, must invariably be portrayed by what is magnificent; objects of importance by objects important; such as have grace by things graceful: Whereas the witty, though requiring an exact likeness in the first particular, demands, in the second, a contrariety rather, or remoteness. This enchantress exults in reconciling contradictions, and in hitting on that special light and attitude, wherein you can discover an unexpected similarity in objects, which, at first sight, appear the most dissimilar and heterogeneous. Thus high and low are coupled, humble and superb, momentous and trivial, common and extraordinary. Addison, indeed, observes, that wit is often produced, not by the resemblance, but by the opposition of ideas. But this, of which, however, he hath not given us an instance, doth not constitute a different species, as the repugnancy in that case will always be

tainly a perversion of the word from its ordinary sense, through an excessive deference to the manner and idiom of our ingenious neighbours. Indeed, when an author varies the meaning in the same work, he not only occasions perplexity to his reader, but falls himself into an apparent inconsistency. An error of this kind in Mr. Pope has been lately pointed out by a very ingenious and judicious critic. "In the Essay on Criticism it is said,

True wit is nature to advantage dress'd :

But immediately after this the poet adds,

For works may have more wit than does 'em good.

Now let us substitute the definition in the place of the thing, and it will stand thus: A work may have more of nature dress'd to advantage, than will do it good. This is impossible; and it is evident, that the confusion arises from the poet's having annexed two different ideas to the same word." Webb's Remarks on the Beauties of Poetry, Dialogue II.

Paranomasia is properly that figure which the French call jeu de mots. Such as "Inceptio est amentium, haud amantium." Ter. Andr. "Which tempted our attempt." Milt. B. I. "To begird the Almighty's throne, beseeching or besieging." B. V.

Spectator.

found between objects in other respects resembling; for it is to the contrast of dissimilitude and likeness, remoteness and relation in the same objects, that its peculiar effect is imputable. Hence we hear of the flashes and the sallies of wit, phrases which imply suddenness, surprise, and contrariety. These are illustrated in the first by a term which implies an instantaneous emergence of light in darkness: in the second, by a word which denotes an abrupt transition to things distant. For we may remark in passing, that though language be older than criticism, those expressions adopted by the former to elucidate matters of taste, will be found to have a pretty close conformity to the purest discoveries of the latter.

Nay, of so much consequence here are surprise and novelty, that nothing is more tasteless, and sometimes disgusting, than a joke that has become stale by frequent repetition, For the same reason, even a pun or happy allusion will appear excellent when thrown out extemporé in conversation, which would be deemed execrable in print. In like manner,✔ a witty repartee is infinitely more pleasing than a witty attack. For though, in both cases, the thing may be equally new to the reader or hearer, the effect on him is greatly injured, when there is ground to suppose, that it may be the slow production of study and premeditation. This, however, holds most with regard to the inferior tribes of witticisms, of which their readiness is the best recommendation.

The other respect in which wit differs from the illustrations of the graver orator, is the way wherein it affects the hearer. Sublimity elevates, beauty charms, wit diverts. • The first, as hath been already observed, enraptures, and as it were, dilates the soul; the second diffuseth over it a serene delight; the third tickles the fancy, and throws the spirits into an agreeable vibration.

To these reflections I shall subjoin examples in each of the three sorts of wit above explained.

It will, however, be proper to premise, that if the reader should not at first be sensible of the justness of the solutions and explications to be given, he ought not hastily to form an unfavourable conclusion. Wherever there is taste, the witty and the humorous make themselves perceived, and produce their effect instantaneously; but they are of too subtle a nature, that they will hardly endure to be touched, much less to undergo a strict analysis and scrutiny. They are like those volatile essences, which, being too delicate to bear the open air, evaporate almost as soon as they are exposed to it. Accordingly, the wittiest things will sometimes be made to appear insipid, and the most ingenious frigid, by scrutinising them too narrowly. Besides, the very frame of spirit proper

for being diverted with the laughable in objects, is so different from that which is necessary for philosophising on them, that there is a risk, that when we are most disposed to inquire into the cause, we are least capable of feeling the effect; as it is certain, that when the effect hath its full influence on us, we have little inclination for investigating the cause. For these reasons, I have resolved to be brief in my illustrations, having often observed, that, in such nice and abstract inquiries, if a proper hint do not suggest the matter to the reader, he will be but more perplexed by long and elaborate discussions.

Of the first sort, which consists in the debasement of things great and eminent, Butler, amongst a thousand other instances, hath given us those which follow:

And now had Phoebus in the lap
Of Thetis, taken out his nap:
And, like a lobster boil'd the morn
From black to red began to turn ".

Here the low allegorical style of the first couplet, and the simile used in the second, afford us a just notion of this lowest species which is distinguished by the name of the ludicrous. Another specimen from the same author you have in these lines:

Great on the bench, great in the saddle.
That could as well bind o'er as swaddle,
Mighty he was at both of these,

And styl'd of war, as well as peace :
So some rats of amphibious nature,
Are either for the land or water".

In this coarse kind of drollery, those laughable translations or paraphrases of heroic and other serious poems, wherein the authors are said to be travestied, chiefly abound.

To the same class those instances must be referred, in which, though there is no direct comparison made, qualities of real dignity and importance are degraded, by being coupled with things mean and frivolous, as in some respect standing in the same predicament. An example of this I shall now give from the same hand.

For when the restless Greeks sat down

So many years, before Troy town,
And were renown'd, as Homer writes,
For well-soal'd boots P, no less than fights.

Hudibras, Part ii. Canto 3.

Ibid, Part i. Canto i.

P In allusion to the Ευκνήμιδος Αχαιοι, an expression which frequently occurs, both in the Iliad and in the Odyssey.

Hudibras, Part i. Canto 2.

I shall only observe further, that this sort, whose aim is to debase, delights in the most homely expressions, provincial idioms, and cant phrases.

Tho second kind, consisting in the aggrandisement of little things, which is by far the most splendid, and displays a soaring imagination, these lines of Pope will serve to illustrate :

As Berecynthia, while her offspring vie
In homage to the mother of the sky,
Surveys around her in the blest abode,
An hundred sons, and every son a god:
Not with less glory mighty Dulness crown'd,

Shall take thro' Grubstreet her triumphant round;
And her Parnassus glancing o'er at once,

Behold an hundred sons, and each a dunce".

This whole similitude is spirited. The parent of the celestials is contrasted by the daughter of night and chaos; heaven by Grubstreet; gods by dunces. Besides, the parody it contains on a beautiful passage in Virgil, adds a particular lustre to it. This species we may term the thrasonical, or the mock-majestic. It affects the most pompous language, and sonorous phraseology, as much as the other affects the reverse, the vilest and most grovelling dialect.

I shall produce another example from the same writer, which is, indeed, inimitably fine. It represents a lady employed at her toilet, attended by her maid, under the allegory of the celebration of some solemn and religious ceremony. The passage is rather long for a quotation, but as the omission of any part would be a real mutilation, I shall give it

entire.

And now unveil'd the toilet stands display'd,
Each silver vase in mystic order laid.
First, rob'd in white, the nymph intent adores,
With head uncovered, the cosmetic powers.
A heavenly image in the glass appears,
To that she bends, to that her eyes she rears;
Th' inferior priestess, at her altar's side,
Trembling, begins the sacred rites of pride;
Unnumber'd treasures opes at once, and here
The various offerings of the world appear;
From each she nicely culls with curious toil,
And decks the goddess with the glittering spoil.
This casket India's glowing gems unlocks,
And all Arabia breathes from yonder box.

r Dunciad, B.

The passage is this,

Felix prole virum, qualis Berecynthia mater
Invehitur curru Phrygias turrita per urbes,
Læta deum partu, centum complexa nepotes,
Omnes cœlicolas, omnes supera alta tenentes.

ENEIS.

་

The tortoise here and elephant unite:

Transform'd to combs, the speckled and the white.
Here files of pins extend their shining rows,
Puffs, powders, patches, bibles, billet-doux.
Now awful beauty puts on all its arms,
The fair each moment rises in her charms,
Repairs her smiles, awakens every grace,
And calls forth all the wonders of her face;
Sees by degrees a purer blush arise,

And keener lightnings quicken in her eyes'.

To this class also we must refer the application of grave reflections to mere trifles. For that great and serious are naturally associated by the mind, and likewise little and trifling, is sufficiently evinced by the common modes of expression on these subjects used in every tongue. An apposite instance of such an application we have from Philips,

My galligaskins, that have long withstood

The winter's fury and incroaching frosts,

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

Like to this, but not equal, is that of Young,

One day his wife, (for who can wives reclaim?)
Levell❜d her barbarous needle at his fame *.

To both the preceding kinds, the term burlesque is applied, but especially to the first.

Of the third species of wit, which is by far the most multifarious, and which results from what I may call the queerness or singularity of the imagery, I shall give a few specimens that will serve to mark some of its principal varieties. To illustrate all would be impossible.

The first I shall exemplify, is where there is an apparent contrariety in the things she exhibits as connected. This kind of contrast we have in these lines of Garth,

Then Hydrops next appears amongst the throng;
Bloated and big she lowly sails along;

But like a miser in excess she's poor;

And pines for thirst amidst her watry storey.

The wit in these lines doth not so much arise from the comparison they contain of the dropsy to a miser, (which falls under the description that immediately succeeds,) as from the union of contraries they present to the imagination, poverty in the midst of opulence, and thirst in one who is already drenched in water.

Rape of the Lock, Canto 1. * Universal Passion.

u Splendid Shilling.

y Dispensary.