Corbyn Morris

“ This Relish for generous and worthy Characters alone, which we all feel upon the Theatre, where no Biass of Envy, Malice, or personal Resentment draws us aside, seems to be some Evidence of our natural and genuin Disposition to Probity and Virtue; tho' the Minds of most Persons being early and deeply tinged with vicious Passions, it is no wonder that Stains have been generally mistaken for original Colours.
It may be added, that Humour is the most exquisite and delightful, when the Oddities and Foibles introduc'd are not mischievous or sneaking, but free, jocund, and liberal ”

“ Satire is a witty and severe Attack of mischievous Habits or Vices;
Ridicule is a free Attack of any Motly Composition, wherein a real or affected Excellence and Defect both jointly appear, glaring together, and mocking each other, in the same Subject.
Hence the Aim of Raillery, is to please you, by some little Embarrassment of a Person; Of Satire, to scourge Vice, and to deliver it up to your just Detestation; And of Ridicule, to set an Object in a mean ludicrous Light, so as to expose it to your Derision and Contempt. ”

“ Humour is the whimsical Oddity, or Foible, which fairly appears in its Subject, of itself; whereas Wit, is the Lustre which is thrown upon one Subject, by the sudden Introduction of another Subject.
To constitute Humour, there need be no more than one Object concern'd, and this must be always some Person in real Life;--whereas to produce Wit, there must be always two Objects arranged together, and either or both of these may be inanimate. ”

“ The usual Artillery of Ridicule is Wit; whereby the Affinity or Coincidence of any Object with others, which are absurd and contemptible, is unexpectedly exhibited;--There is also another, very forcible, Manner in which Ridicule may act; And that is by employing Humour alone; Thus the Foible or Queerness of any Person will be most fully ridicul'd, by naturally dressing yourself, or any other Person in that Foible, and exerting its full Strength and Vigour.
The Politeness of a Subject is the Freedom of that Subject from all Indelicacy, Aukardness, and Roughness. ”

“ A Man of Wit is he, who is happy in elucidating any Subject, by a just and unexpected Arrangement and Comparison of it with another Subject.
It may be also proper to describe a Man of Humour, and an Humourist, which are very different Persons.
A Man of Humour is one, who can happily exhibit a weak and ridiculous Character in real Life, either by assuming it himself, or representing another in it, so naturally, that the whimsical Oddities, and Foibles, of that Character, shall be palpably expos'd. ”

“ If in Raillery the Sting be given too deep and severe, it will sink into Malice and Rudeness, And your Pleasure will not be justifiable; But Satire, the more deep and severe the Sting of it is, will be the more excellent ”

“ Raillery is a genteel poignant Attack of a Person upon any slight Foibles, Oddities, or Embarrassments of his, in which he is tender, or may be supposed to be tender, and unwilling to come to a free Explanation. ”

“ It is with the highest Respect for the great Mr. Locke, that I deliver his Sentiments upon this Subject.
And hence, perhaps, may be given some Reason of that common Observation, that Men who have a great deal of Wit, and prompt Memories, have not always the clearest Judgment or deepest Reason: For Wit lying most in the Assemblage of Ideas, and putting those together with Quickness and Variety, wherein can be found any Assemblance or Congruity, thereby to make up pleasant Pictures, and agreeable Visions in the Fancy. Judgment, on the contrary, lies quite on the other side ”

“ It is He only, the Humourist, that has the Courage and Honesty to cry out, unmov'd by personal Resentment: He flourishes only in a Land of Freedom, and when that ceases he dies too, 21 the last and noblest Weed of the Soil of Liberty. ”

“ Humour is more interesting than Wit in general, as the Oddities and Foibles of Persons in real Life are more apt to affect our Passions, than any Oppositions or Relations between inanimate Objects.
2. Humour is Nature, or what really appears in the Subject, without any Embellishments; Wit only a Stroke of Art, where the original Subject, being insufficient of itself, is garnished and deck'd with auxiliary Objects. ”

“ Whereas, if I rightly apprehend, an Ambition to excell is the Principle which should animate a Writer, directed by a Love of Truth, and a free Spirit of Candour and Inquiry. This is the Flame which should warm the rising Members of every Science, not a poor Submission to those who have preceded. For, however it may be with a Religious Devotion, a Literary One is certainly the Child of Ignorance. ”

“ But indeed many of the short Compositions of Horace, which are indiscriminately ranged together, under the general Name of Satires, are not properly such, but Pieces of Raillery or Ridicule.
As Raillery, in order to be decent, can only be exercised upon slight Misfortunes and Foibles, attended with no deep Mischief, nor with any Reproach upon real Merit, so it ought only to be used between Equals and Intimates; It being evidently a Liberty too great to be taken by an Inferior; and too inequitable to be taken by a Superior, as his Rank shields him from any Return. ”

“ Thus if any Foible of a Character in real Life is directly attacked, by pointing out the unexpected and ridiculous Affinity it bears to some inanimate Circumstances, this Foible is then ridiculed with Wit, from the Comparison which is made.--At the same time, as the whimsical Oddity of a Character in real Life is the Ground of the whole, there is also Humour contain'd in the Attack. ”

“ Upon the same Principle of scorning all Imitation, the Humourist seldom heartily assents to any speculative Opinion, which is deliver'd by another; for he is above being inform'd or set right in his Judgment by any Person, even by a Brother Humourist. If two of this Cast happen to meet, instead of uniting together, they are afraid of each other; and you shall observe one, in order to court the good Opinion of the other, produce a Specimen of his own Perfection as an Humourist; by exhibiting some unusual Strain of sensible Oddity, or by unexpectedly biting a poor Insipid ”

“ In all of which there is something very justly to be hated or despised; And you feel the same Sentiments of Dislike for every other Character of Johnson's; so that after you have been gratify'd with their Detention and Punishment, you are quite tired and disgusted with their Company:--Whereas Shakespear, besides the peculiar Gaiety in the Humour of Falstaff, has guarded him from disgusting you with his forward Advances, by giving him Rank and Quality; from being despicable by his real good Sense and excellent Abilities ”

“ For though an Humourist with his Roughness is greatly to be preferr'd to a smooth Insipid, yet the Extremes of both are equally wretched: Ideots being only the lowest Scale of Insipids, as Madmen are no other than Humourists in Excess.
It may be proper to observe in this place, that though all Ostentation, Affectation, and Imitation are excluded from the Composition of a perfect Humourist; yet as they are the obvious Foibles of some Persons in Life, 23 they may justly be made the Subject of Humour. ”

“ Sometimes we shall meet with those, who perhaps indifferently enough, but at the same time impertinently, will ask the Question, Why are you not merry? Why are you not gay, pleasant, and chearful? Then instead of answering, could I ask such a Person, Why are you not handsome? Why have you not black Eyes, and a better Complexion? Nature abhors to be forced. ”

“ And it is certain that Humour must always be the Ground-work of such Subjects, no Oddities in inanimate Objects being capable of interesting our Passions so strongly, as the Foibles of Persons in real Life;--The chief Substance of Johnson's Compositions is Humour and Satire; upon which Plan, as hath been already observ'd, he is oblig'd to demolish, and render detestable, his own Characters;-- Humour and Raillery are also capable of furnishing a Repast of quick Relish and Flavour ”

“ It is also proper to add, that there may be Wit in a Picture, Landscape, or in any Prospect, where a gay unexpected Assemblage of similar, or opposite Objects, is presented.
Judgment, is the Faculty of discerning the various Dimensions, and Differences, of Subjects.
Invention is the Faculty of finding out new Assortments, and Combinations, of Ideas.
Humour is any whimsical Oddity or Foible, appearing in the Temper or Conduct of a Person in real Life. ”

“ The venal Biass of the assuming Judge, the cruel Pride of the starch'd Priest, the empty Froth of the florid Counsellor, the false Importance of the formal Man of Business, the specious Jargon of the grave Physician, and the creeping Taste of the trifling Connoisseur, are all bare to his Eye, and feel the Lash of his Censure; It is He that watches the daring Strides, and secret Mines of the ambitious Prince, and desperate Minister: He gives the Alarm, and prevents their Mischief. Others there are who have Sense and Foresight ”

“ Raillery may be pointed at a whimsical Circumstance, only because a Person is known to be tender upon it; and your Pleasure will arise from the Embarrassment he suffers, in being put to an Explanation;--Thus a 38young Gentleman may be rallied upon his Passion for a Lady;--At the same Time there may be no Ground for Ridicule in this Circumstance, as it may no way deserve your Derision or Contempt. ”

“ Raillery can only be employ'd in relation to Persons, but Ridicule may be employ'd in what relates either to Persons, or other Objects.
2. Raillery is us'd only upon slight Subjects, where no real Abilities or Merit are questioned, in order to avoid degrading the Person you attack, or rendering him contemptible; Whereas Ridicule observes no such Decency, but endeavours really to degrade the Person attack'd, and to render him contemptible. ”

“ Dryden imagined, that he had succeeded himself in this Definition, he was extremely mistaken; for nothing can be more distant from the Properties of Wit, than those he describes. He discovers no Idea of the Surprize, and Brilliancy of Wit, or of the sudden Light thrown upon a Subject. Instead of once pointing at these, he only describes the Properties of clear Reasoning, which are a Propriety of Thoughts and Words;--Whereas Wit, in its sudden Flashes, makes no Pretension to Reasoning ”

“ Whereas Politeness may relate also to Books, as well as to Persons, or to any Subjects of Taste and Ornament.
So that Politeness may subsist in a Subject, as in a Cornish, or Architrave, where good Breeding can't enter; But it is impossible for good Breeding to be offer'd without Politeness.
At the same time good Breeding is not to be understood, as merely the Politeness of Persons; But as Respect, tender'd with Politeness, in the Commerce between Persons. ”

“ Truth was the Founder of the Family, and the Father of Good Sense; Good Sense was the Father of Wit, who married a Lady of a collateral Line called Mirth, by whom he had Issue Humour". --It is very unfortunate for this Allegorical Description, that there is not one Word of it just: For Truth, Good Sense, Wit, and Mirth, represented to be the immediate xxi Ancestors of Humour; whereas Humour is derived from the Foibles, and whimsical Oddities of Persons in real Life, which flow rather from their Inconsistencies, and Weakness, than from Truth and Good Sense ”

“ It is also observable that the Humourist, though he makes it his Point to regulate his Conduct only by his own Conviction, will sometimes run counter to it, merely from his Disdain of all Imitation. Thus he will persist in a wrong Course, which he knows to be such, and refuse his Compliance with an Amendment offer'd by others, rather than endure the Appearance of being an Imitator. ”

“ Humour generally appears in such Foibles, as each of the Company thinks himself superior to.--Whereas Wit shews the Quickness and Abilities of the Person who discovers it, and places him superior to the rest of the Company. ”

“ It is certain that the Humourist is excessively proud, and yet without knowing or suspecting it. For from the Liberty which he frankly allows to others, of rejecting his Opinion, he is fully persuaded, that he is free from all Pride ”

“ For by long keeping the Person attack'd, even in a slight Pain, and continuing to dwell upon his Mis-adventures, you become rude and ill- natur'd;--Or if the Raillery be only turn'd upon an Embarrassment, arising from the Excess of Merit or Abilities, Yet if it be long confined upon the same Subject, the Person it is pointed at, will either suspect that your Aim is, to leave some Impression against him, or else that you are designing him a tedious dark Compliment ”

“ It has from hence been observ'd, that there is more Humour in the English Comedies than in others; as we have more various odd Characters in real Life, than any other Nation, or perhaps than all other Nations together.
That Humour gives more Delight, and leaves a more pleasurable Impression behind it, than Wit, is universally felt and established ”

“ And instead of violently depreciating, or attacking again, the Person who has contemn'd him, he will incessantly court his Favour and good Opinion, as a Cordial he wants, though without seeming to do so. ”

“ The good Sense which he possesses comes also to his Aid, and saves him from being despicable, by forcing your Esteem for his real Abilities.--Again, the Privilege you allow him of rebuking and checking others, when he assumes it with proper Firmness and Superiority, helps to settle 28anew, and compose his Character after an Embarrassment; And reduces in some measure the Spirit of the Company to a proper Level, before he sets out again upon a fresh Adventure;--without this, they would be kept continually strain'd, and wound up to the highest Pitch, without sufficient Relief and Diversity. ”

“ One Man has a Humour of retiring from all Company, when any thing has happened to please him beyond Expectation; he hugs himself alone, and thinks it an Addition to the Pleasure to keep it a Secret, &c."
All which, I apprehend, is no more than saying; That there are different Dispositions in different Persons.
In another Place, he seems to understand by Humour, not only the Disposition, but the Tone of the Nerves, of a Person, thus,
"Suppose Morose to be a Man naturally splenetic, and melancholy ”

“ The Humourist, though he quickly espies, and contemns the Contradictions of others, is yet wilfully attach'd to several himself, which he will sometimes persue through a long Course of his own Mortification.--It may be often observ'd, that he will avoid the Company he likes, for fear they should think he needs their Support.--At the same time, if he happens to fall into Company, which he tallies not with, instead of avoiding this Company, he will continually haunt them: For he is anxious, lest any Imputation of a Defeat should stand out against him, and extremely sollicitous to wipe it away ”

“ This is a Way of proceeding quite contrary to Metaphor and Allusion; wherein for the most Part lies that Entertainment and Pleasantry of Wit, which strikes so lively on the Fancy, and therefore is acceptable to all People, because its Beauty appears at first Sight, and there is required no Labour of Thoughts xiv to examine what Truth, or Reason, there is in it. The Mind, without looking any further, rests satisfied with the Agreeableness of the Picture, and the Gaiety of the Fancy. ”

“ Which lies in drawing the Persons exhibited, with such chearful and amiable Oddities and Foibles, as you would chuse in your own Companions in real Life;-- otherwise, tho' you may be diverted at first with the Novelty of a Character, and with a proper Detection and Ridicule of it, yet its Peevishness, Meanness, or Immorality, will begin to disgust you after a little Reflection, and become soon tiresome and odious ”