Alexandria gazette & daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1817-1822, 1818-10-22
OrisinaA .AisceMany.

Original :...isceAaMy.
Haste thee, Nympb, and bring with thee
Jest and youthful joiily,
Quips, and cranks, and wanton wileS,
Mods. aud becks, AMI wreathed smiles,
Sprh as hang on Hete's cheek,
An love 10 live in m?le ST. Elk;
Sport that wr,nkled ere de,ides,
And laughter holdins both his sides.
Come, and trip it as you 20
On The light fantastic Toe /:
And in thy right hand lead with thee
The mountain Nymph, sweet Liberty;
Aud i'll give thee honor due
.Mirth, admit me OF thy crew.
TO live with her, and hive with thee
In unreprored pleasures tree
.Miltoa's L .1Regro.
,Iir,h is 10 the mind what exercise is to
the body: without exercise the human frame
would grow INDECENT, unwieldy and debl-
litated, and the whole system become
prey to languor and inactivity and the
mind in like manner, without occasional re-
laxations OF mirth and chee.fulness, would
grow languid and detected, till at length,
totally oppressed with the cares and atten-
tons of life, ard overwhelmed by l" the
thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir
TO-" it would sink beneath them. On the
contrary .mirth the slowly creep
ing blood, impels itwith due velocity thro'
the veins, gives new yigor to the tone OF the
nerves and promotes those secretions which
are requisite to preserve the body in pro-
per state Of health. OF course we generally
see that persons of cheerful disposition,
whose spirits are prone to mirthlul excita-
tons, are much more active and vigorous
than those OF saiurn'ne habit.
But to make mirth conducive to the due
temperature of ether the body or the mind,
il is necessary that er pleasures should be
such as viii bear reflection" TO live with
her," as Milton says, " in unreproped plea
sur..s free :" or IN other words, that our hi
larily shall be regulated by good sense, and
accompanied by innocence enliyened by
wit, aud conducted with decency; the
feast IF reason" as well as the flow of
SOUL"
TIE noisy mirth arising from inebriation,
can neither be productive of health of body
nor of real'elevation of spirits. Sickness,
accompanied with unpleasant reflections,
toe often succeeds, and prevents all the be-
nefcial consequences which result from
well regulated mirtb.
The mind receives a similar 6erange-
meni when the subjects of our mirth are Ill
chosen low, illiberal ranlery, or such
witiicisms and jests as promote discord, at
ford no satisfactory cbeerfulness nor, in
deed, can the flashes of merrimcnt proceed
ing from them be properly called mirth -
Millions "jests and youthful jollty y his
"auips and cranks, and wanton wiles;" his
"sporls, that wrinkleG care derides;" and
his laughter holding both his Sides" must
spring from unreproved sources, or they
will not produce that happy hilarity he so
beautifully describes in his L'Allegro.
But, not to be too grave, when mirth is
The subject, LET US take view of the differ.
emf gradations into which laughter, the in
articulate expression Of mirtb, is to be d.
vided these are, the broad grim the
hearty lasgh'-'the borse laugh -'the gig
gle'-' the titter'-and the simper'-each
Of which is expressive, in some degree or
other, ofthat leyity Of heart which is term
ed rhirth.
The first of these, the broad grin, is i'm
pressed on The countenance when any thing
surprises or astonishes, and at the same time
tickles the fancy. II is generally used by
the lower classes Of society at humorous ex-
hibitions; and is no here exhibited in a
higher degree tbsn in Great Britain, round
the stage Of mountsbank, or in our thea
tres, at very droll, and at the same time
Donsensical psntomime.-The phlzzes OF
the SPECTATORS Of such advertisements being
peculiarly ala led bynature 10 this expires.
.sion Of the faSe.