Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1859-09-02
A CHAPTER on Wit.

The author of the Tin Trumpet thus
discourscs on wit-and illustrates the sub
ject =
Wit consists in discovering likenesses =
Judgment in detecting differences. Wit is
like ghost, much more talked Of than
seen. To lie genuine. it should have a
base of truth and applicability: otherwise
it degeneraies into mere tlippancy as, for
instance, when Swift says: A very little
wit is valued in woman, as we are pleas
ed by few words spoken by parrot ; or
when Voltairc remarks, that ideas are like
boards women and young men have none.
This is random iacetiousness, it it de-
serves that term, which is equally despica-
BE for its falsehood and It's facility.
Where shall we discover that rarcr spi-
cies Of wit, which, like the vine, bears the
more clusters of sweet grapes the oftener
it is pruned or, like the seven-mouthed
Nile. springs the faster from the head, the
more copously it flows from the mouth.
/ The sensations excited by wit are de-
! stroyed or at least impaired, if it excites
the stronger emotions, or even if it be cen
nec.ed with purposes of utility and i'm
4 provement. We may laugh where il Is
! bitter. as the Sardinians did when they had
/ tasted of their venomous herbs but this is
the risibility of the muscles allied TO con-
! yulsions rather Than TO intellectual pleas
ure.
! Leigh Hunt devotes forty pages of one
of his books-and fails to elucidate the
mystery at last. johnson defines wit As
the faculty of assocating dissimi!ar ina
ges in an unusual manner Sydney Smith,
in his Lectures on Moral Philosophy.
shows the fallacy of this definition, gives {
better. and breaches the startling doctrine
that Wit. so far from being necessarily .
natural gift, might be studied as successfully
: as mathematics. II is question if Shcr
idan was witty when, staggering along hal
tipsy. he was eyed by policeman, and ex
claimed. confidenlinlly, My name is vii
berforce-Tm religious man--don't tx
pose me-
TalIeyrand, when asked by lady ia
nous for her beauty and stupidity, hoy
she should rid herself of some Of he
troublesome admirers, replied.
!, You have only TO open your montl
! madame
: : This, if witty, was also ill-natured.
Lord Chatham rebuked a dishones
h Chancellor Of the Exchequer by finishin
: n quotation the latter had commence
: The debate turned upon some grant I
= money for the encouragement of art, whic
r was opposed by the Chancellor OF the Ii
: cheouer. who finished his speech again
h Lord Chathan's motion by saying, 'Wh
was not this ointment sod and the none
given TO the poor 2 Chatham rose ar
said, Why did not the noble lord compile
: the quotation, the application being
= striking? As he has shrunk from it,
, will finish The verse for him-'This Jud
!" said. not because he cared for the poor, b
y because he acas theff and carried tie bag
- 1t was coarse wit when Lord Byro
= who was suffering with agony from
:" !, we're attack of collie, ard oxclaiming, 'Lo
u help me am dying was told by Trel
- q wnpy, not to make such fuss about d
Il ing
IN Luttreu tells story of Sir f. Gou
III -, who had habit of nd ling the phrase, :
~ the contrary to ever thing he said.
- gentleman saving to him, SO / hear y
=. eat three eggs every morning for brcakfa:
oVu = No. repIied Sir Francis won are mistake
~ I,e on the contrary What the devil s.
ln Luttrcll. does on the contrary of eati
~ three eggs mean? Laying them Of cours
s said Sheridan. This was ready wit
ng Rowland Hill compared sinner to
.se, oyster, which opened. lis sh''ll, mouth,
ah, take 10 water; just as the sinner, with
al mouth at full stretch, took in the tide of
in iouitv. .Heavenly grace he said, like
rum Of beef--cnt and came again
ms. rneagre fare, my dear brea'hrsn.
|, ofl LYDIA White, an English Magazine y
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