, 1870-07-16
WHAT Is HVKOR,


eo1ne specimens in cur own columns, aud
many moro elsewhere, as to the true Character
lstic Of Charles Dickens literary power, be-
tray the usual difficulty IN discriminating the
true 1lmits OF humor, and Of its various sub
ordinate species. We have eTen heard it de-
MED ly men OF very acute nnl hghly-dncip-
lined powers, that Dickens r7..S In any eerse
humo1ist OF high class, and Bhon We laTe
asked what then his genius really contested in:
We have been told that it lay in his wonderful
command OF ludicrous conceptions, but that
tie command Of 4ndicrous conceptions is quite
distinct thing from trne hun1or, which IL
founded in knowledge Of human nature, while
. command Of the ludicrous, snch Is Dickens
displayed. may be based on little more than
etrpnK feeling for all sorts Of incongruities
and great fertility in inventing and varying
them. We confess th2t such distinction as
any sense in which we can call Shakespeare one
Of the greatest Of humorists, or Moliere
great hurnorint, or Swift a great hunorist, or
jane Austen, or Thackeray great humorist,
the genius Of Dickens displayed a hu,nor rich.
er and higher than the highest hind attained
Of course, as far above Dickens in general in
tellectual strength ts Dickens was above
Horace Smith or MiBs Durnor.
We do not believe that there can be found
any definition OF humor which will hold wate :.
for moment that will either draw clear and
impossible line between wit and humor o.
between humor and any other subdivision Of
tho faculty Of tho l,,licrous. All that keea1y
e1cltes our sense OF incongruity comes in ore
wsy or other under the same head and it is
the eense Of the incongruouB-whether in that
tMnnest and most superficial shape OF puns or
verbal tricks and artitices which form tle
staple of our worst burlesques, or in tho high
est Of nll forms IL which the incougruity il
brought home to the very roots OF human pas
zion and emotion-wllch constitutes the
essence OF every witty, humorous, or ludi-
crous feat. When Pope, parodylng Sir John
Denham's description of the Thames, in Ills
poem on cooper's Hill, likenea Wclstead to
current OF thin beer
$50 swcet1y mawIdah, md so smoothly dull,
HeAdy, not strong, and foamlng though not iull,"
be gave what would be called tolerable illus
tratlon Of Bmartness In inrettiye-in other
words, Of the lower order Of aniirical wit.
The pungency, such as it is, Of such 4 coup
inconEruities bound up together, in the COM
pRrison between the beauties of flowing
river and the muddy drippings Of beer-b.r~
rel, or again, in the contrast between the noble
rnpids Of a full poetic gvpil,s and the fEothE
ed1ics Of dull and vapjd sentim mentalism--
NOR when he makes Becky, in The
bitterest remorso for her own miscalcula-
tions. exclaim dolorouBly to Sir Pitt
Crawley, when he Is on his knees, begging her
to become bis wife, Oh, Sir Pitt, Tn married
already" The difference between the two
delineates with his usual swift and bitter
strokes, is the incongruity OF the heart, the
incongruitr between the suggested feeling OF
Tenofse anl Becky's selfish eelH-SeproAeh;
while tho courlet in Pope contains nothing
but careful incongrnity Of metaphors and u
literary proportions; Bu1sesque, trayestr
bic Of that grim aud saturniuo kind in which
Swift was 30 gsclt q master, and finally, the
huEaor rooted in the deepest and most delicate
Benee Of Inconsistencies Of human 1notiTe and
feeling, arc all varieties OF tho same genius,
ESSAYS in ineongIuity ~ minds more or less
susceptible to the pleasant shock canted By
various shades Of incongruity. When l1amiat
follows in imagination The noble dust Of Mes-
ander Till he finds it stopping . bnng-ho}c, he
is in precisely the same mood Of mind Which
gives btth to lumor, and il it does not e1ack-
cause the contrasts between the humiliation Of
tho flesh and the triumphs OF the spirit have
in all ages been so much the theme Of me1ita-
tion that We have cehaed 10 feel Tho inconyrn-
ity ns a surprise, which il IN absolute cond-
tinn OF the specific effect Of either wit or lu-
NOR,
The difference 80 deeply felt between a wit
and humo1ist consists only, VIC believe, in the
on the one hand, or Of the paradox Of person-
81 and subjective feeling on the other, which
is ut the basis Of the surprise. When Voltairo
dcae,ibed taking medicine as "putting drugs
which We know little into bodies OF which We
krow less, the whole form Of the criticism
was sharply intellectual, and involved exceed
one personal and subjective phase Of feeling
TO another OF an opposite kind to which il
stands in paradozical contract, which is
Of the essence Of humor. But when Coleridge
in bis bitter attack on somebody's porter.
asserted that ''dregs from the bottom half:
way up. and f1oth from tho top halfway
down, constituted Perkins Entire" that WAS
flash halfway between wit and humor. The
theoretical accuracy of the exposition, the
satiEe implied in the contrast between this
spurious combination Of dregs aud frotb, and
the word Entire (iategcr) which expresses spc-
were all what we should csl wit; but the rip
pie Of personal feeling ia passing from the
disgust Of = thirsty man who has found his
porter Ill undrinkable, to 80 intellectual
form OF invectivo on it, is Of the very essence
Of humor. .Again, Charles Lambs tipsy de-
light when the Cumberland stamp distributor
said that Shakespeare was very clever man,
delight which hc displayed by lighting
q bed-candle, dancing round him, and calling
ont, Allow me to have look at that Rentle-
mans organs" while Wordsworth, in utter
horror, tried TO restrain him by reiterating.
CHal!es, NY ueA NnaIleh WaS pure nu-
NOR There Was hardly any intellectual opera
tiCn involved IN the matter Mt all, only the
rspd Transition Of Lambs own personal feel
ing from sleepy Indifference to the most vivid
curiosity On hearing 80 silly remark. Where
any otler man would simply hare laughed,
ter, was apparently stimulated into the nost
intense desire to explore the SOURCES OF such
moral enigma and tho humor lies ia his
having realized the absurdity Of the remark 60
much more wildly than he realized the coa-
ventional restraints imposed BY social habits,
in his delight at finding tano specimen Of the
literary idiot. 80, again, Lambs ready answer
to the Highgato omnibus conductor, who pnt |
his head in to ask, call full iassdes" when |
Lamb was half asleep in the corner, II
renlly can't nnswer. for tho other ladies
Of pudding at M1s.. Gilman's did
the bnsincss for me, " ras SO humorous, not
from the ready pm on the meaning OF the
conductor, but from tho picture it presents to
M Of the interior mind OF Charles Lamb,
grayely assuming that the question was di-
rected to the state Of his stomach, and Of the
impnltG Of perfect candor which appeared to
induce him 10 make this frank confession to
the assembled company.
Now, applying thus distinction between tho
tickling Of the intellectual sense Of incon-
gTuity involved In pure wit, and the ready
transition from one condition Of personal
feeling to another almost inconeeivablo in
il humor, to the case Of Mr.. Dickens, We think |
We may fairly say that there Was comparative
II little OF tho wit, and truly astounding
amount Of the humorist in him. Even his |
poorest SUCCESSES. the successes in tho way Of
parody and tsareaty, with which be opened the
"thcre sat the man who had trnced |
to thoir aonrco the mighty ponds Of Hamp-
stead, ard enlightened the scientific world
with bis theory Of tittlebata, as calm and un-
moved rs the silent waters Of the one On |
frosty day, or solitary specimen Of the other |
even this is humor,. though humor Of |
q comparatively poor kind. Tho contempt
with which Dickens enters into the ostenta- |
tious rhetoric OF charlatan scionce, tie skill |
with which he chooseH the illustrations most |
h; initiating to it, and the hish;sonndins grari-
to close, Ill transport you to tho |
inselior Of his mind, and make You erporionco |
for yourself the s]ight moral shock with which |
you find the grandeur Of the Parliamentary
and the spurious scientific ety yle Of oratory I'M
dssmined and toppling down into very closely
pert1ciAl but very lively humor pervades tho
whole OF the admirable American parodies /
in '' Martin Chuzzelwit." When Mr.. Putnam |
Smif writes !" that every alligator basking in
his slime Is in bimsc1f An Epic se'f-contained,
or Miss Codger dilates on the thrilling nature |
Of the Impressions on her feelings with which \
s1e finds herself introduced sta Pogram by
3 Hominy," but asks herself why she calls |
them her feelings, or why impressed they are,
or if impressed they are at all =" or il there |
really is, oh. gasping one! rogram or a
HominY, OF any active principle to which We
in the exhibition OF that close affinity between
inflated intellectual ambition and positive |
idiocy, which By happy and easy touches Of e1-
aGgeration the humorist renders 80 |
glaring. Tho humoEist, We believe, as
moves on the inner line OF impulse md mo-
tive, always identifies himself moro or less |
with the secret springs Of paradox, always