The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1875-04-22

have the opinion of an S62hosity d ID,
teuigent as the New YorEss3sBSt Gf Be-,
lieving that there is no apDft pA ak
humor and less liking for VII &Jhri.s
ca; and this opinion is gi3en IN
moment when the Hon. S.yA Cox Nh
is both producer md Judge OF yhal
staples in question, il diincprsing t4
Harper's Magazine AZ to the riShness md
abundance of the very qualities WHICH
our realistic critic refuses to reS6Sniss
Which Of the pundits is riehtf Haye We
wit or humor, either, neither, or both,
in this country? Are we fun-loving
people? What is wit? What il humor?
On the whole, We must think the jour
nnlist to be III the wrong; but we shall
| not, on that account, remind him that
! he is q wretched Rriton; tha. he has. the
misfortune to come into his existence
outside the circle Of inspirations which
rally round the starry banner; that, in one
word: he is 20 fer removed from the
| blessing of being n free-born American,
that he cannot tell joke from hole in
nc stumbles every day. The truth is.
that every nationality has it's turn for
mirth, even in the serious Indian giving
out tokens of taste for o grim humor
peculiar to himself, and, az wit and
humor spring from conditions, that
which may provoke tho mirth of one peo-
pie may fall fiat and unlaughable upon
tho ear of another people. Especially is
this likely to prove the case If there be n
difference in language; the jokes of the
German find little echo in Fnance; the
comlcality Of the Levant would hardly
pass current in Texas. Pope's couplet
applies to the estimation Of wit main
tanned in different countries:
tt"Tio With .,,,l
watches, none
Go just alike; yet each believes his own"
The Londoncr, who finds the stnpidest
things in Punch at least readable. would
60 to sleep over Mr.. Lincoln's best
"yarns." The Parisian laughs until he
cries at the drolleries shot off nightly in
the cafes of the Champs Elysees, and
considers Mr.. Joshua Billings an ass.
What would tho sober-suited Bodouin
think of Mr.. Mark Anthony Twain's
lamentation over the dead body Of Adam.
or the Grand Llama of the Fat Contribu-
tor? We know that Mr. Artemus Ward
tickled the beef-eating Londoners: but
how? In tho first place, he delivered n
funny lecture about the Mormons when
Mormonism was an interesting question
in England; and, in the delivery of this.
he gave his audiences genuine surprise
by the union which he effected between
a rude and native Yankee humor and
most gentlemnn-like Anglicized drawl,
accent and manner. He carried this
de1terous trick into the half-dozen
papers which he contributed to Punch,
and with equal success. There was thus
a tie, bond Of affinity, between him
and those who heard and read him, the
man himself being in reality half
Briton. Mark contrast furnished con-
temporaneously by the absence of these
qualities of comic alliance in the person
of MIR. Arthur Sketchly, London hu-
morist, who, taking his cue from the
success of Artemus in the British me-
tropolis. came to try his merriment on
New York, and failed most signally,
because his jokes had nothing cOsmo-
politan about them, and, worst of all,
because they had nothing about them
common to the New Workers.
Mr. Toole's equivocal experience may
be ascribed to the same cause. He is an
admirable artist-London's very best.
An offspring of the Dickens school of art,
IN which grotesquo and exaggerated
farce is Joined to exquisite pathos, Mr.
Toole may be fairly said to be tho most
versatile, rs he is the most vivncious,
comedian alive. "Just look Mt TINT
Toole, very truly observed the young
Lady of Gloster, makes one feel like
splitting. and so it is not only in Clos
ter, but in Liverpool, Manchester and
Dublin, and all over the provinces, as
well AZ iii London. Quite another thing
in America Here Mr. Tooles gro
tesqucric passes for overriding, whilst
many of his neatest points fail for lack
both of information nnd sympathy III his
audience. Mr.. Sotherns Dundreary goes
down with us, because our own sham
social organism, even more than English
fiction and caricature. has made us f,mi-
limr with the brainless dandy Of fashion
able life, and thus nm exceeding broad
extravaganza, being understood, is np-
plaudea Mr. Toole, however. in Broaa-
way has scarcely as good q show rs Col
SELLERS would have i'll the Strand, for,
whilst Sellers outre characteristics might
carry him along spite of his unmeaning
references and his o,ltlnndish jnrgon, Dir.
Toole has still to rely upon his art, pure
and simple.
Thus we sec how absurd it is to mca-
sure the wit or humor of one people by
the standards which prevail with another
people. The New York Times is certainly
at fault i'll this matter. The humor Of
Rabelais is universal, because it springs
out of the we'll of human nature whereby
it is also coarse and vulgar; and yet Ra-
belais is going out of vogue. The humor
of Dickens is kept alive by his plot and
pathos-to which, indeed, more than to
his humor, lie il indebted for his vogue
outside his native country. Even the