Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1876-03-22
HunOr.

Bile questions. Psychologists write about it,
but not very successfully. Perhaps it is because
90 great philosopher vas ever hlmselfa hun
orist. eau aup one imagine Kant, or Hepel,
or Aristotle, or Descartcs, or CoIeridge, or
Hume, or Mr.. Mill, or Sir w. Hamilton really
enjoying bit OF Aristophanes or Swift, or
Rabelais? The thinker loves symmetry, the
bumorist hates it and therefore the two classes
are radically opposed; which, ono may suppose,
is one argument against the merits Of humor.
As philosophers have not succeeded 10 defn
ing the quality, We need not seek to supply
their place. o ,c fact, h,wever will be ad-
mitted. Humor implies keen delig ht 10 emo
tioual coutrasts Wit, say the best observers,
differs from humor 10 that wit is purely intel
ectual, while humIr implies an admixture of
sentiment. Witcisms are the electric sparks
that fash out wlru some circuit OF reasoning is
UNEXPECTEDLY plcte'i; humor is the discharge
which takes place when two currents of feeling.
differing lu temperature, are delicately blend, d.
The humoris! Is the man who laughs through
tears In the fabric of his emotions the warp
Of melancholy is crossed by the wool of cheer
tuIues5. | am not acquainted with Warps and
woods in common life, but they are mentioned
u Gray's Ode, and seem 10 be specially intend
ed for literary USE His writing is play OF
crosslights, sunshine and shadow dexerousy
internuged or com pletely fused iuto contra.
diciory unity. He laughs In the midst of a
prayer and Is yet not consciously lrreverent; in
the very lnnermost mental rccesses, c,usecrated
to his deepest emotions, there are quaint grotes.
ques and ina ges due to the Fl AXIS uf the widest
fancy; the temple in which be Horships is partly
az old curiosity shop; be belongs to the scot
which keeps monkeys 10 its sacred places. You
cannot tell whether cathedral will most uff, CT
him with an awe of the infinite or an exulbi-
tion of tumbers at pantomine. He will even
laugh at the Social Science Association. He
specially hates downright statement, true as
Euclid or solid az Adam Smith, ADD thinks that
all scleutihc truth ID as wearisome to The mind
as steel curass to the body. There is no way
of twisting ii into queer shapes. His logic is
founded upon the axiom hat of two coorsdic
tory propositions both must be true.
He starts from the assumption that A is not
a. And, above all, the humorst nus: also be
an egotist. The oddities Of his own character
give him the utmost delight. He cherishcs bis
whlms and the arbitrary twists Of his moral "a
lure, Tor fear that he should lapse into straight
forward simplicity of sentiment. ALI humor is
in sense dramatic Every humorous seotl
ment IS the embodiment OF some special lido
syncrasy, or it would boone common place.
There have been modes! humorists Nay, a
humorst is invariably modest 10 one sense, for
it is biz cue to laugh at all vanity, as at all uu-
compounded emotion. Conceit implies that. all
H.. j II L.
20 Take me seriously. Tne most rooted coovicY
lou Of the humorist is that the world is farce
"a melancholy farce, indeed, for otherwise
here would b. 20 contractiou-but farce
where the sublime must never be separated |
rom lis shadow, the ridiculous. His very ego
'sm, 10 short, IS Itself a CONTRADICTION. It i'm
III IS the two beliefs that his personality is IN
ensely interesting, and yet Intensely absurd.
t Ia the egotsm of Lamb or Of Montague, who
re always dwelling fondIy on their own tastes
nd associations and Typographical reminis |