into the stirrup. "Ah!" said the Irishman, "if you get up too, it's time for me to get down." A negress on the island of Jamaica brought her twins to be christened, and the clergyman taking one in each arm, said to the parent, "They are very like one another." Yes, massa, parti cular Pompey." 66 Such is the nature of laughter from confusion of ideas, of which instances occur every day in the blunders of every muddle-headed man with whom we converse. IGNORANCE OF THINGS GENERALLY KNOWN. The consciousness that any individual is ignorant of things generally known, of course, places the person who possesses the knowledge upon a relative superiority. With instances of this nature every jest book abounds. "Does your master use coercion ?" said a visitor, to a maid servant, who was washing the stairs at a mad-house. "No, sir, he uses soft soap." A woman in the country went for a pound of candles, when, to her great astonishment and mortification, she was informed they had risen a penny in the pound since her last purchase; "What can be the cause of such a rise?" said the old woman. "I can't tell," answered the shopkeeper; "but I believe 'tis principally owing to the war." "What!" said the old woman, "do they fight by candlelight?" A gentleman in the country reading a newspaper, his old housekeeper ventured to ask him, "If there was any news?" "The Duke of York's troops have sat down before Valenciennes," said he. "I am glad of it," rejoined the good woman, " and I heartily hope it may rest them." 66 Why have you this miserable collection of engravings round your room?" said a Londoner to an old gentleman in the country. "Miserable!" he answered, "why they are all published as the act directs." An Irishman was sent by his master to the sun dial to see what o'clock it was-in a few minutes the servant returned with the sun dial under his arm, Please your honor," he said, "I don't understand it, and have therefore brought it to your honor." 66 An Irishman expressed a wish to go in a sedan chair. His wish was gratified, but the bottom of the chair was taken out, so that he was obliged to walk. After having walked him for some distance, his friend asked him how he liked the chair. He answered," Very well indeed; but except for the name, it's very like walking." An Irishman resolved to enlist as a soldier in the 81st regiment, that he might be near his brother, who was in the 82nd. An old lady, who was very deaf, had an apoplectic fit; the physician who attended said, "Have you any singing in your head?" "Yes," she answered.-" Please to describe it." "God save great George our king! and she continued through all the stanzas. There was no stopping her, she was so very deaf. A few years ago, when the table of the Court of Chancery used to be strewed with flowers, the Chancery reporter said to a gentleman who stood by him, "How sweet this jessamine is!" "It is not jessamine, but seringo.” "Why, it is very like jessamine pomatum," answered the reporter. A layman, nearly forty years of age, had a living offered to him if he could obtain holy orders. He was of a very kind nature, but of a most dull intellect. He entered himself at one of the colleges in Cambridge, but mathematics he could not comprehend. All attempts to beat them into him were vain. The day of examination arrived, and there was not a question proposed to which he could give a satisfactory answer. The examiners, who knew his motive for residing in the university, were very anxious not to reject him. "Let us," said Dr. Milner, in good nature, "ask him some question which he must understand, and that will be sufficient." "Pray, sir," said Dr. Milner, does the sun move round the earth, or the earth round the sun?" The old student, lost in thought, after delibera tion, said, "Sometimes one and sometimes the other." Such is the nature of laughter from ignorance of things generally known. In all these instances of relative comfort, confusion of ideas, and ignorance of things generally known, there are Hobbes's two requisites. 1st. Suddenness. 2ndly. Feeling of superiority. LAUGHTER FROM DEPRESSION OF SUPERIORITY. Assuming the existence of pleasure from the consciousness of superiority, its varieties are obvious. The pleasure from conscious superiority is either from the consciousness of self-elevation, or from such a depression of a superior, as to diminish the distance, or of an inferior as to increase it. The distance between A. and B. is diminished either by the ascent of A., which is self-elevation; or by the descent of B., which is the depression of a superior; or lowering C., which is the depression of an inferior. B A C When any person in a real or supposed supe rior situation is lowered by any accident, the feeling of elevation by depression is excited and laughter generally produced. I was at school in the Charter-house; my master, the Rev. Dr. Berdmore was a very pom pous personage. I can even now scarcely divest myself of the awe which his presence inspired; he wore a large, long gown, a powdered wig like a bishop, and a three-cornered hat like a judge. When he entered the school, the boys, about one hundred and twenty in number, instantly rose on each side of the school, up the middle of which he walked with great solemnity. The door was unexpectedly opened on a holiday, and the doctor entered; we instantly arose; he walked with great dignity between the two ranks. When he had reached his usual place, instead of sitting down, he turned round and stood. There was a dead silence; we saw that some offence had been committed, and that he was in search of the offender, but who the culprit was we knew not. He began his address, when a little spaniel dog happened to walk in; he looked first at the boys on one side, then at the other, but having suddenly espied the doctor, he began the most violent barking I ever heard. If our lives had depended upon it, we could not have refrained from laughter. This species of laughter is particularly conspicuous. 1st. In ignorance where intelligence is expected. 2ndly. By laughter in public assemblies. As the House of Commons, or Courts of justice, or Churches. |