WIT AND HUMOR.
In what wit consists, and why it is we laugh, are questions hard to answer (read on that subject Spencer and Hobbes, and Mathews' "Wit and Humor; their Use and Abuse"); but certain it is that a little seasoning of fun makes intellectual food very palatable, and much better adapts it for universal and permanent assimilation. Most men can keep what is tied to their memories with a joke. Considering all things, Lowell, Holmes, Dickens, and Cervantes are the best humorists the world affords. See Table III. Group [4]. They exhibit a union of power and purpose that is not found elsewhere. They always subordinate wit to wisdom, always aim at something far higher than making fun for its own sake, never appear to make any effort for their effects, and always polish their work to perfection. A great deal of the keenest wit will be found in books whose general character puts them in some other column,—Poetry, Fiction, Oratory, etc. The works of Shakspeare, Addison, Eliot, Sheridan, Goldsmith, Irving, Higginson, Carleton, Thackeray, Hood, Saxe, Fielding, Smollett, Aristophanes, Molière, etc., abound in wit and humor.
The student of humor will be interested in Hazlitt's "English Comic Writers," Thackeray's "English Humorists," and Besant's "French Humorists."
[244] "Fable for Critics," "Biglow Papers." Considering the keenness and variety of wit, the depth of sarcasm, the breadth of view, and the importance of its subject, the "Biglow Papers" is the greatest humorous work of all history. (U. S., 19th cent.)
[245] "Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table," "Professor at the Breakfast-Table," etc. (U. S., 19th cent.)
[246] "Pickwick Papers." (Eng., 19th cent.)
[247] "Don Quixote." (Spain, 1547-1616.)
[248] Along with much violent scoffing, and calling of his betters by hard names, Ingersoll's speeches contain some of the keenest wit in the language. (U. S., 19th cent.)
[249] Marietta Holley's "Sweet Cicely," "Samantha at the Centennial," "Betsey Bobbet," "My Wayward Pardner," "Samantha at Saratoga," "Samantha among the Brethren," etc., are full of quaint fun, keen insight, and common-sense. They are somewhat more wordy than we wish they were, but they are wholesome, and the author's purpose is always a lofty one. Her fun is not mere fun, but is like the laughing eye and smiling lip of one whose words are full of thought and elevated feeling. (U. S., 19th cent.)
[250] G. W. Curtis's "Potiphar Papers" is a good example of quiet, refined humor. (U. S., 19th cent.)
[251] Chauncey M. Depew's Orations and After-Dinner Speeches are worthy of perusal by all lovers of wit and sense. (U. S., 19th cent.)
[252] Mark Twain is the greatest of those who make humor the primary object. He does not, like Artemus Ward, make it the sole object,—there is a large amount of keen common-sense in his "A Yankee in King Arthur's Court," and there is also in it an open-mindedness to the newest currents of thought that proves the author to be one of the most wide-awake men of the day. "Innocents Abroad," "The Prince and the Pauper," "Roughing It," etc., are very amusing books, the only drawback being that the reader is sometimes conscious of an effort to be funny. (U. S., 19th cent.)
[253] Charles Dudley Warner's "In the Wilderness" gives some exceedingly amusing sketches of backwoods life. See also other books mentioned under the head of Fiction. (U. S., 19th cent.)
[254] S. K. Edwards' "Two Runaways, and Other Stories" is a book that no lover of humor can afford to be without. (U. S., 19th cent.)
[255] E. E. Hale's "My Double, and How He Undid Me," and other stories contain much innocent recreation. (U. S., 19th cent.)
[256] Nasby's "Ekoes from Kentucky" and "Swingin' round the Circle" are full of the keenest political sarcasm. Lincoln was so impressed with Nasby's power, that he said he had rather possess such gifts than be President of the United States. (U. S., 19th cent.)
[257] "Artemus Ward His Book," is funny, but lacks purpose beyond the raising of a laugh. (U. S., 19th cent.)
[258] "Caudle Lectures," "Catspaw," etc. Jerrold is one of the sharpest of wits. (Eng., 19th cent.)
[259] Voltaire was the Ingersoll of France, only more so. His "Dictionnaire" is full of stinging sarcasm and fierce wit. (France, 18th cent.)
"English Bards and Scotch Reviewers." The sharpest edge of Byron's keen mind. (Eng., 1788-1824.)
[260] "Hudibras." A tirade against the Puritans. (Eng., 17th cent.)
"Gulliver's Travels," "Tale of a Tub," etc. Coarse raillery. (Eng., 18th cent.)
[261] "Gargantua and Pantagruel." Immense coarse wit. (France, 16th cent.)
"Tristram Shandy." Not delicate, but full of humor. (Eng., 18th cent.)
[262] Juvenal is one of the world's greatest satirists. (Rome, 1st cent.)
Lucian is the Voltaire of the Old World. In his "Dialogues of the Gods" he covers with ridicule the religious notions of the people. (Greek Lit, 2d cent. a. d.)