To these you are to add the perfect good Breeding and Civility of the Knight upon every Occasion; which are some Kind of Merit in his Favour, and entitle him to Respect, by the Rules of common Gentility and Decency; At the same time his Courage, his Honour, Generosity, and Humanity, are conspicuous in every Act and Attempt; The Foibles which he possesses, besides giving you exquisite Pleasure, are wholly inspir'd by these worthy Principles; Nor is there any thing base, or detestable, in all his Temper or Conduct; It was from hence that the Duke and the Dutchess were extremely delighted with his Visit at their Castle; And you yourself, if he existed in real Life, would be fond of his Company at your own Table; which proves him, upon the whole, to be an amiable Character;--It is therefore no wonder that Signior Don Quixote of la Mancha has been so courteously receiv'd in every Country of Europe.
Thus delightfully wrought, as this History is, with Humour and Ridicule, yet Cervantes, still fearful of tiring you with too much of the Errantry, has introduc'd the most charming Variety of other Adventures; --All along in the pacific Intervals, you are inform'd of the private Occurrences between the Knight and his 'Squire; And from these, where it is least to be expected, you are surpriz'd with the most high and delicious Repast;-- Nothing can be more pregnant with Mirth, than the Opposition continually working between the grave Solemnity and Dignity of Quixote, and the arch Ribaldry and Meanness of Sancho; And the Contrast can never be sufficiently admir'd, between the excellent fine Sense of the One, and the dangerous common Sense of the Other.
It is here that the Genius and Power of Cervantes is most admirably shewn; He was the greatest Master that ever appear'd, in finely opposing, and contrasting his Characters. It is from hence that you feel a Poignancy and Relish in his Writings, which is not to be met with in any others; The natural Reflexions and Debates of Quixote and Sancho would have been barren, insipid, and trite, under other Management; But Cervantes, by his excellent Skill in the Contrast, has from these drawn a Regale, which for high, quick, racy Flavour, and Spirit, has yet never been equall'd.
It may here be enquir'd, What Species of Composition or Character is the most pleasurable, and mirthful, in all Nature?-- In Falstaff, you have Humour embelish'd with Wit; In Quixote, Humour made poignant with Ridicule; And it is certain that Humour must always be the Ground-work of such Subjects, no Oddities in inanimate Objects being capable of interesting our Passions so strongly, as the Foibles of Persons in real Life;--The chief Substance of Johnson's Compositions is Humour and Satire; upon which Plan, as hath been already observ'd, he is oblig'd to demolish, and render detestable, his own Characters;-- Humour and Raillery are also capable of furnishing a Repast of quick Relish and Flavour; In written Compositions, the Attack of the Raillery, as well as the Reception of it, may be happily conducted, which in other accidental Encounters are liable to Hazard; All Peevishness or Offence is thus easily avoided, and the Character attack'd is sav'd from being really contemptible;--But then indeed the Pleasure you are to receive generally depends upon the Confusion of the Person attack'd, without there being in reason a sufficient Cause for this Confusion;--It is for want of this just Foundation, that the Pleasure arising from Raillery is apt to come forth with less Freedom, Fulness, and Conviction, though with more Delicacy, than that which is derived from Wit, or Ridicule;--However, Humour and Raillery united together, when the Raillery is founded upon some real Embarrassment in the Circumstance, as well as in the Confusion of the Person attack'd, will furnish a very high Entertainment; which has Pretensions to rival either Humour and Wit, or Humour and Ridicule.
[To give an Instance] of Humour and Raillery, I shall insert Horace's famous Description of his Embarrassment with an impertinent Fellow. This indeed is entitl'd, in almost all the Editions of Horace, a Satire, but very improperly, as the Subject is not Vice or Immorality;
Ibam fortè viâ sacrâ, sicut meus est mos,
Nescio quid meditans nugarum, at totus in illis:
Accurrit quidam notus mihi nomine tantum;
Arreptâque manu, Quid agis, dulcissime rerum?
Suaviter, ut nunc est, inquam: & cupio omnia quæ vis.
Cum affectaretur, Num quid vis? occupo. At ille,
Nôris nos, inquit; docti sumus. Hìc ego: Pluris
Hoc, inquam, mihi eris. Miserè discedere quærens,
Ire modò ocyùs, interdum consistere: in aurem
Dicere nescio quid puero: cùm sudor ad imos
Manaret talos. O te, Bollane, cerebri
Felicem: aiebam tacitus! Cùm quidlibet ille
Garriret, vicos, urbem laudaret; ut illi
Nil respondebam: Miserè cupis, inquit abire.
Jamdudum video: sed nil agis: usque tenebo:
Persequar: hinc quò nunc iter est tibi? Nil opus est te
Circumagi: quemdam volo visere, non tibi notum:
Trans Tiberim longè cubat is, propè Cæsaris hortos.
Nil habeo quod agam, & non sum piger: usque sequar te,
Demitto auriculas ut iniquæ mentis asellus,
Cùm gravius dorso subiit onus. Incipit ille:
Si benè me novi, non Viscum pluris amicum,
Non Varium facies; nam quis me scribere plures
Aut citiùs possit versus? quis membra movere
Mollius? invideat quod & Hermogenes, ego canto.
Interpellandi locus hic erat: Est tibi mater,
Cognati, queis te salvo est opus? Haud mihi quisquam:
Omnes composui. Felices! nunc ego resto:
Confice: namque instat fatum mihi triste, Sabella
Quòd puero cecinit divinâ mota anus urnâ,
Hunc neque dira venena, nec hosticus auferret ensis,
Nec laterum dolor, aut tussis, nec tarda podagra;
Garrulus hunc quando consumet cumque loquaces.
Si sapiat, vitet, simul atque adoleverit ætas.
Ventum erat ad Vestæ, quartâ jam parte diei
Præteritâ; & casu tunc respondere vadato
Debebat: quòd ni fecisset, perdere litem.
Si me amas, inquit, paulùm hîc ades. Inteream, si
Aut valeo stare, aut novi civilia jura:
Et propero quò scis. Dubius sum quid faciam, inquit;
Tenè relinquam, an rem. Me, sodes. Non faciam, ille;
Et præcedere coepit. Ego, ut contendere durum est
Cum victore, sequor. Mecænas quomodo tecum?
Hinc repetit. Paucorum hominum, & mentis benè sanæ.
Nemo dexteriùs fortuna est usus. Haberes
Magnum adjutorem, posset qui ferre secundas,
Hunc hominem velles si tradere: dispeream, ni
Summôsses omnes. Non isto vivimus illic
Quò tu rere modo, domus hac nec purior ulla est,
Nec magis his aliena malis: nil mî officit unquam,
Ditior hic, aut est quia doctior: est locus uni
Cuique suus. Magnum narras, vix credibile. Atqui
Sic habet. Accendis, quare cupiam magis illi
Proximus esse. Veils tantummodò: quæ tua virtus,
Expugnabis; & est qui vinci possit: eoque
Difficiles aditus primos habet. Haud mihi deero,
Muneribus servos corrumpam: non, hodie si
Exclusus fuero, desistam: tempera quæram:
Occurram in triviis: deducam. Nil sine magno
Vita labore dedit mortalibus. Hæc dum agit, ecce
Fuscus Aristius occurrit mihi carus, & illum
Qui pulchrè nôsset. Consistimus. Unde venis? &
Quo tendis? rogat, & respondet. Vellere coepi,
Et prensare manu lentissima brachia, nutans,
Distorquens oculos, ut me eriperet. Malè salsus
Ridens dissimulare: mecum jecur urere bilis.
Certè nescio quid secretò velle loqui te
Aiebas mecum. Memini benè; sed meliori
Tempora dicam: hodie tricesima sabbata, vin'tu
Curtis Judæis oppedere? Nulla mihi, inquam,
Religio est. At mî, sum paulo infirmior; unus
Multorum ignosces; aliàs loquar. Hunccine solem
Tam nigrum surrexe mihi: Fugit improbus, ac me
Sub cultro linquit. Casu venit obvius illi
Adversarius; &, Quò tu turpissime! magnâ
Inclamat voce; &, Licet antestari? Ego verò
Oppono auriculam; rapit in jus. Clamor utrinque
Undique concursus. Sic me servavit Apollo. [ * ]
The Intention of Horace in this Piece, is to expose an impertinent Fellow, and to give a ludicrous Detail of his own Embarrassment; Your Pleasure arises from the View which he gives you of his own Mortification, whereby he lays himself fairly open to your Raillery; This is the more poignant, and quick, from the real Distress which you see he endur'd, in this odd Attack; At the same Time the particular Turn of the Fellow, who chose in this Manner to pin himself upon another, is a very odd Species of impertinent Humour.--This Piece, as it stands, irresistibly forces your Mirth, and shakes you with Laughter; But to a Person of Discernment, it is chiefly at Horace's Expence; Who in receiving and enduring such insolent Treatment, appears in a Light too low and ridiculous, though he has thought fit himself to exhibit the Scene again for the Diversion of the Public;
The
Misere, cupis, ---- abire,
Jamdudum video, sed nil agis, usque tenebo,
Persequar;--
was an absolute Insult; And very unfit to be related by the Person who suffer'd it, as a Matter of Merriment;--Besides this Tameness of Horace, the Impudence of the Fellow is excessively nauseous and disgusting at the Bottom, though the whole carries a Froth of Raillery and Humour upon the Surface.