quency of their of their appearance. But many circumstances concur to perpetuate the agreeable effect of thofe paffages. We forget them in the intervals of reading, and thus they often become almost new to us :- when we read them a fecond or third time, the remembrance of the former emotion may ferve to heighten the prefent; when we read them in company, or hear them read, our emotions are enforced by fympathy; — and all this while the wit or humour remains the fame, unimpaired and unaffected by accidental affociations. Whereas, on the other hand, there are many circumstances that tend in time to obliterate, or at least to foften, what at first might feem ridiculous in modes of conversation or drefs. For things are not always agreeable or disagreeable in proportion to their intrinfic beauty or deformity; much will depend on extraneous and accidental connections: and, as men who live in fociety do daily acquire new companions, by whom their manners are in fome degree tinctured; fo whatever is driven about in the tide of human affairs is daily made a part of fome new affemblage, and daily contracts new qualities from those things that chance affociates with it. A vaft periwig is in itself perhaps fomewhat ridiculous; but the perfon who wears it may be a venerable character. These two objects, being conftantly united, derive new qualities from each other: - the wig may at first 3 G 2 raise raise a smile at the expence of the wearer, but the wearer will at last render even his wig refpectable. The fine lady may have a thoufand charms, every one of which is more than fufficient to make us fond of the little irregularities of her temper, and much more to reconcile us to any awkward difpofition of her ringlets or apparel. And the fine gen tleman, whofe hair in its economy fo little resembles that of Milton's Adam *, may be, what no ungracefulness of fhape or feature will ever expofe to ridicule, a faithful friend, a valiant foldier, an agreeable companion, or a dutiful fon. Our natural love of fociety, the various and fubftantial pleasures we derive from that fource, and our pronenefs to imitation, not to mention the power of custom, foon reconcile us to the manners of those with whom we live; and therefore cannot fail to recommend their external appearance. All the nations in Europe, and perhaps all the nations on earth, are, in fome particulars of drefs or deportment, mutually ridiculous to one another; and to the vulgar of each nation, or to those who have never been from home, nor converfed with ftrangers, the peculiarities of foreign behaviour are hyacinthin locks Round from his parted forelock manly hung Paradife Loft, book 4. moft most apt to appear ludicrous. Perfons who, by travel or extenfive acquaintance, are become familiar with foreign manners, fee nothing ridiculous in them and it is therefore reasonable, that a difpofition to laugh at the drefs and geftures of a stranger (provided these be unaffected on his part) fhould be taken for a mark of rufticity, as well as of ill-nature. Tragedies written in rhime, or pronounced in Recitative, may be thought ridiculous, when one has feen but little of them; but it is eafy to give a reason why they should be highly and seriously interesting in France and Italy. That cannot be ludicrous, that muft, on the contrary, be the object of admiration, to which we have been accustomed to annex ideas of festivity and leifure, of beauty and magnificence, which we have always heard fpoken of as a matter of universal concern, and with which from our infancy we have been acquainted. May we not, then, fet it down, as a character of Ludicrous abfurdity, that it is in fome degree new and furprifing? Witticifms that appear to be studied give offence, instead of entertainment and nothing fets off a merry tale to fo great advantage as an unpromifing fimplicity of ftyle and manner. By virtue of this negative accomplishment, men of moderate talents have been known to contribute more to the mirth of the company, than thofe could ever do, who, with fuperior powers of genius, were more artful in their language, and more animated in their pronunciation. Concifenefs, too, when we intend a laughable conclufion, is an essential requifite in telling a story; nor fhould any man attempt to be diffufe in humorous narrative, but he whofe wit and eloquence are very great. A joke is always the worse for being expected: the longer it is withheld after we are made to look for it, the more will its volatile fpirit lose by evaporation. The greatest masterpieces in ludicrous writing would become infipid, if too frequently perufed; decies repetita placebit is a character that belongs to few of them and I believe every admirer of Cervantes and Fielding would purchase at a confiderable price the pleasure of reading Tom Jones and Don Quixote for the first time. It is true, a good comedy, well performed, may entertain the fame perfon for many fucceffive evenings; but fome varieties are always expected, and do generally take place, in each new reprefentation; and though the wit and the bufinefs of every scene should come at last to be distinctly remembered, there will still be fomething in the art of the player, which one would wish to fee repeated. II. But as every furprising incongruity is not ludicrous, we must purfue our fpeculations a little further. 1. A more striking abfurdity there is not in the whole univerfe, than a vitious man. His frame and faculties are human his mo ral nature, originally inclined to rectitude, is fadly perverted, and applied to purposes not lefs unfuitable to humanity, than dancing is to a bear, or a fword and fnuff-box to a monkey. He judges of things, not by their proper ftandard, nor as they are in themselves, but as they appear through the medium of his own variable and artificial appetites; as the clown is faid to have applied his candle to the fun-dial to fee how the night went. He overlooks and lofes real good, in order to attain that of which he knows not whether it be good, or whether it be attainable; like the dog in the fable, lofing the fubftance by catching at a fhadow. He juftifies his conduct to his own mind, by arguments whereof he fees the fallacy; like the thief endeavouring to enrich himself by stealing out of his own pocket. He purposes to take up and reform, whenever his appetites are fully gratified; like the ruftic, whofe plan was, to wait till the water of the river fhould run by, and then pafs over dry-fhod. He attempts what is beyond his reach, and is ruined by the attempt; like the frog that burst by endeavouring to blow herself up to the fize of an ox. —— In a word, more blunders and abfurdities, than ever the imitators of Efop afcribed to the beafts, or Joe Millar to the Scots and Irish, might easily be traced out in the conduct of the wicked man. And yet Vice, however it may furprife by its novelty or enormity, is by |