f those who indulge in it:--

"The dimplers, the smilers, the laughers, the grimacers, the
horse-laughers.

"The dimple is practised to give a grace to the features, and is
frequently made a bait to entangle a gazing lover; this was called
by the ancients the chin laugh.

"The smile is for the most part confined to the fair sex and their
male retinue. It expresses our satisfaction in a silent sort of
approbation, doth not too much disorder the features, and is
practised by lovers of the most delicate address. This tender
motion of the physignomy the ancients called the Ionic laugh.

"The laugh among us is the common risus of the ancients. The grin
by writers of antiquity is called the Syncrusian, and it was then,
as it is at this time, made use of to display a beautiful set of
teeth.

"The horse-laugh, or the sardonic, is made use of with great
success in all kinds of disputation. The proficients in this kind,
by a well-timed laugh, will baffle the most solid argument. This
upon all occasions supplies the want of reason, is always received
with great applause in coffee-house disputes, and that side the
laugh joins with is generally observed to gain the better of his
antagonist."

In an amusing article upon punning, he gives the following instance of
its beneficial effects:--

"A friend of mine who had the ague this Spring was, after the
failing of several medicines and charms, advised by me to enter
into a course of quibbling. He threw his electuaries out of his
window, and took Abracadabra off from his neck, and by the mere
force of punning upon that long magical word, threw himself into a
fine breathing sweat, and a quiet sleep. He is now in a fair way of
recovery, and says pleasantly, he is less obliged to the Jesuits
for their powder, than for their equivocation."

Several periodicals of a similar character were afterwards published by
Steele and others, but they wanted the old "salt," and were not equally
successful.

Thus, in 1745, a humorous periodical of a somewhat different character
was attempted, which went through eight weekly numbers. It was called
"The Agreeable Companion; or an Universal Medley of Wit and Good
Humour." There was little original matter in it, but the proprietor
recognized the desirability of having pieces by various hands, and so
made