--Dickens' power of Description--General
Remarks 226

CHAPTER XIX.

Variation--Constancy--Influence of Temperament--Of
Observation--Bulls--Want of Knowledge--Effects
of Emotion--Unity of the Sense of the Ludicrous 241

CHAPTER XX.

Definition--Difficulties of forming one of Humour 276

CHAPTER XXI.

Charm of Mystery--Complication--Poetry and Humour
compared--Exaggeration 285

CHAPTER XXII.

Imperfection--An Impression of Falsity implied--Two
Views taken by Philosophers--Firstly that of Voltaire,
Jean Paul, Brown, the German Idealists, Leon Dumont,
Secondly that of Descartes, Marmontel and Dugald
Stewart--Whately on Jests--Nature of Puns--Effect of
Custom and Habit--Accessory Emotion--Disappointment
and Loss--Practical Jokes 307

CHAPTER XXIII.

Nomenclature--Three Classes of Words--Distinction between
Wit and Humour--Wit sometimes dangerous,
generally innocuous 339

HISTORY OF ENGLISH HUMOUR.

CHAPTER I.

Burlesque--Parody--The "Splendid Shilling"--Prior--Pope--Ambrose
Philips--Parodies of Gray's Elegy--Gay.

Burlesque, that is comic imitation, comprises parody and caricature. The
latter is a valuable addition to humorous narrative, as we see in the
sketches of Gillray, Cruikshank and others. By itself it is not
sufficiently suggestive and affords no story or conversation. Hence in
the old caricatures the speeches of the characters were written in
balloons over their heads, and in the modern an explanation is added
underneath. For want of such assistance we lose the greater part of the
humour in Hogarth's paintings.

We may date the revival of Parody from the fifteenth century, although
Dr. Johnson speaks as though it originated with Philips. Notwithstanding
the great scope it affords for humorous invention, it has never become
popular, nor formed an important branch of literature; perhaps, because
the talent of the parodist always suffered from juxtaposition with that
of his original. In its widest sense parody is little more than
imitation, but as we should not recognise any resemblance without the
use of the same form, it always implies a similarity in words or style.
Sometimes the thoughts are also rep