couthness in Conceit or Expression, doth affect and amuse the
Fancy, stirring in it some Wonder, and breeding some Delight
thereto. It raiseth Admiration, as signifying a nimble Sagacity
of Apprehension, a special Felicity of Invention, a Vivacity of
Spirit, and Reach of Wit, more than vulgar; it seeming to argue a
rare Quickness of Parts, that one can fetch in remote Conceits
applicable; a notable Skill that he can dextrously accommodate
them to the Purpose before him; together with a lively Briskness
of Humour, not apt to damp those Sportful Flashes of Imagination.
(Whence in _Aristotle_ such Persons are termed "epidexioi",
dexterous Men, and "eutropoi", Men of facile or versatile
Manners, who can easily turn themselves to all Things, or
turn all Things to themselves.) It also procureth Delight,
by gratifying Curiosity with its Rareness, or Semblance of
Difficulty. (As Monsters, not for their Beauty, but their
Rarity; as juggling Tricks, not for their Use, but their
Abstruseness, are beheld with Pleasure;) by diverting the Mind
from its Road of serious Thoughts, by instilling Gaiety, and
Airiness of Spirit; by provoking to such Disposition of Spirit
in Way of Emulation, or Complaisance; and by seasoning Matters
otherwise distasteful or insipid, with an unusual and thence
grateful Tange.

This Description, it is easy to perceive, must have cost the Author of
it a great deal of Labour. It is a very full Specimen of that Talent
of entirely _exhausting_ a Subject, for which Dr. _Barrow_ was
remarkable; and if the _Point_ was, to exhibit all the various Forms
and Appearances, not of WIT only, but of _Raillery_, _Satire_,
_Sarcasms_, and of every Kind of _Poignancy_ and _Pleasantry_ of
Sentiment, and Expression, he seems to have perfectly succeeded; there
being perhaps no Variety, in all the Extent of these Subjects, which
he has not presented to View in this Description.--But he does not
pretend to give any _Definition_ of WIT, intimating rather that it is
quite impossible to be given: And indeed from his Description of it,
as a _Proteus_, appearing in numberless various Colours, and Forms;
and from his mistaking, and presenting for WIT, other different
Mixtures and Substances, it is evident that his Idea of it was quite
confused and uncertain: It is true, he has discovered a vast Scope of
Fertility of Genius, and an uncommon Power of collecting together a
Multitude of Object