of a fiction and an impossibility. This is the favourite form of Wit with Addison; "There is scarce any emotion in the mind which does not produce a suitable agitation in the fan; insomuch, that if I only see the fan of a disciplined lady, I know very well whether she laughs, frowns, or blushes. I have seen a fan so very angry, that it would have been dangerous for the absent lover who provoked it to have come within the wind of it; and at other times so very languishing, that I have been glad, for the lady's sake, the lover was at a sufficient distance from it."-Ib. No. 102. In Addison's time it was a fashion for ladies to patch their faces, by way of setting off the fairness of their skin; and at one time they took to wearing these patches politically; or so as to indicate, by the sides on which they put them, whether they were Tories or Whigs. Accordingly, by an exquisite intimation of the superficiality of the whole business, he transfers the political feeling from the mind to the face itself; "Upon inquiry (as he sat at the opera), I found that the body of Amazons on my right hand were Whigs, and those on my left Tories; and that those who had placed themselves in the middle boxes were a neutral party, whose faces had not yet declared themselves. * * * I must here take notice, that Rosalinda, a famous Whig partizan, has most unfortunately a very beautiful mole on the Tory part of her forehead; which being very conspicuous, has occasioned many mistakes, and given an handle to her enemies to misrepresent her face, as though it had revolted from the Whig interest."-Ib. No. 81. A fop, who had the misfortune to possess a fine set of masticators, and who was always grinning in order to show them, was designated by Horace Walpole as "the gentleman with the foolish teeth.” Nothing of the kind can be better than this. It is painting the man at a blow, quick as the "flash" of his own "ivories." It reminds us of the maxim, that "brevity is the soul of wit;"--a questionable assertion, however, unless by "soul" is meant a certain fervour apart from mind; otherwise the soul of wit is fancy.* 4th, Irony, (Eɩpovera, Talk, in a sense of Dissimulation) or Saying one thing and Meaning another, is a mode of speech generally adopted for purposes of satire, but may be made the vehicle of the most exquisite compliment. On the other hand, Chaucer, with a delightful impudence, has drawn a pretended compliment out of a satire the most outrageous. He makes the Cock say to the Hen, in the fable told by the Nun's Priest, that "the female is the confusion of the male;" but then he says it in Latin, gravely quoting from a Latin author a sentence to that effect about womankind. This insult he proceeds to translate into an eulogy :— But let us speak of mirth, and stint all this. Madamě Pèrtělote, so have I bliss, * Voltaire says, in his happy manner, "All pleasantries ought to be short; and, for that matter, gravities too."-Art. Prior, &c. in the Dictionnaire Philosophique. Of one thing God hath sent me largè grace; Ye ben so scarlet red about your eyen, It maketh all my drèdě for to dyen; For all so siker (so surely) as In principio Mulier est hominis confusio; (That is, "for as it was in the beginning of the world, woman is the confusion of man.”) Madam, the sentence of this Latin is, "Woman is mànněs joy and mànnĕs bliss." Canterbury Tales, v. 15,163. The famous piece of flattery addressed by his victimizer to Gil Blas is an irony in all its glory. Nothing can beat it as an effusion of impudence, and a lesson. But it is surpassed in depth and dryness by Swift's banter on the Protestant Nunnery, a project meditated in his time by a literary lady, or, as he calls her, a "Platonne." It is more impudent than the other, inasmuch as it was a banter on a living person, and inflicted, moreover, through the medium of Steele, who would probably have rejected such an attack on the fair pietist, had he not been overpowered by the wit and assumption of his contributor. It is in The Tatler, then newly set up (No. 32); and is so masterly a piece of effrontery that I must here give the greater part of it. "Every man," says the author, "that has wit, and humour, and raillery, can make a good flatterer for woman in general: but a Platonne is not to be touched with panegyric: she will tell you it is a sensuality in the soul to be delighted that way. You are not therefore to commend, but silently consent to all she does and says. You are to consider, in her the scorn of you is not humour but opinion. "There were, some years since, a set of these ladies who were of quality, and gave out, that virginity was to be their state of life during this mortal condition, and therefore resolved to join their fortunes and erect a nunnery. The place of residence was pitched upon; and a pretty situation, full of natural falls and risings of waters, with shady coverts, and flowery arbours, was approved by seven of the founders. There were as many of our sex who took the liberty to visit their mansions of intended severity; among others, a famous rake of that time, who had the grave way to an excellence. He came in first : but upon seeing a servant coming towards him, with a design to tell him this was no place for him or his companions, up goes my grave impudence to the maid; "Young woman," said he, "if any of the ladies are in the way on this side of the house, pray carry us on the other side towards the gardens. We are, you must know, gentlemen that are travelling England; after which we shall go into foreign parts, where some of us have already been." Here he bows in the most humble manner, and kissed the girl, who knew not how to behave to such a sort of carriage. He goes on: "Now you must know we have an ambition to have it to say, that we have a protestant nunnery in England: but pray, Mrs. Betty-" "Sir," she replied, name is Susan, at your service." "Then I heartily beg your pardon-" "No offence in the least," said she, "for I have a cousin-german whose name is Betty." "Indeed," said he, "I pro my But test to you that was more than I knew; I spoke at random. since it happens that I was near in the right, give me leave to present this gentleman to the favour of a civil salute." His friend advances, and so on, until they had all saluted her. By this means the poor girl was in the middle of the crowd of these fellows, at a loss what to do, without courage to pass through them; and the Platonics at several peep-holes, pale, trembling, and fretting. Rake perceived they were observed, and therefore took care to keep Sukey in chat with questions concerning their way of life; when appeared at last Madonnella, a lady who had writ a fine book concerning the recluse life, and was the projectrix of the foundation. She approaches into the hall; and Rake, knowing the dignity of his own mien and aspect, goes deputy from the company. She begins;—“Sir, I am obliged to follow the servant, who was sent out to know what affair could make strangers press upon a solitude, which we, who are to inhabit this place, have devoted to heaven and our own thoughts?" "Madam," replies Rake, with an air of great distance, mixed with a certain indifference, by which he could dissemble dissimulation, your great intention has made more noise in the world than you design it should; and we travellers, who have seen many foreign institutions of this kind, have a curiosity to see, in its first rudiments, the seat of primitive piety; for such it must be called by future ages, to the eternal honour of the founders: I have read Madonnella's excellent and seraphic discourse on this subject." The lady immediately answered, “If what I have said could have contributed to raise any thoughts in you that may make for the advancement of intellectual and divine conversation, I should think myself extremely happy." He immediately fell back with the profoundest veneration; then advancing, "Are you then that admired lady? If I may approach lips that have uttered things so sacred"—He salutes her. His friends followed his example. The devoted within stood in amazement where this would end, to see Madonnella receive their address and their company. But Rake goes on "We would not transgress rules; but if we may take the liberty to see the place you have thought fit to choose for ever, we would go into such parts of the gardens as is consistent with the severities you have imposed on yourselves." We need not accompany Rake any farther. The reader will have observed that this story of Swift's is full of Humour as well as Wit. The best irony is apt to be so, because it is concerned with human nature. Wit may be wholly turned on things inanimate; but when you come to sarcasm and scorn, you come (as a misanthropist would say) to man |