An Essay towards Fixing the True Standards of Wit, Humour, Railery, Satire, and Ridicule (1744) Part 1

An Essay towards Fixing the True Standards of Wit, Humour, Railery, Satire, and Ridicule (1744).

by Corbyn Morris.

INTRODUCTION

The _Essay_ here reproduced was first advertised in the London _Daily Advertiser_ as "this day was published" on Thursday, 17 May 1744 (The same advertis.e.m.e.nt, except for the change of price from one shilling to two, appeared in this paper intermittently until 14 June). Although on the t.i.tle-page the authorship is given as "By the Author of a Letter from a By-stander," there was no intention of anonymity, since the Dedication is boldly signed "Corbyn Morris, Inner Temple, Feb. 1, 1743 [44]."

Not much is known of the early life of Corbyn Morris. Born 14 August 1710, he was the eldest son of Edmund Morris of Bishop's Castle, Salop. (_Alumni Cantabrigienses_). On 17 September 1727 he was admitted (pensioner) at Queen's College, Cambridge, as an exhibitioner from the famous Charterhouse School. Exactly when he left the university, or whether he took a degree, is not certain.

Morris first achieved some prominence, though anonymously, with _A Letter from a By-stander to a Member of Parliament; wherein is examined what necessity there is for the maintenance of a large regular land-force in this island_. This pamphlet, dated at the end, 26 February 1741/42, is a wholehearted eulogy of the Walpole administration and is filled with statistics and arguments for the Mercantilist theories of the day. At the time there was some suspicion that the work had been written either by Walpole himself or by his direction. When the _Letter from a By-stander_ was answered by the historian Thomas Carte, an angry pamphlet controversy ensued, with Morris writing under the pseudonym of "A Gentleman of Cambridge."

Throughout, Morris showed himself a violent Whig, bitter in his attacks on Charles II and the non-jurors; and it was undoubtedly this fanatical party loyalty which laid the foundation for his later government career.

The princ.i.p.al facts of Morris's later life may be briefly summarized.

On 17 June 1743 he was admitted at the Inner Temple. Throughout the Pelham and Newcastle administrations he was employed by the government, as he once put it, "in conciliating opponents." From 1751 to 1763 be acted as Secretary of the Customs and Salt Duty in Scotland, in which post he was acknowledged to have shown decided ability as an administrator. From 1763 to 1778 he was one of the commissioners of customs. He died at Wimbledon 22 December 1779 (_Musgrave's Obituary_), described in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ as a "gentleman well known in the literary world, and universally esteemed for his unwearied services and attachment to government."

Throughout his long years of public service he wrote numerous pamphlets, largely on economic and political questions. Merely the t.i.tles of a few may be sufficient to indicate the nature of his interests. _An Essay towards Deciding the Question whether Britain be Permitted by Right Policy to Insure the Ships of Her Enemies _(1747); _Observations on the Past Growth and Present State of the City of London_ (containing a complete table of christenings and burials 1601- 1750) (175l); _A Letter Balancing the Causes of the Present Scarcity of Our Silver Coin_ (1757).

It would be a mistake, however, to consider Morris merely as a statistical economist and Whig party hack. A gentleman of taste and wit, the friend of Hume, Boswell, and other discerning men of the day, he was elected F.R.S. in 1757, and appears to have been much respected. In later life Morris had a country place at Chiltern Vale, Herts., where he took an active delight in country sports. One of his late pamphlets, not listed in the _D.N.B_. account of him, entertainingly ill.u.s.trates one of his hobbies. _The Bird-fancier's Recreation and Delight, with the newest and very best instructions for catching, taking, feeding, rearing, &c all the various sorts of SONG BIRDS... containing curious remarks on the nature, s.e.x, management, and diseases of ENGLISH SONG BIRDS, with practical instructions for distinguishing the c.o.c.k and hen, for taking, choosing, breeding, keeping, and teaching them to sing, for discovering and caring their diseases, and of learning them to sing to the greatest perfection_.

Although there is little surviving evidence of Morris's purely literary interests, a set of verses combining his economic and artistic views appeared in a late edition of _The New Foundling Hospital for Wit_ (new edition, 1784, VI, 95). Occasioned by seeing Bowood in Wiltshire, the home of the Earl of Shelburne, the lines are ent.i.tled: "On Reading Dr. Goldsmith's Poem, the Deserted Village."

This was the man who at the age of thirty-three brought out _An Essay towards Fixing the True Standards of Wit, Humour, Raillery, Satire, and Ridicule_. That it was ever widely read we have no evidence, but at least a number of men of wit and judgment found it interesting.

Horace Walpole included it in a packet of "the only new books at all worth reading" sent to Horace Mann, but the fulsome dedication to the elder Walpole undoubtedly had something to do with this recommendation. More disinterested approval is shown in a letter printed in the _Daily Advertiser_ for 31 May 1744. Better than any modern critique the letter ill.u.s.trates the contemporary reaction to the _Essay_.

Christ Church College, Oxford,

SIR:

I have examin'd the _Essay_ you have sent me for _fixing the true Standards of Wit, Humour, &c._ and cannot perceive upon what pretence the Definitions, as you tell me, are censured for Obscurity, even by Gentlemen of Abilities, and such as in other Parts of the Work very frankly allow it's Merit: the Definition of Wit, which presents itself at first, you say is, particularly objected to, as dark and involv'd; in answer to which I beg Leave to give you my plain Sentiments upon it, and which I apprehend should naturally occur to every Reader: In treating upon Wit, the Author seems constantly to carry in his View a Distinction between _This_ and _Vivacity_: there is a l.u.s.tre or Brilliancy which often results from wild unprovok'd Sallies of Fancy; but such unexpected Objects, which serve not to _elucidate_ each other, discover only a Flow of Spirits, or rambling Vivacity; whereas, says he, Wit is the l.u.s.tre which results from the quick _Elucidation_ of one Subject, by the just and unexpected Arrangement of it with another Subject.--To const.i.tute _Wit_, there must not only arise a _l.u.s.tre_ from the quick Arrangement together of two Subjects, but the new Subject must be naturally introduced, and also serve to _elucidate_ the original one: the Word _Elucidation_, though it be not new, is elegant, and very happily applied in this Definition; yet I have seen some old Gentlemen here stumble at it, and have found it difficult to persuade them to advance farther:--I have also heard Objections made to the Words _l.u.s.tre_ and _Brilliancy_ of Ideas, though they are Terms which have been used by the _Greeks_ and _Romans_, and by elegant Writers of all Ages and Nations; and the Effect which they express, is perfectly conceiv'd and felt by every Person of true Genius and Imagination.

The Distinctions between _Wit_ and _Humour_, and the Reasons why _Humour_ is more pleasurably felt than _Wit_, are new and excellent: as is the Definition of an _Humourist_, and the happy a.n.a.lysis of the Characters of _Falstaff_, _Sir Roger de Coverly_, and _Don Quixote_; But, as you say, the Merit of these Parts is universally allowed; as well as the Novelty, and liberal Freedom of the [word apparently omitted]; which have such Charms in my Eye, as I had long ceased to expect in a Modern Writer.

I am, &c 25 May, 1744 J---- W---- [not identified]

If the "Gentlemen of Abilities" of the day found some of Morris's definitions obscure, modern readers will find them more precise than those of most of his predecessors. All who had gone before--Cowley, Barrow, Dryden, Locke, Addison, and Congreve (he does not mention Hobbes)--Morris felt had bungled the job. And although he apologizes for attempting what the great writers of the past had failed to do, he has no hesitation in setting forth exactly what he believes to be the proper distinctions in the meanings of such terms as wit, humour, judgment, invention, raillery, and ridicule. The mathematician and statistician in Morris made him strive for precise accuracy. It was all very clear to him, and by the use of numerous anecdotes and examples he hoped to make the distinctions obvious to the general reader.

The _Essay_ shows what a man of some evident taste and perspicacity, with an a.n.a.lytical mind, can do in defining the subtle semantic distinctions in literary terms. Trying to fix immutably what is certain always to be shifting, Morris is noteworthy not only because of the nature of his attempt, but because he is relatively so successful. As Professor Edward Hooker has pointed out in an Introduction to an earlier _ARS_ issue (Series I, No. 2), his is "probably the best and clearest treatment of the subject in the first half of the eighteenth century." It may be regretted that political and economic concerns occupied so much of his later life, leaving him no time for further literary essays.

In the present facsimile edition, for reasons of s.p.a.ce, only the Introduction and the main body of the _Essay_ are reproduced. Although Morris once remarked to David Hume that he wrote all his books "for the sake of the Dedications" (_Letters of David Hume_ ed. Greig, I, 380), modern readers need not regret too much the omission of the fulsome 32 page dedication to Walpole (The Earl of Orford). Morris insists at the beginning that the book was inspired by a fervent desire of "attempting a Composition, independent of Politics, which might furnish an occasional Amus.e.m.e.nt" to his patron. The praise which follows, in which Walpole is said to lead "the _Empire_ of _Letters_,"

is so excessive as to produce only smiles in twentieth century readers. Walpole is praised for not curbing the press while necessarily curbing the theatre, his aid to commerce and industry, indeed almost every act of his administration, is lauded to the skies.

The Church of England, in which "the _Exercise_ of _Reason_ in the solemn Worship of G.o.d, is the sacred _Right_, and indispensible _Duty_, of Man," receives its share of eulogy. In every connection the Tories are violently attacked.

The Dedication ends in a peroration of praise for Walpole's public achievements which "shall adorn the History of _Britain_," and for his "_Private Virtues_ and all the _softer Features_" of his mind. His home of retirement is referred to in the lines of Milton:

"Great Palace now of Light!

Hither, as to their Fountain, other Stars Repairing, in their golden Urns, draw Light; And here [sic] the Morning Planet gilds her Horns."

[P.L. 7. 363-66]

"Thus splendid, and superior, your Lordship now flourishes in honourable Ease, exerting universal Benevolence...." But in dedications, as in lapidary inscriptions, as Dr. Johnson might have agreed, a writer need not be upon oath.

At the end of the _Essay_ Morris reprinted two essays from _The Spectator_, Nos. 35 and 62, and William Congreve's "An Essay concerning Humour in Comedy. To Mr. Dennis" (Congreve's _Works_, ed. Summers, III, 161-68). Since these are readily available, they have not been included in this edition.

The present facsimile is made from a copy owned by Louis I. Bredvold, with his kind permission.

James L. Clifford

Columbia University

INTRODUCTION.

An Attempt to _describe_ the precise _Limits_ of WIT, HUMOUR, RAILLERY, SATIRE and RIDICULE, I am sensible, is no easy or slight Undertaking. To give a _Definition_ of WIT, has been declared by Writers of the greatest Renown, to exceed their Reach and Power; and Gentlemen of no less Abilities, and Fame, than _Cowley_, _Barrow_, _Dryden_, _Locke_, _Congreve_, and _Addison_, have tryed their Force upon this Subject, and have all left it free, and unconquered. This, I perceive, will be an Argument with some, for condemning an _Essay_ upon this Topic by a young Author, as rash and presumptious. But, though I desire to pay all proper Respect to these eminent Writers, if a tame Deference to great Names shall become fashionable, and the Imputation of Vanity be laid upon those who examine their Works, all Advancement in Knowledge will be absolutely stopp'd; and _Literary_ Merit will be soon placed, in an _humble Stupidity_, and _solemn Faith_ in the Wisdom of our Ancestors.

Whereas, if I rightly apprehend, _an Ambition to excell_ is the Principle which should animate a Writer, directed by a _Love_ of _Truth_, and a _free Spirit_ of _Candour_ and _Inquiry_. This is the _Flame_ which should warm the rising Members of every Science, not a poor Submission to those who have preceded. For, however it may be with a _Religious_ DEVOTION, a _Literary_ One is certainly the CHILD of _Ignorance_.

However, I must acknowledge, that where I have differed from the great Authors before mentioned, it has been with a Diffidence, and after the most serious and particular Examination of what they have delivered.

It is from hence, that I have thought it my Duty, to exhibit with the following _Essay_, their several Performances upon the same Subject, that every Variation of mine from their Suffrage, and the Reasons upon which I have grounded it, may clearly appear.

The following _Ode_ upon WIT is written by Mr. _Cowley_.

ODE of WIT.

I.

Tell me, oh tell!, what kind of Thing is _WIT_, Thou who _Master_ art of it; For the _first Matter_ loves Variety _less_; Less _Women_ love't, either in _Love_ or _Dress_.

A thousand diff'rent Shapes it bears, Comely in thousand Shapes appears; Yonder we saw it plain, and here 'tis now, Like _Spirits_ in a Place, we know not _how_.

II.

_London_, that vents of _false Ware_ so much Store, In no _Ware_ deceives us more; For Men, led by the _Colour_, and the Shape, Like _Zeuxis' Bird_, fly to the painted Grape.

Some things do through our Judgment pa.s.s, As through a _Multiplying Gla.s.s_: And sometimes, if the _Object_ be too far, We take a _falling Meteor_ for a _Star_.

III.

Hence 'tis a _Wit_, that greatest _Word_ of Fame, Grows such a common Name; And _Wits_, by our _Creation_, they become; Just so as _t.i.t'lar Bishops_ made at _Rome_.

'Tis not a _Tale_, 'tis not a _Jest_, Admir'd with _Laughter_ at a Feast, Nor florid _Talk_ which can that _t.i.tle_ gain; The _Proofs_ of _Wit_ for ever must remain.

IV.

'Tis not to force some Lifeless _Verses_ meet, With their five gouty Feet.

All ev'ry where, like _Man's_, must be the _Soul_, And _Reason_ the _inferior Pow'rs_ controul.

Such were the _Numbers_ which could call The _Stones_ into the _Theban_ Wall.

Such _Miracles_ are ceas'd, and now we see No _Towns_ or _Houses_ rais'd by _Poetry.