of mind the name of Newton will lead my thoughts to the principal incidents of his life, and the more striking features of his character; or, if my mind be ardent and vigorous, will lead my attention to the sublime discoveries he made, and gradually engage me in some philosophical investigation. To every object, there are others which bear obvious and striking relations; and others, also, whose relation to it does not readily occur to us, unless we dwell upon it for some time, and place it before us in different points of view. But the principal power we possess over the train of our ideas, is founded on the influence which our habits of thinking have on the laws of Association; an influence which is so great, that we may often form a pretty shrewd judgment concerning a man's prevailing turn of thought, from the transitions he makes in conversation or in writing. It is well known, too, that by means of habit, a particular associating principle may be strengthened to such a degree, as to give us a command of all the different ideas in our mind, which have a certain relation to each other; so that when any one of the class occurs to us, we have almost a certainty that it will suggest the rest. What confidence in his own powers must a speaker possess, when he rises without premeditation, in a popular assembly, to amuse his audience with a lively or an humorous speech! Such a confidence, it is evident, can only arise from a long experience of the strength of particular associating principles. A man To how great a degree this part of our constitution may be influenced by habit, appears from facts which are familiar to every one. who has an ambition to become a punster, seldom or never fails in the attainment of his object; that is, he seldom or never fails in acquiring a power which other men have not, of summoning up, on a particular occasion, a number of words different from each other in meaning, and resembling each other, more or less, in sound. I am inclined to think that even genuine wit is a habit acquired in a similar way; and that although some individuals may, from natural constitution, be more fitted than others to acquire this habit, it is founded in every case on a peculiarly strong association among certain classes of our ideas, which gives the person who possesses it, a command over those ideas which is denied to ordinary men. But there is no instance in which the effect of habits of association is more remarkable, than in those men who possess a facility of rhyming. That a man should be able to express his thoughts perspicuously and elegantly, under the restraints which rhyme imposes, would appear to be incredible, if we did not know it to be fact. Such a power implies a wonderful command both of ideas and of expressions, and yet daily experience shews, that it may be gained with very little practice Pope tells us with respect to himself, that he could express himself not only more concisely, but more easily, in rhyme than in prose.* Nor is it only in these trifling accomplishments that we may trace the influence of habits of association. In every instance of invention, either * "When habit is once gained, nothing is so easy as practice. Cicero writes, that Antipater the Sidonian could pour forth hexameters extempore; and that, whenever he chose to versify, words followed him of course. We may add to Antipater, the ancient rhapsodies of the Greeks, and the modern improvisatori of the Italians." HARRIS'S Phil. Ing. 109, 110. in the fine arts, in the mechanical arts, or in the sciences, there is some new idea, or some new combination of ideas, brought to light by the inventor. This undoubtedly, may often happen in a way which he is unable to explain; that is, his invention may be suggested to him by some lucky thought, the origin of which he is unable to trace. But when a man possesses an habitual fertility of invention in any particular art or science, and can rely with confidence on his inventive powers, whenever he is called upon to exert them, he must have acquired, by previous habits of study, a command over certain classes of his ideas, which enables him, at pleasure, to bring them under his review. The illustration of these subjects may throw light on some processes of the mind, which are not in general well understood; and I shall, accordingly, in the following Section, offer a few hints with respect to those habits of association which are the foundation of wit; of the power of rhyming; of poetical fancy; and of invention in matters of science. SECTION IV. Illustrations of the Doctrine stated in the preceding Section. I. OF WIT. ACCORDING to Locke, wit consists "in the assemblage of ideas; and "putting those together with quickness and variety, wherein can be "found any resemblance or congruity." "* I would add to this definition, (rather by way of explanation than amendment,) that Wit implies a power of calling up at pleasure the ideas which it combines; and I ain inclined to believe, that the entertainment which it gives to the hearer, is founded, in a considerable degree, on his surprise at the commmand which the man of wit has acquired over a part of the constitution, which is so little subject to the will. That the effect of wit depends partly, at least, on the circumstance now mentioned, appears evidently from this, that we are more pleased with a bon mot, which occurs in conversation, than with one in print; and that we never fail to receive disgust from wit, when we suspect it to be premeditated. The pleasure, too, we receive from wit, is heightened, when the original idea is started by one person, and the related idea by another. Dr. Campbell has remarked, that "a witty repartee "is infinitely more pleasing, than a witty attack; and that an allusion "will appear excellent when thrown out extempore in conversation, "which would be deemed execrable in print." In all these cases, the wit considered absolutely is the same. The relations which are discovered between the compared ideas are equally new; and yet, as soon as we suspect that the wit was premeditated, the pleasure we receive from it is infinitely diminished. Instances indeed may be mentioned, in which we are pleased with contemplating an unexpected relation between ideas, without any reference to the habits of association in the mind of the person who discovered it. A bon mot produced at the game * Essay on Human Understanding, book ii. chap. 11. of cross-purposes, would not fail to create amusement; but in such cases, our pleasure seems chiefly to arise from the surprise we feel at so extraordinary a coincidence between a question and an answer, coming from persons who had no direct communication with each other. Of the effect added to wit by the promptitude with which its combinations are formed, Fuller appears to have had a very just idea, from what he has recorded of the social hours of our two great English Dramatists. "Jonson's parts were not so ready to run of themselves, "as able to answer the spur; so that it may be truly said of him, that "he had an elaborate wit, wrought out by his own industry.-Many "were the wit-combats between him and Shakspeare, which two I "behold like a Spanish great galleon, and an English man of war.— "Jonson (like the former) was built far higher in learning; solid, but "slow in his performances. Shakspeare, with the English man of war, "lesser in bulk, but lighter in sailing, could turn with all tides, tack "about and take advantage of all winds, by the quickness of his wit "and invention."* I before observed, that the pleasure we receive from wit is increased, when the two ideas, between which the relation is discovered, are suggested by different persons. In the case of a bon mot occurring in conversation, the reason of this is abundantly obvious; because, when the related ideas are suggested by different persons, we have a proof that the wit was not premeditated. But even in a written composition, we are much more delighted when the subject was furnished to the author by another person, than when he chooses the topic on which he is to display his wit. How much would the pleasure we receive from the Key to the Lock be diminished, if we suspected that the author had the key in view when he wrote that poem; and that he introduced some expressions, in order to furnish a subject for the wit of the commentator? How totally would it destroy the pleasure we receive from a parody on a poem, if we suspected that both were productions of the same author? The truth seems to be, that when both the related ideas are suggested by the same person, we have not a very satisfactory proof of any thing uncommon in the intellectual habits of the author. We may suspect that both ideas occurred to him at the same time; and we know, that in the dullest and most phlegmatic minds, such extraordinary associations will sometimes take place. But when the subject of the wit is furnished by one person, and the wit suggested by another, we have a proof, not only that the author's mind abounds with such singular associations, but that he has his wit perfectly at command. As an additional confirmation of these observations, we may remark, that the more an author is limited by his subject, the more we are pleased with his wit. And, therefore, the effect of wit does not arise solely from the unexpected relations which it presents to the mind, but arises, in part, from the surprise it excites at those intellectual habits which gave it birth. It is evident, that the more the author is circumscribed in the choice of his materials, the greater must be the command which he has acquired over those associating principles on which wit depends, and of consequence, according to the foregoing doctrine, the greater must be the surprise and the pleasure which his wit produces. In Addison's celebrated verses to Sir Godfrey Kneller on his picture of George * History of the Worthies of England. London, 1662. the First, in which he compares the painter to Phidias, and the subjects of his pencil to the Grecian Deities, the range of the Poet's wit was necessarily confined within very narrow bounds; and what principally delights us in that performance is, the surprising ease and felicity with which he runs the parallel between the English history and the Greek mythology. Of all the allusions which the following passage contains, there is not one, taken singly, of very extraordinary merit; and yet the effect of the whole is uncommonly great, from the singular power of combination, which so long and so difficult an exertion discovers. "Wise Phidias thus, his skill to prove, "And mighty Mars for war renown'd, "Her twisted threads; the web she strung, "Reclining on a funeral urn, "Her short-liv'd darling son to mourn; "The last was he, whose thunder slew "That from a hundred hills ally'd, "In impious league their King defy'd." According to the view which I have given of the nature of Wit, the pleasure we derive from that assemblage of ideas which it presents, is greatly heightened and enlivened by our surprise at the command displayed over a part of the constitution, which, in our own case, we find to be so little subject to the will. We consider Wit as a sort of feat or trick of intellectual dexterity, analogous, in some respects, to the extraordinary performances of jugglers and rope dancers; and, in both cases, the pleasure we receive from the exhibition, is explicable in part, (I, by no means, say entirely) on the same principles. If these remarks be just, it seems to follow as a consequence, that those men who are most deficient in the power of prompt combination, will be most poignantly affected by it when exerted at the will of another: and therefore, the charge of jealousy and envy brought against rival Wits, when disposed to look grave at each other's jests, may perhaps be obviated in a way less injurious to their character. . The same remarks suggest a limitation, or rather an explanation, of an assertion of Lord Chesterfield's, that "genuine wit never made any man laugh since the creation of the world." The observation, I believe, to be just, if by genuine wit, we mean wit wholly divested of every mixture of humour; and if by laughter we mean, that convulsive and noisy agitation which is excited by the ludicrous. But there is unquestionably a smile appropriated to the flashes of wit ;-a smile of surprise wonder ;-not altogether unlike the effect produced on the mind and the countenance, by a feat of legerdemain when executed with uncom mon success. 32 II. OF RHYME. THE pleasure we receive from rhyme seems also to arise, partly, from our surprise at the command which the Poet must have acquired over the train of his ideas, in order to be able to express himself with elegance, and the appearance of ease, under the restraint which rhyme imposes. In witty or in humorous performances, this surprise serves to enliven that which the wit or the humour produces, and renders its effects more sensible. How flat do the liveliest and most ludicrous thoughts appear in blank verse! And how wonderfully is the wit of Pope heightened, by the easy and happy rhymes in which it is expressed! It must not, however, be imagined, either in the case of wit or of rhyme, that the pleasure arises solely from our surprise at the uncommon habits of association which the author discovers. In the former case, there must be presented to the mind, an unexpected analogy or relation between different ideas; and perhaps other circumstances must concur to render the wit perfect. If the combination has no other merit than that of bringing together two ideas which never met before, we may be surprised at its oddity, but we do not consider it as a proof of wit. On the contrary, the want of any analogy or relation between the combined ideas, leads us to suspect, that the one did not suggest the other, in consequence of any habits of association; but that the two were brought together by study, or by mere accident. All that I affirm is, that when the analogy or relation is pleasing in itself, our pleasure is heightened by our surprise at the authors' habits of association when compared with our own. In the case of Rhyme, too, there is undoubtedly a certain degree of pleasure arising from the recurrence of the same sound. We frequently observe children amuse themselves with repeating over single words which rhyme together; and the lower people, who derive little pleasure from poetry, excepting in so far as it affects the ear, are so pleased with the echo of the rhymnes, that when they read verses where it is not perfect, they are apt to supply the Poet's defects, by violating the common rules of pronunciation. This pleasure, however, is heightened by our admiration of the miraculous powers which the poet must have acquired over the train of his ideas, and over all the various modes of expression which the language affords, in order to convey instruction and entertainment, without transgressing the established laws of regular versification. In some of the lower kinds of poetry, for example, in acrostics, and in the lines which are adapted to bouts rimés, the merit lies entirely in this command of thought and expression; or in other words, in a command of ideas founded on extraordinary habits of association. Even some authors of a superior class occasionally shew an inclination to display their knack at rhyming, by introducing, at the end of the first line of a couplet, some word to which the language hardly affords a corresponding sound. Swift, in his more trifling pieces, abounds with instances of this; and in Hudibras, when the author uses his double and triple rhymes, many |
