fection as if she had never been interrupted. Italy, where the arts had been entombed, first felt the genial warmth of their revival. Every elegant production there shone forth with its wonted lustre; and wit, peculiarly favoured by the temper of the inhabitants, flourished more extensively and with greater brilliancy than it had ever done. From thence it made excursions into Spain and France, and came late, but in full vigour and maturity into England. After having in. time refined itself from the debasing mixture of quibble and conceit, it became so universally admired and sought after, that a considerable period of English genius may be distinguished by the title of the Witty Æra. During this period, the dominion of wit was so extensive, that it usurped a place in several compoșitions where its presence was altogether improper, and foreign to the purpose; this however does not appear to be the case with respect to its alliance with the Lyric Muse, whose versatility of character is such, that she is capable of adapt

ing herself to the sprightly and ludicrous, equally with the tender and pathetic.

Various writers have attempted to give a definition of wit, but like most of the qualities of thought, it is more easily described, and pointed out by instances, than defined. Opinion has considerably varied concerning the proper application of this term; for while our oldest authors use it to signify knowledge and good sense in general, the succeeding restrain it to what is called fine writing, and its more modern signification is still farther limited. Fine writing has been ingeniously defined to consist of thoughts, natural, but not obvious; the effects of which are, that besides the emotions or sensations excited by their particular nature, they also occasion a degree of pleasing surprise at their uncommonness. Surprise is also the effect which characterises wit; but in this it is so much more the object, that scarcely any other effect, except what secondarily results from it, is produced. The thought therefore is

neither obvious nor natural, but entirely artificial.

The best definition of wit I take to be that of Lock and Addison, thus contracted by Lord Kaims: A junction of things by distant and fanciful relations, which surprise because they are unexpected. The figures of comparison, simile, allusion, metaphor, and allegory, being the most obvious means of junction between different objects, will, from this definition, appear to be the chief sources of wit. Comparison is used for various purposes. It is employed in grave and didactic subjects for the sake of illustration. In sublime and pathetic poetry it is used to elevate and adorn, and like a reflected light to redouble the effect of the simple object. For both these purposes it is evident, that the more complete the resemblance is, between the object of comparison and thing compared, the more perfectly the intention is answered. The mind is pleased at discovering a number of concurring circumstances; and by minutely touching upon

similar parts in both objects, the emotion is heightened. This is finely exemplified by that beautiful simile in Virgil, where the lamentation of Orpheus for the loss of his Eurydice is compared to that of a nightingale robbed of its young. The thought itself, though beautiful, is nothing new or uncommon; but the poet's skill and judgment is shewn in particularizing, with a minuteness of description, such circumstances of the compared object as sweetly correspond with the pathetic turn of the original story.

Qualis populea moerens Philomela sub umbra
Amissos queritur foetus, quos durus arator
Observans nido implumes detraxit: at illa
Flet noctem, ramoque sedens miserabile carmen
Integrat, et moestis late loca questibus implet.
Georgic. IV.

As in some poplar shade the nightingale,
With piercing moans does her lost young bewail,
Which the rough hind, observing as they lay
Warm in their downy nest, had stol'n away:
But she in mournful sounds does still complain
Sings all the night, tho' all her songs are vain,
And still renews her miserable strain.

Lee's Theodosius.

When comparison is employed as the source of wit, its excellence lies in such opposite qualities, that the more dissimilar the objects are in general circumstances, the more strongly do they promote that effect, which as the definition imports, proceeds from the junction of things by distant and fanciful relations Thus in the following simile from Hudibras,

Now like a lobster boil'd, the morn
From black to red began to turn.

the total dissimilarity of the objects in every circumstance, except that which brings them forcibly together, raises the highest degree of surprise.

For this reason, contrast joined to comparison perfects the idea of wit and as the effect of this is almost always ludicrous, one is apt to consider it as an essential property of wit that the surprise excited should have something comic or mirthful in it. Lord Kaims appears to have fallen into this opinion; yet if we take our ideas of wit from such instances as have ever been allowed standard