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 illustrates 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 Lustre 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 Lustre which results from the
quick _Elucidation_ of one Subject, by the just and unexpected
Arrangement of it with another Subject.
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