_Dryden_, in the Preface to his _Opera_, entitled, _The State of
Innocence_, or _Fall of Man_, gives the following _Decree_ upon WIT.
The _Definition of WIT_, (which has been so often attempted, and
ever unsuccessfully by many Poets) is only this: That it is _a
Propriety of Thoughts and Words; or in other Terms, Thoughts and
Words elegantly adapted to the Subject_.
If Mr. _Dryden_ imagined, that he had succeeded _himself_ in this
_Definition_, he was extremely mistaken; for nothing can be more
distant from the Properties of WIT, than those he describes. He
discovers no Idea of the _Surprize_, and _Brilliancy_ of WIT, or of
the sudden _Light_ thrown upon a Subject. Instead of once pointing at
these, he only describes the Properties of clear _Reasoning_, which
are _a Propriety of Thoughts and Words_;--Whereas WIT, in its sudden
_Flashes_, makes no Pretension to _Reasoning_; but is perceived in the
pleasant _Surprize_ which it starts, and in the _Light_ darted upon
a Subject, which instantly vanishes again, without abiding a strict
Examination.
The other Definition he gives, which is, _Thoughts and Words elegantly
adapted to the Subject_, is very different from the former, but
equally unhappy.
For _Propriety_, in _Thoughts_ and _Words_, consists in exhibiting
_clear, pertinent Ideas_, in _precise_ and _perspicuous Words_.
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