--Whereas HUMOUR, in the
Representation of it, puts no Fatigue upon the _Imagination_, and
gives exquisite Pleasure to the _Judgment_.
These seem to me to be the different Powers and Effects of HUMOUR and
WIT. However, the most agreeable Representations or Competitions of
all others, appear not where they _separately_ exist, but where they
are _united_ together in the same Fabric; where HUMOUR is the _Ground-
work_ and chief Substance, and WIT happily spread, _quickens_ the
whole with Embellishments.
This is the Excellency of the _Character_ of Sir _John Falstaff_;
the _Ground-work_ is _Humour_, the Representation and Detection of
a bragging and vaunting _Coward_ in _real Life_; However, this alone
would only have expos'd the _Knight_, as a meer _Noll Bluff_, to the
Derision of the Company; And after they had once been gratify'd with
his Chastisement, he would have sunk into Infamy, and become quite
odious and intolerable: But here the inimitable _Wit_ of Sir _John_
comes in to his Support, and gives a new _Rise_ and _Lustre_ to his
Character; For the sake of his _Wit_ you forgive his _Cowardice_; or
rather, are fond of his _Cowardice_ for the Occasions it gives to his
_Wit_. In short, the _Humour_ furnishes a Subject and Spur to the
_Wit_, and the _Wit_ again supports and embellishes the _Humour_.
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