An Essay towards Fixing the True Standards of Wit, Humour, Railery, Satire, and Ridicule (1744) by Corbyn Morris
page 30 of 88 (34%)
page 30 of 88 (34%)
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it a Secret, &c.
All which, I apprehend, is no more than saying; That there are different _Dispositions_ in different _Persons_. In another Place, he seems to understand by _Humour_, not only the _Disposition,_ but the _Tone_ of the _Nerves_, of a Person, thus, "Suppose MOROSE to be a Man naturally splenetic, and melancholy; is there any thing more offensive to one of such a DISPOSITION (where he uses the Word instead of _Humour_) than Noise and Clamour? Let any Man that has the Spleen (and there are enough in England) be Judge. We see common Examples of this HUMOUR in little every Day. 'Tis ten to one, but three Parts in four of the Company you dine with, are discomposed, and started at the cutting of a Cork, or scratching of a Plate with a Knife; it is a Proportion of the same HUMOUR, that makes such, or any other Noise, offensive to the Person that hears it; for there are others who will not be disturbed at all by it. At this Rate every _Weakness_ of _Nerves_, or _Particularity_ of _Constitution,_ is HUMOUR. It is true, he justly points out in another Place the different Sentiments, which ought to be adapted to different _Characters_ in _Comedy_, according to their different _Dispositions_, or, as he phrases it, _Humours_: As for Instance, he very rightly observes, That a Character of a splenetic and peevish HUMOUR, Should have a satirical WIT. A jolly and sanguine HUMOUR should have a |
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