There is every reason to suppose that a very considerable period elapsed
before any progress was made in advance of the ludicrous, but at length
by those who appreciated it strongly, and saw it in things in which it
did not appear to others, humorous devices were invented from a growing
desire to multiply the occasions for enjoyment. Observation and our
power of imitation provided the means, and men of humour employed
themselves in reproducing some ludicrous situations; and thus, instead
of things derided being as previously wholly separate from those who
derided them, a man could laugh, and yet be the cause of laughter to
others. This discovery was soon improved upon, and by aid of imagination
and memory, as opportunities offered, certain connections and
appearances were represented under a great variety of forms. As the mind
enlarged, the exciting causes of laughter were not mainly physical or
emotional, but assumed a higher and more rational character.

At the period at which we have now arrived, we find humour dawning
through various channels. We have traced approximations towards it in
proverbs and fables, and, in a coarse form, in practical jokes; and as
from historical evidences we are ready to admit that civilization had an
Eastern origin, so we shall feel little difficulty in assigning Greece
as the birthplace of humour. A greater activity of mind now begins to
prevail, reflection has gradually given distinctness to emotion, and the
ludicrous is not only recognised as a source of pleasure, but
intentionally represented in literature.

Before the time of Æsop, though not perhaps of his fables, Homer related
a few laughable occurrences of so simple a character as to require
little ingenuity. In this respect he is not much better than a man who