Chapter XII (3)

[249] _The Golden Ass_, Bk. III., ch. 55.

[250] Doran, _History of Court Fools_, pp. 18, 37, 75.

[251] Tyrrell, _Latin Poetry_, p. 43 ff. The scurrility of the early Greek comedy led to its being discountenanced by Pisistratus. As Prof. P. Gardner remarks, “Tyrants have no sense of humour, and dread ridicule” (_Greek Antiquities_, p. 666).

[252] Wright, _op. cit._, p. 44 ff.

[253] Ward, _Engl. Dram. Poets_, ii., pp. 392–3.

[254] Colley Cibber’s satire “Non-Juror” is said to have brought him a pension and the office of Poet Laureate (Wright, _op. cit._, chap. xxii.).

[255] George III. was caricatured again and again by Gillray (Wright, _op. cit._, chap. xxvii.).

[256] This has no doubt arisen in part from the fact that no other single English word expresses directly and clearly the subjective feeling or disposition which lies behind laughter.

[257] George Eliot, _Essays_, pp. 82, 83.

[258] The opening scene of _Le Médecin malgré lui_ shows that Molière had observed this quaint form of wifely loyalty.

[259] _Sylvie and Bruno_, Part II., p. 132.

[260] Hence Addison’s remark (_Spectator_, No. 35) that humour should always be under the check of reason seems, in what one is tempted to call a characteristic way, to miss the mark.

[261] See, for example, Höffding, _Outlines of Psychology_, pp. 294, 295.

[262] Quoted by Dugas, _op. cit._, p. 98. Flaubert here indicates, perhaps, one great limiting condition of the growth of the composite sentiment of humour.

[263] _Philebus_, Jowett’s translation, iv., p. 94 ff.

[264] One of the best recent discussions of this subject will be found in the work of A. Lehmann, already referred to; _see_ pp. 247–251 and 259.

[265] _Cf._ above, p. 70.

[266] _Op. cit._, p. 95.

[267] For the whole passage, written perhaps with an unconscious reminiscence of the Rousseau period, see the _Kritik of Judgment_, Dr. Bernard’s translation, p. 227.

[268] The absence in the East of the comic spirit as expressing itself in the art of comedy, a point noted by Mr. Meredith, is of course not conclusive with respect to the existence of the humorous disposition.

[269] M. Bédier has a delicate characterisation of this French spirit in the _Contes_; touching on its want of depth and _arrière-pensée_, its spice of malice, its joyous good sense, its irony, which though a little coarse is yet precise and just, _op. cit._, p. 278.

[270] This redeeming quality of the Irish bull is indistinctly perceived by the Edgeworths in their essay on the subject, in which they speak of the Irishman’s habit of using figurative and witty language. See _The Book of Bulls_, by G. R. Neilson (in which the Edgeworths’ essay is included).

[271] Quoted by Meredith, _op. cit._, p. 87.

[272] See his son’s _Life_, chap. vii. (vol. i., p. 167).

[273] The question is left an open one by his biographer, J. Fitzmaurice-Kelly. See _Life of Cervantes_, p. 207.

[274] _Causeries du Lundi_, vol. iii., pp. 3, 4.

[275] _Logic Deductive and Inductive_, by Carveth Read.

[276] Bernard’s translation of _The Kritik of Judgment_, p. 226.

[277] Good illustrations will be found in the story of Mr. Bernard Capes, _The Lake of Wine_, chap. ii. and chap. xxxii.

[278] See for one among many instances _Travels in West Africa_, chap. ix. (“The Rapids of the Ogowe”).

[279] The story of Hans von Bülow’s almost superhuman behaviour under these circumstances is told in the _National Observer_ of 17th Feb., 1894.

[280] See, for example, a letter from a titled lady in _The Times_ of the 1st June, 1894, in which this claim of “society” to the services of “the pick of blood and brains” is prettily assumed.

[281] On the employment of buffoons and dwarfs in the palace of the Egyptian king see Maspero, _Dawn of Civilisation_, pp. 278, 279. On the Greek and Roman jesters (γελωτοποιοί, ἀρεταλόγοι, mimi, scurræ) see P. Gardner, _Greek Antiquities_, p. 835; [_cf._ Doran, _Court Fools_]. On the mediæval jester or fool see Wright, _op. cit._, chap. vii.; Lacroix, _Middle Ages_, p. 238 ff.; and Jusserand, _English Wayfaring Life_, p. 187.

[282] P. Gardner, _Greek Antiquities_, p. 666.

[283] Bergk, Griech. _Literaturgesch._, iv., pp. 9, 10.

[284] See Wright, _op. cit._, chaps. xii. and xiv.

[285] _Essay on Comedy_, pp. 24–5 (on Molière’s audience); pp. 8, 47 and following (on the recognition of woman).

[286] Examples will be found in _Le Médecin malgré lui_, _L’Avare_ and others. A delightful introduction of the all-round beating of the circus is that of the Professors in _Le Bourgeois gentilhomme_.

[287] M. Bergson, who gives a delightful account of these mechanical aids to the effect of comedy, seeks to connect them with his theory that the laughable consists in the substitution of the monotony of the machine for the variety of the organism (_op. cit._, p. 72 ff.). I suspect, however, that they owe much of the spell they cast over our laughing muscles to suggestions of child’s play.

[288] Compare the breezy fun of the scene in _Le Tartuffe_, where the maid, Dorine, has to tackle in turn each of a pair of lovers urging the same grievances in almost the same words (Act II., Sc. iv.).

[289] Moulton, _Ancient Class. Drama_, p. 344.

[290] “In Aristophanes the very few maiden figures that appear are dumb” (Neil, _The Knights of Aristophanes_, Introduction, p. xiv.).

[291] P. Gardner, _Greek Antiquities_, p. 353.

[292] Mommsen, _History of Rome_, vol. iii., p. 144.

[293] _Essay_, Bk. II., chap. xi.

[294] _Spectator_, No. 62.

[295] _English Comic Writers_, Lect. I., “Wit and Humour”.

[296] _Spectator_, No. 6.

[297] _Cf. supra_, pp. 112, 113.

[298] _Spectator_, No. 47.

[299] An elaborate classification of the various kinds of word-play may be found in an article by Dr. Emil Kräpelin, in Wundt’s _Philosoph. Studien_, 2^{er} Band, s. 144 ff.

[300] Bergk observes that these are at once individuals and types (_Griech. literaturgeschichte_, Bd. IV., s. 91).

[301] Mommsen observes that in Terence we have a more becoming, though not yet moral, conception of feminine nature and of married life (_Hist. of Rome_, Bk. IV., chap. xiii.).

[302] Courthope, _Hist. of English Poetry_, vol. ii., pp. 345 ff., and 356.

[303] _Eng. Lit._, Bk. II., chap. iii.

[304] On this mixture of tones see Moulton, _Shakespeare as Dramatic Artist_, p. 291.

[305] Mr. Meredith touches on the way in which Molière developed his characters out of persons known to him (_op. cit._, p. 53).

[306] _Lectures and Notes on Shakespeare_, p. 416.

[307]

“Comme un morceau de cire entre mes mains elle est,
Et je lui puis donner la forme qui me plaît.”

[308] M. Henri Bergson (_op. cit._, chap, iii.) seems to me to push his helpful idea of a mechanical rigidity (_raideur_) in Molière’s characters a little too far.

[309] The play closes with the “aside” of Covielle: “Si l’on en peut voir un plus fou, je l’irai dire à Rome”.

[310] Mr. Meredith remarks that it was “here and there Bacchanalian beyond the Aristophanic example” (_op. cit._, p. 11).

[311] See above, p. 92 f.

[312] Coleridge saw clearly enough how far comedy is from making morality its basis. He remarks that the new comedy of Menander and the whole of modern comedy (Shakespeare excepted) is based on rules of prudence (_Lectures and Notes on Shakespeare_, Bell’s Edition, 1884, p. 191).

[313] _Cf. supra_, p. 139.

[314] _Hist. of Eng. Lit._, Bk. III., chap. i. Mr. Meredith is nearer the mark when he speaks of the comic poet as being “in the narrow field, or enclosed square of the society he depicts” (_op. cit._, p. 85).

[315] _Op. cit._, Bd. IV., s. 2.

[316] See his “Notice” to _Gil Blas_, pp. xii, xiii.

[317] _Hist. of Eng. Lit._, vol. iv., p. 173.

[318] _Op. cit._, p. 240.

[319] Quoted by Bacon, _Essays_, “Apothegms,” 181.

[320] This is well illustrated by George Eliot, who observes rightly that wit is allied to ratiocination (_Essays_, “German Wit,” p. 81).

[321] I remember discussing the point with the late Henry Sidgwick—no mean authority—who admitted that several quotations which he had proffered as examples of wit might with equal appropriateness he described as humorous. The germ of the view put forward in the text is contained in some pithy remarks by the late Professor Minto (_English Prose Literature_, Introduction, p. 23).

[322] The reference in the text is to humour and wit, regarded as subjective, as elements in the writer. Considered objectively as an attribute of a character, wit of a kind may become one ingredient in a humorous presentation, as in the homely and rather borné wit of the countryfolk in the novels of George Eliot and Mr. Hardy.

[323] See Mr. Traill’s criticism, _Sterne_, p. 156 ff.

[324] _Wit and Humour_, p. 11.

[325] See Canon Ainger’s Introduction to _The Essays of Elia_, p. 8.

[326] _English Thought in the Eighteenth Century_, vol. ii., p. 110.

[327] See my work on _Pessimism_, p. 428.

[328] See Dugas, _op. cit._, pp. 109, 110.

[329] See, for an excellent example of this retort, Dr. James Ward’s _Naturalism and Agnosticism_, vol. i., Part I.

[330] M. Scherer may possibly mean something like this when he speaks of the humorist’s point of view as the justest from which a man’s world can be judged (_Essays on English Literature_, p. 148).

[331] On the moral function of comedy see Bergson, _op. cit._, pp. 201, 202, and Dugas, _op. cit._, pp. 149–159.

[332] The reference is to an article, “Ridicule and Truth” in the _Cornhill Magazine_, 1877, pp. 580–95. Lessing’s plea, in his _Hamburg. Dramaturgie_ (Stücke 28 and 29), on behalf of a corrective virtue in comedy owed something, I suspect, to the reading of Shaftesbury and the other English writers.

[333] _Ethics_, Bk. x., 6.

[334] _Sartor Resartus_, _loc. cit._

[335] _Letters_, vol. ii., p. 302.

[336] See what Aristotle says about the witty (εὐτράπελοι, literally, the easy turning, nimble-minded), _Ethics_, Bk. iv., 8.

[337] Mr. Radford, in an article on _Falstaff_, in Mr. Birrell’s _Obiter dicta_ (First Series).

[338] _The Journal of Education_, Nov. 1901, p. 687.

[339] Traill, _loc. cit._, p. 147.

[340] Mr. Radford, _loc. cit._

{433}

INDEX.

Abstraction, in representation of character in comedy, 358, 359, 367.

Absurd, the, as laughable, 110, 152, 216, 217, 239, 294.

Addison, Jos., 30 _note_, 95, 304 _note_, 354, 355, 423.

Affectation, in comedy, 351.

“Agelasts,” 2, 425.

Ainger, Alfred, 390 _note_.

Allin, A. See Hall, G. S.

Analogy of feeling, 191.

Angas, G. F., 224, 228.

Angell, J. R., 33 _note_, 36 _note_.

Animals; ticklishness of, 57 162, 163, 177; laughter of, 156, 161, 170, 172, 177; tricks of, 157; sense of fun in, 158, 160; play of, 158 ff.

Apes. See Animals.

Apperception, 14, 59, 127, 130, 131, 135.

Apprehension, dissolved, as cause of laughter. See Fear.

Apuleius, 290.

Arabian Nights, 264.

Aristophanes, 282, 292, 348, 352, 357, 360, 371, 378.

Aristotle, 120, 412, 413, 416, 417 _note_, 418, 420.

Art, amusing function of, 343 (Chapter XI.); origin of, 344; scope for exhibition of laughable in, 345; humour in essays, etc., 390, 391 (see Fiction, Comedy).

Artificial, comedy, 371; world of comedy, 373, 377.

Assimilation in social evolution, 276, 286.

Assimilative force of laughter, 272.

Austen, Jane, 378.

Bacon, Francis, on laughter, 22.

Bain, Alexander, his theory of the ludicrous, 121–124, 140, 143; on cruelty of savage laughter, 232 _note_.

Balzac, H. de, 379. {434}

Barrie, J. M., 242.

Barrow, Isaac, 419.

— John, 236 _note_.

Bashkirtseff, M., 321.

Bates, H. W., 223.

Beating, as comic incident, 348.

Beddard, F. E., 171.

Bédier, Jos., 262 _note_, 263 _note_, 264, 270 _note_, 312 _note_.

Belittling of idea, as cause of laughter, 9.

Benevolent, mirthfulness as, 417.

Bergk, Th., 346, 360 _note_, 381.

Bergson, H., 7, 8 _note_, 104, 114, 140 _note_, 348 _note_, 367 _note_, 374, 413 _note_.

Bonwick, Jas., 224, 243, 250.

Born, Bertran de, 263.

Bosanquet, B., 6 _note_.

Bridgman, Laura, 170.

Browne, Thomas, 390.

Brutal laughter, 89, 97, 143, 231–233, 315, 381.

“Bulls,” 111, 313.

Bülow, H. von, 330 _note_.

Burchell, W. J., 239.

Burton, R. F., 229, 245, 253.

— Robert, 34, 314.

Butler, Samuel, 115.

Butt, of wit, 355.

Buyer and seller, laughter between, 270.

Campbell, Harry, 35 _note_.

Capes, B., 325 _note_.

Carlyle, T., 36, 49, 299, 390, 400, 404 416.

Carroll, Lewis, 304, 386.

Carus, Paul, 12 _note_.

Cervantes, S. M. de, 282, 310, 314, 389.

Champneys, F. H., 165.

Character, the laughable in, 133, 307, 315, 321; incongruity between circumstances and, 318, 369; interest in, 318, 358; presentation of, in comedy, 357–370. {434}

Chaucer, G., 30 _note_.

Chesterfield, Earl of, 1.

Child, development of laughter in (Chapter VII.); first laughter of triumph, 83, 198, 200, 204, 210; sayings of, as laughable, 106; degradation theory applied to laughter of, 123, 124, 137; beginnings of smile and laugh in, 164–168, 188; spontaneous laughter of, 187, 207; extension of field of laughable, for, 191, 192; growth of self-feeling in laughter of, 192, 203, 205; growing complication of laughter of, 192, 193; early laughter of joy, 194–198; early laughter of play, 194, 198–207, 211, 212; early laughter of teasing, 201–203; early defiance of order, 203, 204, 211, 213; first roguish laughter, 205, 206; early appreciation of the laughable, 207–217; first laughter at sounds, 209–212; early feeling of propriety, 211–215.

Choral laughter, 247, 258, 295; decline of, 429.

Cibber, Colley, 292 _note_.

Cicero, 384.

Class, differentiation of, 247, 258, 259; changes in, as laughable, 287.

Clergy, laughter at the, 109, 262, 267, 294, 346; laughter of the, 283.

Coleridge, S. T., 364, 374 _note_.

Collier, Jeremy, 411.

Combat, playful, as origin of laughter of tickling, 179–181.

Comedy (Chapter XI.), Greek, 264, 291, 346, 353, 361, 389 (see also Aristophanes); of the Restoration, 283, 287, 370–373, 383; Roman, 291, 376 (see also Plautus, Terence); conditions of the rise of, 347; elements of primitive laughter in, 348–357, 379; of Incident, 357; of Manners, 357, 370–373, 376; of Character, 357–370; Elizabethan, 361; point of view of, 368–377, 410; mood addressed by, 370, 373, 375, 377, 412; attitude of, towards morality, 372–377, 411; limits to, 377; approach to point of view of, in fiction, 378; satirical element in, 381; humour in, 387; corrective function of, 411–414; Modern, 413.

Comic art, rudiments of, in savage life, 250.

— the, distinguished from the laughable, 86.

Common-sense. See Point of View.

Concept, function of the, in laughter, 7, 13, 130–133, 135.

Congreve, W., 357, 370, 372, 411.

Conservative force of laughter, 257, 261. See Progress.

Contagiousness of laughter, 42, 186, 255.

_Conte_, the mediæval, 34, 86, 91, 262, 267, 284, 292, 311, 346, 373.

Contempt, laughter of, 78, 83, 89, 97, 118, 142, 205, 234, 299, 320, 380.

Contests, laughter in, 78, 83; laughter at the sight of, 117; of the sexes, see Woman, Laughter of Man and.

Contrariety, theory of. See Incongruity.

Contrast, effect of, in comic characters, 365.

Coquelin, B. C., aîné, 109.

— cadet, 86 _note_.

Corrective function of laughter. See Value of Laughter.

Counteractives of laughter, 84, 88, 90, 93, 96, 98, 101, 102, 111.

Courdaveaux, V., 130 _note_.

Courthope, W., 361 _note_.

Cruickshank, B., 225, 226, 235.

Culture, gradations of, 284; spread of, 286, 288.

Curtius, Ernst, 277 _note_.

Custom, effect of, on laughter, 84, 294, 318.

Customary, the, as standard in comedy, 375–377.

Cynicism in modern laughter, 431.

Dante, Alighieri, 30, 425.

Darwin, C., 26, 38, 40, 57, 60, 63, 70, 71, 156, 159, 162, 163, 164, 169, 170, 171, 172, 177, 224, 227, 280.

Daudet, A., 378.

David, Mrs. F. W. E., 229.

Deformity, as laughable, 89, 231.

— moral. See Vice.

Degradation, theory of (moral theory), 119–125, 128, 137, 153.

Dennett, R. E., 251.

Descartes, R., 70.

Descending incongruity, 137.

Deschamps, E., 222 _note_. {435}

Detachment in humorous observation, 331, 337, 407–409.

Dickens, C., 158, 329, 388.

Difference, judgment of, 15 _note_.

Dignity, loss of, as laughable, 99, 119–125, 128, 136, 213, 214, 266.

Discomfiture, the sight of, as laughable, 117.

Disguise, in comedy, 349, 369.

Disorder, as laughable, 94, 266, 342; in comedy, 371.

Dog, the. See Animals.

Doran, John, 291.

Dugas, L., 47 _note_, 130 _note_, 149 _note_, 306 _note_, 400 _note_, 413 _note_.

Edgeworth, R. L. and M., 313 _note_.

Education, laughter in, 426.

Egede, Hans, 223 _note_, 249.

Egyptians, 264, 265.

Eliot, George, 109, 271, 298, 299, 385 _note_, 386 _note_, 389.

Ellis, W., 224, 235, 237.

Embarrassment, relief from, producing laughter, 228, 238.

Emotions, James’ theory of, 40; development of, 189; fusion of, 308–310.

Epicureans, 397.

Erskine, J. E., 224, 250.

Estimable, the, in the laughable, 306, 310, 317.

Evolutional utility of laughter, 408, 431.

Excellence, laughter as an, 3, 416, 422, 423.

Expectation, annulled, as cause of laughter, 9, 12, 18, 64, 125, 126–130.

_Fabliau_. See _Conte_.

Fanciful world of comedy, 372, 373, 377.

Fantastic ideas, as laughable, 88.

Fashion, definition of, 273; movements of, 273; as restrained by custom, 275; as laughable, 276–279.

Father and child, relation of, in comedy, 265, 353, 361.

Fear, relief from nascent, as element in tickling, 63; laughter as reaction from, 65, 176, 199; as inhibitory of laughter, 88.

Feeling tone, of sensations of tickling, 54; of humour, 305, 310; of comic mood, 370, 376.

Fiction, prose, comic point of view in, 378, 379; addressed to a reflective mood, 379; humour in, 387–390.

Fielding, H., 388, 389.

Fitzmaurice-Kelly, J., 314 _note_.

Flaubert, G., 306.

Fools, 249, 250, 291, 343; “Feast of,” 346.

Fouillée, A., 137.

Fox, fable of the, 382.

French, the, gaiety of, 311.

Fun, sense of, in children, 64, 76, 77, 87, 112, 125, 137, 140, 169, 176, 181, 194, 315; in savages, 234, 252; in comedy, 347–350, 353, 357, 369.

Future of laughter, 427.

Gardner, P., 264, 292 _note_, 343 _note_, 346 _note_.

Genetic method, necessity of, in studying the ludicrous, 154.

Gillen, F. J. See Spencer, B.

Gillray, Jas., 293 _note_.

Gladness, as expressed in laughter, 71, 195. See Pleasure.

Goethe, J. W. von, 283, 426.

Goldsmith, O., 298, 328, 387, 388, 424.

Gratiolet, L. P., 31.

Grey, George, 250.

Grief, as causing laughter, 66, 67; resemblance of manifestation of, to laughter, 70, 309.

Groos, K., 146, 147 _note_, 148 _note_, 158 _note_, 182 _note_.

Habit, effect of, on child’s laughter, 188, 190; effect of, on emotional reaction, 190. See Custom.

Hall, G. Stanley, and Allin, A., on laughter, 28, 52, 66, 83; on tickling, 177, 178, 182.

Hardy, Thos., 103.

Harmful tendencies of laughter, 37, 46, 415, 418, 420, 422. See Laughter.

Harris, J. C., 251.

Hartshorne, B. F., 222.

Hat, unsuitable, as instance of the ludicrous, 9–17.

Hazlitt, W. C., 137, 138 _note_, 268, 354.

Hecker, E., 184 _note_.

Hegel, G. W. F., 5.

Hegelians, on the comic, 4. {436}

Heine, H., 386, 423.

Heymans, G., 64.

Hill, Leonard, 57, 58, 61, 165 _note_, 169, 178, 179, 188.

Hind, H. Y., 225, 242.

Hobbes, T., his theory of the ludicrous, 120, 140, 143, 203.

Höffding, H., 306 _note_.

Hogan, Mrs. L. E., 188, 209, 212, 215, 217.

Homer, 89, 96, 97, 108.

Hugo, Victor, 315.

Human, things, as object of laughter, 86, 122, 128, 345.

Humour (Chapter X.), definitions of, 297; as individual, 298, 313, 324, 326; rarity of, 298, 311, 322, 325; origin of, 299; reflection in, 300–303, 324, 387, 393; as a sentiment, 300, 307; seriousness in, 301–305, 314, 319, 338, 342, 387, 393, 395, 400; blend of sad and gay in, 305, 309, 387; kindly feeling in, 306, 307, 310, 342, 388; corrective function of, 323, 324, 403–405; consolatory force of, 325–330, 342; relation of, to wit, 354, 385, 386; subjective and objective, in literature, 386 _note_, 389; harmonising of tones in, 388, 391 (see also Philosophic Humour).

Hunt, J. H. Leigh, his theory of laughter, 142; quoted, 383.

Husbands, treatment of, in comedy, 373, 377.

Hypergelast, 297, 418.

Idealism and Realism, in relation to laughter, 394, 396, 400, 401.

Ignorance, as laughable, 102.

Imitation in fashion, 273–276, 278; in comedy, 348.

Incompetence, as laughable, 102, 240, 245.

Incongruity, theory of, 7, 9, 13, 17, 125–135, 136, 141, 150, 317, 318; as laughable, 107–111, 152, 216, 236.

Indecent, the, as laughable, 99, 151, 235.

Individual, the, laughter of, 295, 297 (Chapter X.), 393; value of laughter to, 321, 323 ff., 403, 415; justification of point of view of, 405.

Inferior, laughter of, at superior, 264, 265, 266, 267, 268.

Inferiority, feeling of, as inhibiting laughter, 143, 320.

Intellectual theory, the. See Incongruity, also 153.

Inventions, as objects of ridicule, 281.

Irish, humour of the, 312, 313, 385.

Jackson, John, 250 _note_.

James, William, his theory of emotions, 40, 189.

Johnston, H. H., 227.

Jonson, Ben, 268, 361, 362, 364.

Joy, laughter of, 71 ff., 116, 168, 194 ff., 228. See Pleasure.

Jusserand, J. A. A., 343 _note_.

Juvenal, 283, 381, 382.

Kames, H. H., 414.

Kant, I., his theory of the ludicrous, 9, 18, 126–129, 131; quoted, 125, 134, 135, 310, 325.

Keats, John, 430.

Kingsley, Miss M. H., 222, 225, 231, 251, 252, 253, 266, 328, 391.

Kipling, R., 98 _note_.

Kräpelin, E., 356 _note_.

Külpe, O., 52 _note_, 54 _note_.

Lack of humour, advantages of, 424, 425.

Lacroix, P., 343 _note_.

Lamb, C., humour of, 298, 390, 420; his view of Restoration comedy, 372, 373, 377.

Landor, W. Savage, 314.

Lang, Gideon, 243 _note_.

Lange, C., 67, 189.

Language, poetical use of “laugh” and “smile,” 30; terms for forms of laughter in French, 49 _note_; misuse of, as laughable, 104, 240. See Wit.

Laughable, the (Chapter IV.), definition of, 82; universality of, 83, 295; relativity of, 84, 88, 93, 95, 98, 101, 102, 106, 111, 113; distinguished from the ludicrous, 85; complexity of, 87, 114, 153; groups of laughable objects, 87; inhibitory concomitants of, 90, 93, 96, 101, 111, 301, 306; relation of, to laughter as a whole, 153; field of, 260, 315, 319.

Laughter, estimates of, 1, 416; scientific investigation of, 3 ff., 19, {437} 154; physiological characteristics of, 22, 26–28, 30, 33–36, 69, 227, 309; varieties of, 22, 48, 188, 251; an intermittent manifestation, 26, 74; sounds of, 31, 174, 227; bad effects of, 37, 46, 415, 418, 420, 422; mechanically produced, 42, 64 ff., 74; occasions of, 50 (Chapter III.); nervous, 65–70, 116; counteractives to, 88, 90, 93, 96, 101, 102, 111, 377; as sign of playful mood in animals, 183–184; as instrument of punishment, 250, 256, 262, 380; anti-social tendency in, 256, 406; regulation of, 418; promotion of, 423; as branch of education, 426. See also Child, Development of; Humour; Origin of Laughter; Primitive Laughter; Savages, Laughter of; Social Laughter; Value of Laughter.

Le Fanu, W. R., 111 _note_.

Lehmann, A., 172 _note_, 308 _note_.

Le Sage, A. R., 262, 382.

Lessing, G. E., 323, 412, 415 _note_.

Lichtenstein, M. H. C., 236, 238.

Lipps, Th., his theory of the ludicrous, 9–17, 64, 137; quoted, 94.

Literature. See Art.

Locke, John, his definition of wit, 354.

Loti, P., 197 _note_.

Lotze, H., 8 _note_, 18.

Loveday, T., 15 _note_.

Love-motive, in comedy, 360, 371.

Ludicrous, the, Schopenhauer’s theory of, 6, 13, 130–133; incongruity theory of, 7, 9, 13, 17, 125–136, 141, 150, 317, 318; as consisting in the substitution of rigidity for spontaneity, 7, 92, 348 _note_, 367; Lipps’ theory of, 9–17, 64; as consisting in nullified expectation, 9, 12, 18, 64, 125–130; objectivity of, 83; distinguished from the laughable, 85, 138; theories of, 119 (Chapter V.); degradation theory of, 119–125, 128, 137; synthesis of theories of, 136–139; no one theory of, 139, 153.

Lumholtz, Carl, 224, 249.

Macaulay, T. B., 372, 377.

Macdonald, Duff, 221, 252.

Majorities and minorities, 406.

Malice in laughter, 78, 83, 89, 97, 118, 142, 143, 231, 233, 381.

Man, E. H., 227.

Mania, approach to, of comic characters, 367; of a whole people, 377.

Manners, in comedy, 370.

Marsden, W., 240, 249.

Maspero, G., 264, 266, 343 _note_.

Massinger, P., 361.

Master and servant, relation of, in comedy, 353. See Slaves.

Mélinaud, C., 8 _note_.

Menander, 361, 374 _note_.

Meredith, G., 4, 99, 109, 297, 300, 310, 347, 364 _note_, 371 _note_, 376 _note_, 379, 415, 417.

Merry England, mirth of, 429.

Mill, J. S., 280.

Milton, J., 39, 425.

Minto, W., 386 _note_.

Mirthfulness, persistence of, 25, 73, 223–226; effect of temperament on, 80; expression of, as element in the laughable, 116, 149, 211–213, 348; decline of, 428 ff.

Misfortunes, small, as laughable, 96.

Modern life, decline of choral laughter in, 427; seriousness of, 428 ff.; growth of individual laughter in, 432.

Molière, J. B. P., 114, 272, 288, 303 _note_, 307, 315, 348, 349, 350, 351, 353, 357, 359, 364–370, 373–378.

Mommsen, Th., 353 _note_, 361 _note_.

Mono-ideism in comic characters, 366.

Montaigne, M. E. de, 342.

Mood, the ticklish, 62; of humour, 304; addressed by comedy, 370, 373, 375, 377; addressed by fiction, 379, 380.

Moore, Mrs. K. C., 165, 188.

Moral deformity. See Vice.

— sensitiveness, as inhibitory of laughter, 93, 101, 102.

— theory. See Degradation.

Morality, attitude of laughter towards, 92, 372–377; attitude of comedy towards, 372–377; function of comedy in relation to, 411–414.

— plays, 347, 359, 361, 362.

Morgan, C. Lloyd, 148 _note_, 160.

Moulton, R. G., 352 _note_, 362 _note_.

Mulcaster, R., 35.

Musters, G. C., 226.

Mystery plays, 347. {438}

Naïveté, as laughable, 104, 127, 336; children’s, 105.

Nansen, F., 223 _note_, 244 _note_, 250.

National feeling, 293.

Nationality. See Race.

Neil, R. A., 352 _note_.

Neilson, G. R., 313 _note_.

Nervous laughter, 65–70, 116.

Newspaper, struggle for the, 334, 336.

Novelty, as laughable, 87, 128, 150, 189, 208, 236, 281; in comedy, 351.

Obesity and laughter, 81.

Object of laughter, 82, 142; dislike of being made the, 144, 232, 256, 320. See Laughable, the.

Odd, the, as laughable, 87, 150, 237; in comedy, 351.

Old and young, relation of, in comedy, 353.

Old-fashioned, laughter at the, 281.

Optimism and pessimism. See also Philosophy, Worth of Life.

Order, breach of, as laughable, 94, 266, 342.

Organism, effects of laughter on, 33–36, 45, 69; resonance of, as factor in laughter, 44, 47.

Origin of laughter, 155 (Chapter VI.); first appearance in child, 166, 170; early laughter as expression of pleasure, 169; an inherited tendency, 170; first appearance in primitive man, 173; development out of smile, 173–176; explosive vigour, explanation of, 176. See also Smile, Tickling.

Paradox, as laughable, 104, 106, 110.

Parasites, laughter of tickling as defensive against, 178, 179, 181.

Parnell, J., 111 _note_.

Pascal, B., 1, 423.

Peacock, T. L., 222.

Perception of the ludicrous, movement of thought in, 11, 13; as perception of relations, 13, 107, 192, 300, 302, 316–318; necessity of distinct imagery to, 14, 131; as immediate, 15; as antecedent of laughter, 42, 50; as emotional, 43, 125; effect of subjective conditions on, 84, 88; as intellectual, 125; connection with primitive laughter, 116, 140, 142, 144, 153.

Philosophic humour, characteristics of, 390, 400–405, 407–410; utility of, 403–405; anti-social tendency of, 406.

Philosophy, theoretic treatment of laughter by, 4–6, 19, 396; philosophic speculation, as laughable, 5, 400, 401; connection of humour with, 390, 392–410; point of view of, 393, 394, 396, 397; ideal standard of, 394, 395; change in aspect of reality produced by, 394, 395, 397, 398; seriousness of, 395; obstacles to union of humour with, 396–399; idealism and laughter, 396; optimism and laughter, 398; pessimism and laughter, 398; scepticism and laughter, 399.

Physiological aspects of laughter. See Laughter.

Pity, as inhibitory of laughter, 90, 98.

Plato, 308, 342, 396, 408.

Plautus, 266, 268, 282, 348, 352, 357, 360, 371.

Play, tickling and, 63, 179, 182–184; laughter as concomitant of mood of, 76–78, 198–207; teasing as form of, 77, 201, 229; connection with wit, 112, 355; relation of laughter and, 145–153, 194; utility of, 148, 181, 182; of animals, 158; play-challenge, 184, 256, 344; rompish, 198, 199; as make-believe, 201, 214; attacks as form of, 201; lawlessness of, 216; connection with comedy, 348, 349, 353, 373, 375, 377.

Playfulness, expression of. See Laughter and Mirthfulness.

Pleasure, as antecedent of laughter, 43, 71, 145; interaction of laughter and, 44 ff.; sudden accession of, as cause of laughter, 72, 74 ff., 141, 145, 184.

Poetic justice, 368.

Point of view, relativity of, in laughter, 84, 88, 93, 95, 101, 102, 106, 111; of common-sense, 110, 294, 376, 395, 399, 400; tribal and national, 238, 256, 271, 293, 294; of humour, 303, 315, 324, 330, 338, 341, 403 _note_, 409, 410; social, 323, 374–377, 380, 399, 405, 409, 410; of comedy, {439} 372–377, 410; of philosophy, 393, 394, 396, 397; individual, 399, 405, 409, 410; of satire, 410.

Pope, Alex., 307, 383.

Powell, J. W., 248 _note_.

Practical joking, 78, 129, 160, 229–231. See Teasing.

Preciosity, in comedy, 351.

Pretence, as laughable, 101, 148, 151; in play, 147, 158.

Preyer, W., 49, 160, 164–170, 178, 188, 205, 206 _note_, 209, 211, 212.

Primitive laughter, necessity of considering, 23; forms of, tickling, etc., 50 (Chapter III.); elements of, in appreciation of the ludicrous, 140–145, 153; humour as development of, 299; in comedy, 347 ff.

Progress, as hindered and furthered by laughter, 257, 279–283; social, 279; as object of laughter, 280, 283.

Public opinion, deification of, 334.

Punning, in children, 112, 217; and wit, 354; in comedy, 357.

Rabelais, F., 299, 314, 389.

Races, diversities of laughter and humour of, 311–313.

Radford, G. H., 417, 428.

“Ralph Roister Doister,” 361.

Raulin, J. M., 228.

Read, Carveth, 320.

Real, the, in comedy, 368, 369, 372.

Reflection, in laughter, 8, 251; in humour, 301, 302, 393; appeal to, in humorous writing, 379, 389.

Relations, as laughable, 13, 107, 300, 302, 316.

Relief from strain, in nervous laughter, 65–70; laughter on solemn occasions as, 80, 118; in laughter at the indecent, 118; in laughter at degradation, 140; as explaining explosiveness of laughter, 176; in children’s laughter, 196, 198, 204; in laughter of savages, 228; in laughter of art, 282.

Rengger, J. R., 226.

Repetition, effect of, on child’s laughter, 188, 190; effect of, on emotional reaction, 190; as comic incident, 348.

Respiration, laughter and, 30, 33–35, 42, 69, 142.

Restoration, the, literature of, 282; comedy of, 283, 287, 370.

Restraints on laughter, by the community, 418–420; by the individual, 420–422.

Retaliative joke, among savages, 230; in comedy, 350.

Retirement. See Detachment.

Reverence, laughter as destructive of, 422.

Ribot, Th., 171 _note_, 193 _note_.

Richet, Charles, 52 _note_, 53 _note_, 60.

Richter, J. P., 8 _note_, 390, 400.

Ridiculous, the, distinguished from the ludicrous, 138.

Robinson, Louis, 51, 53, 55, 57, 58, 61, 63, 162, 177, 178, 179–182.

Romanes, G. J., 161.

Rostand, Edmond, 10, 387.

Roth, H. Ling, 224, 227, 228, 230, 232 _note_, 236, 240, 241, 242, 246, 247, 249, 251 _note_, 252 _note_.

Rousseau, J. J., 373, 425.

Sadness, as disposing to laughter, 70, 314; in humour, 305, 309, 387.

Sainte-Beuve, C. A., 314, 377, 382.

Salutary effects of laughter. See Value.

Sarasin, F., 222 _note_, 232, 245.

Satire, playful element in, 153, 383, 384; among savages, 244; function of, 282, 380; political, 292; social, 323, 413; point of view of, 380, 410; laughter in, 380, 382, 383; mood of, 381; in comedy, 381; in fiction, 382; allegory in, 382; wit in, 383; ironical inversion in, 383, 384.

Savages, laughter of (Chapter VIII.), 220; difficulty of understanding, 220; self-restraint of, 221; amount of laughter of, 222–226; nature of laughter of, 227, 252; primitive forms of laughter of, 228–285; teasing and practical jokes of, 229–233; brutal elements in laughter of, 231–233; dislike of laughter among, 232, 233; appreciation of the laughable by, 235 ff.; laughter of, at the foreigner, 238–244; intra-tribal laughter of, 244 ff.; humour of, 246, 251; organisation of laughter among, 247–251; use of laughter by, in expiation of {440} crimes, 250; more thoughtful laughter of, 251.

Scherer, Edmond, on humour, 312, 403 _note_.

Schopenhauer, A., his theory of the ludicrous, 6, 13, 130–133; referred to, 135, 285, 288.

Schütze, J. St., 19.

Scott, Sir W., 388.

Self-advertisement, the humour of, 334.

Self-criticism, humorous, 321–324, 329.

Self-deception, in comedy, 350, 366.

Self, laughter at, 143, 272, 320–322, 329; dislike of others’ laughter at, 144, 232, 256, 320.

Sellar, W. Y., 282.

Serious, the, as opposed to laughter, 21, 395; in play, 153; in comedy, 369, 373, 375, 377; in fiction, 379, 387; in satire, 381; in humour, see Humour.

Seriousness, the, of modern life, 428 ff.

Sets. See Social Group.

Sex and laughter. See Woman.

Shaftesbury, third Earl of, 414, 415 _note_.

Shakespeare, W., 2, 32 _note_, 39 _note_, 67, 104, 298, 310, 311, 349, 357, 362, 363, 386, 387, 389, 417.

Shelley, P. B., 46.

Shinn, Miss Milicent, 165, 167, 168, 173, 175, 195, 211, 218.

Shooter, Jos., 225, 230.

Shyness, recoil from, producing laughter, 205, 206, 228, 238.

Sidgwick, H., 386 _note_.

Sigismund, B., 165.

Simcox, G. A., 266.

Situation, as laughable, 96–98, 117, 120, 317; in comedy, 351.

Slaves, laughter of, 265, 266, 291.

Smile, the, physiological aspects of, 26, 165; relation of, to laughter, 26, 28, 29, 168, 170, 174, 175, 193; in animals, 161–163, 170, 177; first appearance of, in child, 164–166, 168; development of, 165, 188; as expression of pleasure, 168, 183; an inherited tendency, 170; origin of, 171–173.

Smyth, R. Brough, 244, 248.

Social failure, laughter as preservative of, 408.

Social group, 259 ff., 283.

— laughter, organisation of, 247–251, 290; conciliating force of, 255, 256, 266, 269, 271; development of, 288–291; censorship of, 291; force of, 292; attitude underlying, 293; reflected in comedy, 351.

— scene, the modern, 337.

Society, failure to comply with social requirement as ludicrous, 139; laughter in evolution of, 254 (Chapter IX.); progress of, effect on laughter, 254; restraint of laughter by, 258, 269; differentiation of social groups in, 258 ff.; differentiation of ranks in, 263; ways of, as laughable, 331–333; permanent basis of, in comedy, 375; individual and, 405–410.

Solemn occasions, laughter on, 79, 141, 152, 242.

Spectator of comedy, attitude of, 371, 373, 412. See Comedy.

Spencer, B., and Gillen, F. J., 243 _note_.

— Herbert, 68, 137, 175, 265, 267, 274, 276.

Sproat, G. M., 233, 247.

Stanley, H. M., 159, 184.

Steinen, C. von den, 223, 235 _note_, 248.

Stephen, Leslie, 398.

Sterne, Laurence, 298, 388, 389.

Stevenson, R. L., 398, 400, 416, 423.

Stoics, 397.

Stout, G. F., 15 _note_.

Strain, relief from. See Relief.

Sturt, C. H., 224.

“Sudden glory,” 74, 78, 116, 117, 120, 143, 198, 203, 210, 229, 381.

Superior, laughter of, at inferior, 263, 264. See Inferior.

Superiority, feeling of, as cause of laughter, 78, 118, 120, 121, 143; laughter as assertion of, 144, 241, 263, 320.

Surprise, as cause of laughter, 9, 12, 18, 64, 125, 126–130, 142, 169, 197, 201.

Swift, Jonathan, 381, 382, 383.

Sympathy, laughter through, 117, 118, 122, 149; in humour, 306; laughter as promoting, 417.

Taine, H., 312, 362, 372, 375, 382.

Tarde, G., 259.

Tears, laughter and, 37, 67, 70. {441}

Teasing, 77, 157, 184, 201, 229. See Practical Joking.

Temperament, as basis of laughing disposition, 80; as basis of humour, 313.

Tennyson, Alfred, 314.

Terence, 351, 353, 361.

Thackeray, W. M., 379, 382, 389.

Thompson, H. B. See Angell, J. R.

Tickling, as cause of laughter, 50 ff., 169, 177; sensations of, 51, 53; feeling tone of, 54–56, 58; motor reactions to, 56–59, 163, 177, 180, 183; mental conditions of, 59–63, 178, 181; as form of teasing, 77; child’s first response to, by laughter, 178; origin of laughter of, 178–184; as playful, 179–184.

Ticklishness, relative, of parts of body, 51–53, 57, 177, 178, 180–182; of apes, 57, 162, 163, 177, 180; of other animals, 177, 180.

Tolerance, of humour, 337, 342; of comedy, 376, 377.

Traill, H. D., 388 _note_, 428.

Trickery, in comedy, 349, 350.

Triumph, laughter of, 78, 83, 118, 143, 198, 200, 204, 210, 381; presentation of, as laughable, 117.

Truth, ridicule as test of, 414.

Tucker, A., 398.

Turnbull, John, 224, 233, 248.

Types, characters of comedy as, 358–361, 364.

Tyrrell, R. Y., 264, 283, 292, 382.

Unfair laughter, 421.

Utility of laughter. See Value.

Value of laughter, as an excellence, 3, 416, 422, 423; its salutary effects, 34–36; its social utility, 139, 244, 245, 257, 268, 271, 283, 419; as sign of playfulness, 183; its persuasive force, 252, 266, 269; its corrective value to the individual, 323, 324, 403; its evolutional utility, 408, 431. See also Comedy.

Vanbrugh, Jno., 411.

Vanity, as laughable spectacle, 92, 374.

Vice, as laughable spectacle, 91–93, 133; degrees of, in relation to comic value, 91, 374; attitude of laughter towards, 92, 372–377.

Vischer, T., 19.

Voltaire, F. M. A. de, 324, 382, 383, 385.

Waitz, Th., 229, 249.

Walpole, Horace, 423.

War-temper, as laughable spectacle, 338–341, 378.

Warburton, W., 414, 419.

Ward, A. W., 281, 288, 287, 292.

— James, 400 _note_.

Wilkinson, J. G., 266.

Will, effect of, on laughter, 48; control of laughter by, 420.

Wit, as a form of the laughable, 111–113; in children, 112, 217, 218; as play, 112, 355; word-play in relation to, 112, 356; Bain’s theory applied to, 124; in savages, 248; relation of, to humour, 354, 385, 386; animosity in, 355, 383; in comedy, 371; connection of, with satire, 383–385; subjective and objective, 386 _note_.

Woman, laughter between man and, 245, 246, 259, 260, 264, 267, 269, 352, 357, 363; treatment of, by comedy, 264, 352, 361 _note_, 363, 371; wit of, 267, 347; status of, 280, 284, 347, 352.

Wood, J. G., 230, 233, 238.

Word-play, as a form of the laughable, 111–113; Bain’s theory applied to, 124; in children, 217; in comedy, 353, 356.

Worth of life, philosophic question of, 398; relation of philosophic humorist to, 402.

Wright, Thos., 234, 261, 263 _note_, 270, 282, 292, 293, 343 _note_.

Wundt, W., on tickling, 52.

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TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE

Original spelling and grammar have been generally retained, with some exceptions noted below. Original printed page numbers are shown like this: {52}. Original small caps are now uppercase. Italics look _like this_. Superscripted ‹me› looks like this ‹^{me}›, on page viii, in the Preface. Footnotes have been converted to endnotes, relabeled 1–340, and moved to the end of the book, just before the INDEX. The transcriber produced the cover image and hereby assigns it to the public domain. Original page images are available from archive.org—search for “essayonlaughteri00sulluoft”.

Page 161. The comma was removed from ‹we seem to, have a rudiment›.

Page 238. An extra _c_ was removed from ‹acccordingly›.

Page 306. Full stop was added after ‹human affections›.

Page 327. Full stop was added after ‹rather than to hurt others›.

Page 339. Comma was added after ‹brood of suspicions›.

Page 360n. The missing _l_ was restored in ‹Griech. literaturgeschichte›.

Page 375. Full stop was added after ‹becoming a loss of distinctness›.

Page 386. The missing _s_ was restored to ‹take on omething of›.

Page 388. Changed ‹glluible› to ‹gullible›.