_ HOR. Epist. I. Lib. I.
* * * * *
_LONDON_:
Printed for _T. Lownds_, Bookseller, at the _Bible_ and _Crown_, in
_Exeter-Change_, in the _Strand_, 1748.
* * * * *
AN ESSAY ON WIT.
A Gentleman who had some Knowledge in the human Heart, was consulted
about a Tragedy which was going to be acted: He answer'd that there
was so much Wit in the Piece that he doubted of its Success.--At
hearing such a Judgment, a Man will immediately cry out, What! is Wit
then a Fault, at a Time when every Body aims at having it, when nobody
writes but to shew he has it; when the Publick applauds even false
Thoughts, provided they are shining! Yes, 'twill doubtless be
applauded the first Day, and grow tiresome the next.
That which they call Wit, is sometimes a new Simile, sometimes a fine
Allusion: Here 'tis the Abuse of a Word which presents itself in one
Sense, and is understood in another; there a delicate Relation between
two uncommon Ideas: 'Tis an extraordinary Metaphor; 'tis something
which in an Object does not at first present itself, but nevertheless
is in it; 'tis the Art, to unite two Things which were far from one
another; to separate two which seem to be joined, or to set them in
Opposition; 'tis the Art, of expressing but half the Thought and
leaving the other to be found out.
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