Essay upon Wit eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 41 pages of information about Essay upon Wit.

Essay upon Wit eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 41 pages of information about Essay upon Wit.
Sentiments are always ready at hand:  And while the Fancy is full of Images collected from innumerable Objects and their different Qualities, Relations and Habitudes, it can at pleasure dress a common Notion in a strange, but becoming Garb; by which, as before observ’d, the same Thought will appear a new one, to the great Delight and Wonder of the Hearer.  What we call Genius results from this particular happy Complexion in the first Formation of the Person that enjoys it, and is Nature’s Gift, but diversify’d by various specifick Characters and Limitations, as its active Fire is blended and allay’d by different Proportions of Phlegm, or reduc’d and regulated by the Contrast of opposite Ferments.  Therefore as there happens in the Composition of a facetious Genius a greater or less, tho still an inferior degree of Judgment and Prudence, and different Kinds of Instincts and Passions, one Man of Wit will be vary’d and distinguish’d from another.  That Distinction that seems common to Persons of this Denomination, is an inferior Degree of Wisdom and Discretion; and tho these two Qualities, Wit and Discretion, are almost incapable of a friendly Agreement, and will not, but with great Difficulty, be work’d together and incorporated in the Constitution of any Individual; yet this Observation is not so conspicuous in any, as in those, whose native Complexion comes the nearest to a Subversion and Absence of Mind, tho it should never degenerate into that distemper’d Elevation of the Spirits:  Nothing is more common, than to see Persons of this Class always Think Right, and always Act Wrong; admirable for the richness, delicacy, and brightness of their Imaginations, and at the same Time to be pity’d for their want of Prudence and common Sense; abounding with excellent Maxims and instructive Sentiments, which however are not of the least Use to themselves in the Conduct of their Lives.  And hence it is certain, that tho the Gentlemen of a pleasant and witty Turn of Mind often make the industrious Merchant, and grave Persons of all Professions, the Subjects of their Raillery, and expose them as stupid Creatures, not supportable in good Company; yet these in their Turn believe they have as great a right, as indeed they have, to reproach the others for want of Industry, good Sense, and regular Oeconomy, much more valuable Talents than those, which any mere Wit can boast of; and therefore wise Parents, who from a tender Concern for the Honour and Happiness of their Children, earnestly desire they may excel in intellectual Endowments, should, instead of refin’d Parts and a Genius turn’d for pleasant Conversation, wish them a solid Understanding and a Faculty of close and clear Reasoning, these Qualifications being likely to make them good Men, and the other only good Companions.

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Essay upon Wit from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.