Curiosities & wonders > Reflections upon laughter

« REFLECTIONS
ther, to get an afternoon of Laughter at thefc
inferior objects: Strange! thatnoneofour Hob-
bifts banifti all Canary birds and fquirrels, and
lap-dogs and pugs, and cats out of their
houles, and fubftitute in their places afles, and
owls, and fnails, and oyfters, to be merry up¬
on. From thele they might have higher joys
of fuperiority, than from thole with whom we
now pleale ourlelves. Pride, or an high opi¬
nion of ourfelves, mull be entirely inconfi-
ftent with gravity; emptinefs mult always make
men lolemn in their behaviour; and conlci-
ous virtue and great abilities mull always be
upon the fneer. An orthodox believer, who
is very litre that he is in the true way to fulva-
tion, mull always be merry upon heretics, to
whom he is lb much fuperior in his own opi¬
nion ; and no other palfion but mirth Ihould
arife upon hearing of their heterodoxy. In
general, all men of true lenle, and refle£lion,
and integrity, of great capacity for bulinels,
and penetration into the tempers and interells
of men, mull be the merriell little grigs ima¬
ginable ; Democritus mult be the foie leader
of all the philolbphers; and perpetual Laugh¬
ter mull fucceed into the place of the long
beard,
————To be the grace
Both of our ivifdom and our face.
It is pretty Itrange, that the authors whom