The _Spirit_ and _Wit_ of this _Ode_ are excellent; and yet it is evident, through the whole, that Mr. _Cowley_ had no clear Idea of _Wit_, though at the same time it _shines_ in most of these Lines: There is little Merit in saying what WIT _is not_, which is the chief Part of this _Ode_. Towards the End, he indeed attempts to describe what _it is_, but is quite vague and perplex'd in his Description; and at last, instead of collecting his scatter'd Rays into a _Focus_, and exhibiting succinctly the clear Essence and Power of WIT, he drops the whole with a trite Compliment. The learned Dr. _Barrow_, in his _Sermon against foolish Talking and Jesting_, gives the following profuse Description of WIT. But first it may be demanded, What the Thing we speak of is? Or what the Facetiousness (or _Wit_ as he calls it before) doth import? To which Questions I might reply, as _Democritus_ did to him that asked the Definition of a Man, _'Tis that we all see and know._ Any one better apprehends what it is by Acquaintance, than I can inform him by Description. It is indeed a Thing so versatile and multiform, appearing in so many Shapes, so many Postures, so many Garbs, so variously apprehended by several Eyes and Judgments, that it seemeth no less hard to settle a clear and certain Notion thereof, than to make a Portrait of _Proteus_, or to define the Figure of the fleeting Air. Sometimes it lieth in pat Allusion to a known Story, or in seasonable Application of a trivial Saying, or in forging an apposite Tale: Sometimes it playeth in Words and Phrases, taking Advantage from the Ambiguity of their Sense, or the Affinity of their Sound: Sometimes it is wrapp'd in a Dress of humorous Expression: Sometimes it lurketh under an odd Similitude: Sometimes it is lodged in a sly Question, in a smart Answer, in a quirkish Reason, in a shrewd Intimation, in cunningly diverting, or cleverly retorting an Objection: Sometimes it is couched in a bold Scheme of Speech, in a tart Irony, in a lusty Hyperbole, in a startling Metaphor, in a plausible Reconciling of Contradictions, or in acute Nonsense; Sometimes a scenical Representation of Persons or Things, a counterfeit Speech, a mimical Look or Gesture passeth for it. Sometimes an affected Simplicity, sometimes a presumptuous Bluntness giveth it Being. Sometimes it riseth from a lucky Hitting upon what is Strange; sometimes from a crafty wresting obvious Matter to the Purpose. Often it' consisteth in one knows not what, and springeth up one can hardly tell how. Its ways are unaccountable, and inexplicable, being answerable to the numberless Rovings of Fancy, and Windings of Language. It is, in short, a Manner of Speaking out of the simple and plain Way (such as Reason teacheth, and proveth Things by) which by a pretty, surprizing Uncouthness in Conceit or Expression, doth affect and amuse the