LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO.: For “A Philosopher” by Sam Walter Foss from _Dreams in Homespun_; also for an extract from “The Partington Papers” by B. P. Shillaber. THE MACMILLAN COMPANY: For verses from _Through the Looking-Glass_ by Lewis Carroll. CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS: For “Two Men” and “Miniver Cheevy” by E. A. Robinson from _The Children of the Night_ and _The Town Down the River_. SMALL, MAYNARD & COMPANY: For an extract from Finley Peter Dunne (Mr. Dooley). CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTION 3 ANCIENT HUMOR 21 MIDDLE DIVISION 43 PART I. GREECE 43 PART II. ROME 86 PART III. MEDIÆVAL AGES 120 MODERN HUMOR 253 ENGLISH WIT AND HUMOR 253 FRENCH WIT AND HUMOR 312 GERMAN WIT AND HUMOR 337 ITALIAN WIT AND HUMOR 343 SPANISH WIT AND HUMOR 359 THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 364 ENGLISH HUMOR 364 FRENCH HUMOR 390 GERMAN HUMOR 412 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 415 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 445 ENGLISH HUMOR 446 FRENCH HUMOR 560 GERMAN HUMOR 586 ITALIAN HUMOR 616 SPANISH HUMOR 626 RUSSIAN HUMOR 631 AMERICAN HUMOR 643 INDEX 761 An Outline of Humor INTRODUCTION Speaking exactly, an Outline of the World’s Humor is an impossibility. For surely the adjectives most applicable to humor are elusive, evasive, evanescent, ephemeral, intangible, imponderable, and other terms expressing unavailability. To outline such a thing is like trying to trap a sunbeam or bound an ocean. Yet an Outline of the History of the World’s recorded humor as evolved by the Human Race, seems within the possibilities.