Occasionally there were attempts to restore wit to its pristine glory, to the position it had occupied before it was tied to mirth and ridicule, when Atterbury could thus define it: "Wit, indeed, as it implies, a certain uncommon Reach and Vivacity of Thought, is an Excellent Talent; very fit to be employ'd in the Search of Truth...." So the anonymous author of _A Satyr upon a Late Pamphlet Entitled, A Satyr against Wit_ (1700) could rhapsodize: Wit is a Radiant Spark of Heav'nly Fire, Full of Delight, and worthy of Desire; Bright as the Ruler of the Realms of Day, Sun of the Soul, with in-born Beauties gay.... So Corbyn Morris in his _Essay towards Fixing the True Standards of Wit, Humour, Raillery, Satire, and Ridicule_, 1744, probably the best and clearest treatment of the subject in the first half of the eighteenth century, wrote (p. 1): "Wit is the Lustre resulting from the quick Elucidation of one Subject, by a just and unexpected Arrangement of it with another Subject." And so the author of the essay "Of Wit" in the _Weekly Register_ for July 22, 1732, ventured his opinion (reprinted in the _Gentleman's Magazine_, II, 861-862): Wit is a Start of Imagination in the Speaker, that strikes the Imagination of the Hearer with an Idea of Beauty common to both; and the immediate Result of the Comparison is the Flash of Joy that attends it; it stands in the same Regard to Sense, or Wisdom, as lightning to the Sun, suddenly kindled and as suddenly gone.... But for the most part wit was becoming an expression of mirth or ridicule in which fancy was primarily involved; at its best wit was coupled with politeness and elegance in conversation, and at its worst with silliness and extravagance, or with indecency and impiety. The essay from the _Weekly Register_ is one of a large number of little histories of wit, which appear through the age of Dryden and Pope and which attempt to relate developments in wit to changes in fashion, religion, polities, social manners, and taste. These are rudimentary but important expressions of the idea that literature is conditioned by changing circumstances and social customs in the lives of the people from whom it springs. The _Essay on Wit_, 1748, is reprinted here, by permission, from a copy in the library of the University of Illinois. Flecknoe's _Characters_ are reprinted from a copy of _Sixty Nine Enigmatical Character_ owned by the library of the University of Michigan. The essays of Joseph Warton is the _Adventurer_, and the typescript copy of the essay "Of Wit" from the _Weekly Register_ (as reprinted in the _Gentleman's Magazine_) are also taken from copies belonging to the University of Michigan. Edward Niles Hooker University of California, Los Angeles * * * * * [Illustration: Title page] AN ESSAY ON WIT. [Price Six-pence.] AN ESSAY ON WIT: To which is annexed,