his sides with laughing."
Politics also furnish the same mark for satire. What is nobler than the
expansive sentiment of patriotism, which would find brothers in a whole
nation? But when this enthusiasm is perceived to end in the very
intelligible maxims of trade, so much for so much, the intellect feels
again the half-man. Or what is fitter than that we should espouse and
carry a principle against all opposition? But when the men appear who
ask our votes as representatives of this ideal, we are sadly out of
countenance.
But there is no end to this analysis. We do nothing that is not
laughable whenever we quit our spontaneous sentiment. All our plans,
managements, houses, poems, if compared with the wisdom and love which
man represents, are equally imperfect and ridiculous. But we cannot
afford to part with any advantages. We must learn by laughter, as well
as by tears and terrors; explore the whole of nature,--the farce and
buffoonery in the yard below, as well as the lessons of poets and
philosophers upstairs, in the hall,--and get the rest and refreshment of
the shaking of the sides. But the comic also has its own speedy limits.
Mirth quickly becomes intemperate, and the man would soon die of
inanition, as some persons have been tickled to death. The same scourge
whips the joker and the enjoyer of the joke. When Carlini was convulsing
Naples with laughter, a patient waited on a physician in that city, to
obtain some remedy for excessive melancholy, which was rapidly consuming
his life. The physician endeavored to cheer his spirits, and advised him
to go to the theatre and see Carlini. He replied, "I am Carlini."
QUOTATION AND ORIGINALITY.
QUOTATION AND ORIGINALITY.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account