The Bible is on the whole a solemn book, but remember the nature of its subjects. British humour is plentiful enough; but you will seek it in the pages of _Punch_ rather than in our volumes of jurisprudence or in official histories or in impassioned orations urging the redress of wrongs, or in _The Book of Common Prayer_, or in the hymnaries. It is not fair to expect that Hebrew humour will show itself to full advantage in the Scriptures. However, the least promising material has a way of supplying against its will one form of humour--the unintentional; we can all quote some examples from the hymn-book. Of this _unconscious_ humour, the Bible has its share. Many no doubt will recall that stricken Assyrian army of whom it is naïvely said in the Authorised Version that “when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.” So in the proverbs there are numerous sayings which to us are provocative of a laugh or a smile, or at least bring to memory certain amusing incidents of life, but which probably were uttered by their authors without a thought of anything comical in the words. Thus, the following, _There is one that toileth and laboureth and maketh haste, and is so much the more behind_ (E. 11^{11}), may be meant as a solemn inculcation of the doctrine “More haste, less speed,” but _we_ conjure up a vision of our fussy friend and see the fun in it. Again the remark (Pr. 26^{17}), _He that passeth by and vexeth himself with strife not belonging to him is like one that taketh a dog by the ears_ (and then finds he dare not let go!), is to us amusing but to its author may have seemed merely a shrewd or apt comparison; and yet in this instance we may suspect the Sage also had a smile for the impulsive man’s predicament. Is the humour of this unconscious: _Houses and riches are an inheritance from fathers, but a prudent wife is from the Lord_ (Pr. 19^{14})? Far be it from a prudent man to say. The question of Hebrew humour, however, goes much deeper. Doubtless there is a philosophy of laughter, and an ideal humour, possibly a standard joke to which all other jokes imperfectly conform; but what the definition of this perfect humour may be who dare yet say? At present the nations have each their own opinion and the divergencies are great. We must ask of the Hebrew no more than Hebraic humour, and it does not necessarily follow that his notion of fun will coincide with ours or even nearly resemble it. Was he humorous in an Eastern way?--nothing more can reasonably be required.