"There are many things," says Prof. Matthews, "that definition helps us to understand, but there are other things that we understand better than we can any possible definition of them; among these are the cold, sparkling, mercurial thing we call wit, and that genial, juicy, unconscious thing we call humor." With these preliminary observations, we proceed to examine the subject in detail: "Are there not two points in the adventure of the diver? One when a beggar he prepares to plunge; The other when a prince he rises with his pearl? Festus, I plunge." II. CHARACTER SKETCHES. "----Now, by two-headed Janus, Nature hath framed strange fellows in her time; Some that will evermore peep through their eyes, And laugh like parrots at a bag-piper; And other of such vinegar aspect, That they'll not show their teeth by way of smile, Tho' Nestor swore the jest were laughable."-- _Merchant of Venice._ CHARACTER SKETCHES. "With what prudence does the Son of Sirach caution us in the choice of our friends. And with what strokes of Nature, (I could almost say of Humour,) has he described the behavior of a treacherous and self-interested friend!"--_Addison._ "The history of the ancient Hebrews," says George Eliot, "gives the idea of a people who went about their business and their pleasures as gravely as a society of beavers; the smile and laugh are often mentioned metaphorically; but the smile is one of complacency, the laugh of scorn." Against the authority of so illustrious a name, the writer of these pages confesses a somewhat different impression. It is difficult to believe that such sentiments as the following could have arisen among a people whose only smile was that of complacency, whose only laughter that of scorn: "He that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast." "A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance." "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine." "Go thy way; eat thy bread with joy and drink thy wine with a merry heart." "The voice of mirth," "the voice of gladness" are phrases of frequent occurrence. The ancient Hebrews believed that there was a "time to laugh" as well as a "time to weep." Grave and serious as they were, there must have been in them, after all, something sunny and pleasant. They did not find the heavens forever black and the earth forever cheerless. When we turn to the historical and biographical portions of Scripture, we find here and there a bit of quaintness and drollery in pictures of life and delineations of character that must have brought to the faces of those who read them or heard them smiles other than those of complacency; that must have been enjoyed with laughter other than that of scorn.