Only the universal,
only totality, moves its deepest spring, and from this universality,
the leading component of Humor, arise the mildness and forbearance
of the humorist toward the individual, who is lost in the mass of
little consequence; this also distinguishes the Humorist from the
Scoffer.
We find it very natural accordingly to speak of the breadth of humor,
while wit is, by the necessity of its being, as narrow as a flash of
lightning, and as sudden. Humor may pervade a whole page without our
being able to put our finger on any passage, and say, "It is here." Wit
must sparkle and snap in every line, or it is nothing. When the wise
deacon shook his head, and said that "there was a good deal of human
natur' in man," he might have added that there was a good deal more in
some men than in others. Those who have the largest share of it may be
humorists, but wit demands only a clear and nimble intellect, presence
of mind, and a happy faculty of expression. This perfection of phrase,
this neatness, is an essential of wit, because its effect must be
instantaneous; whereas humor is often diffuse and roundabout, and its
impression cumulative, like the poison of arsenic. As Galiani said of
Nature that her dice were always loaded, so the wit must throw sixes
every time. And what the same Galiani gave as a definition of sublime
oratory may be applied to its dexterity of phrase: "It is the art of
saying everything without being clapt in the Bastile, in a country where
it is forbidden to say anything.
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