ME or BURLESQUE; In which, it is true, WIT often appears,
but taking their whole Compositions together, they are different
Substances, and usually ranked in different _Classes_.

All that Mr. _Congreve_ has delivered upon WIT, as far as I know,
appears in his _Essay_ upon HUMOUR, annexed to this Treatise. He
there says,
To define HUMOUR, perhaps, were as difficult, as to define WIT;
for, like that, it is of infinite Variety.
--Again, he afterwards adds,
But though we cannot certainly tell what WIT is, or what HUMOUR
is, yet we may _go near_ to shew something, which is not WIT, or
not HUMOUR, and yet often mistaken for both.
--In this _Essay_, wherein he particularly considers HUMOUR, and
the Difference between _this_, and WIT, he may be expected to have
delivered his best Sentiments upon both: But these Words, which I
have quoted, seem to be as important and precise, as any which he has
offered upon the Subject of WIT. As such, I present them, without any
Remarks, to my Reader, who, if he only _goes near_ to be _edified_ by
them, will discover a great Share of _Sagacity_.

The Sentiments of these eminent Writers upon WIT, having thus been
exhibited, I come next to the Subject of HUMOUR. This has been
_defined_ by some, in the following Manner, with great _Perspicuity._
--HUMOUR is the genuine WIT of _Comedies_,--which has afforded
vast Satisfaction to many _Connoissures_ in the _Belles Lettres_;
especially as WIT has been supposed to be incapable of any
_Definition._

This Subject has also been particularly considered by the
_Spectatator_ No. 35. inserted at the End of the following
_Essay_. Mr. _Addison_ therein _gravely_ remarks, that
It is indeed much easier to describe what is not HUMOUR, than
what it is;
which, I humbly apprehend, is no very _important_ Piece of
Information.--He adds,
And very difficult to define it otherwise, than as _Cowly_ has
done WIT, by Negatives.
This Notion of _defining_ a Subject by _Negatives_, is a favourite
_Crotchet_, and may perhaps be assumed upon other Occasions by future
Writers: I hope therefore I shall be pardoned, if I offer a proper
Explanation of so good a _Conceit_;--To declare then, _That a Subject is
only to be_ DEFINED _by_ NEGATIVES, is to cloath it in a _respectable_
Dress of _Darkness_. And about as much as to say, That it is a _Knight_
of _tenebrose Virtues_; or a _serene Prince_, of the _Blood_ of _Occult
Qualities_.

Mr. _Addison_ proceeds