Quintilian
notices the different kind of humour of Aulus Galba, Junius Bassus,
Cassius Severus, and Domitius Afer. In modern times Pitt was grave; Fox,
Melbourne, and Canning were witty. Sir Henry Holland enumerates as the
wits of his day, Canning, Sydney Smith, Jekyll, Lord Alvanley, Lord
Dudley, Hookham Frere, Luttrell, Rogers, and Theodore Hook, and he
adds--
"Scarcely two of the men just named were witty exactly in the same
vein. In Jekyll and Hook the talent of the simple punster
predominated, but in great perfection of the art, while Bishop
Blomfield and Baron Alderson, whom I have often seen in friendly
conflict, enriched this art by the high classical accompaniments
they brought to it. The wit of Lord Dudley, Lord Alvanley, and
Rogers was poignant, personal sarcasm; in Luttrell it was perpetual
fun of lighter and more various kind, and whimsically expressed in
his features, as well as in his words.[19] 'Natio comaeda est' was
the maxim of his mind and denoted the wide field of his humour. The
wit of Mr. Canning was of rarer and more refined workmanship, and
drew large ornament from classical sources. The 'Anti-Jacobin'
shows Mr. Canning's power in his youthful exuberance. When I knew
him it had been sobered, perhaps saddened, by the political
contrarities and other incidents of more advanced life, but had
lost none of its refinement of irony.
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