There seems to be in the ludicrous not merely some
error in the taste brought before us, but something which we can
scarcely believe to be the case. This alone would account for some
variation, for what seems unintelligible to the ignorant seems plain to
the educated, and what puzzles the well-informed raises no question
among the inexperienced. The ludicrous depends upon that kind of
intellectual twilight which is the lot of man here below. Were our
knowledge perfect we should no more laugh than angelic beings,[21] were
it final we should be as grave as the lower animals. Humour exists where
the faculties are not fully developed, and our capacities are beyond our
attainments, but fails where the mind has reached its limit, or feels no
forward impulse. Study and high education are adverse to mirth, because
the mind becomes impressed with the universality of law and order, and
when learned men are merry, they are so mostly from being of genial or
sympathetic natures. Density and dullness of intelligence are also
unfavourable to humour from the absence of sensibility and
generalization. We find that those whose experience is imperfect are
most inclined to mirth. This is the reason why children, especially
those of the prosperous classes, are so full of merriment. They are not
only highly emotional, but have inquiring and progressive minds, while
their experience being small, and generalization imperfect, they see
much that appears strange and perplexing to them; but their laughter is
never hearty as in the case of those whose views are more formed.
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