He goes on to say that false humour is given to little apish
tricks, and buffooneries. Now the reason why Addison and cultivated men
in general do not laugh at buffooneries and place them in the catalogue
of false humour, is simply because they do not present to their minds
any complication. When harlequin knocks the clown and pantaloon over on
their backs, "the gods" burst with laughter, unable to understand the
catastrophe, but those who have seen such things often, and consider
that men make a living by such tricks, see nothing at all strange in it,
remain grave and perhaps wearied. It was the want of complication that
probably prevented Uncle Shallow from complying with the simple
Slender's request to "Tell Mistress Anne the jest how my father stole
two geese out of a pen."
It may be almost unnecessary to observe that all errors in taste are not
ludicrous. "Tea-boardy" pictures do not make us laugh, we only attribute
them to unskilful artists, of whom unfortunately there are too many. Nor
is the ludicrous to be classed under the head of taste; very often that
which awakens it offers no violence to our aesthetic sensibilities. It is
true that in Art, that which appears ludicrous will always be
distasteful, for it will offend the eye or ear, but it is something
more, and we occasionally speak as though it were outside taste
altogether.
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