5 JUNE 1886, Page 18

THREE BOOKS OF AMERICAN HUMOUR.* AT one time, in the

Kingdom of Spain, it is said that if a man were seen laughing heartily over a book, that book was sure to be the story of the adventures of Don Quixote. Now-a•days, and in this country, if we see any one under similar conditions of hilarity, it may be asserted with almost equal assurance, that the cause of mirth is of Transatlantic origin. The English are not a nation of jokers, but it is an accepted idea that the Americans are. Accordingly, if Laughter would hold both his sides, it is to American sources that he turns for the occasion of his excitement. Books of American wit and humour crowd our bookstalls, and columns of American " facetise " adorn, or disfigure, the pages of our Press. Would any man be merry ? Straightway, he buys a volume of Mark Twain, Uncle Remus, or one of the " Fonetik Publikashuns " of the late Josh Billings, and laughs away accordingly. What is the reason why the Americans should be so much more ready with a joke than we are, it is difficult to say. Some people say it is the climate ; that the air is fresher and more bracing, the skies more bright and sunny, than with us ; and these conditions tend to produce a lightness of spirits, and a proneness towards mirth, that our heavier atmosphere does not admit of. Yet Canada, with much the same climate, and Mexico also, are neither of them famous for the humour of their people, and it is to be feared that the theory of climatic influences, which, together with a consideration of geographical position, might have proved satisfactory to the late Mr. Buckle, must be abandoned. Is refuge to be taken in the statement that their peculiar humour is owing to the special conditions of life, national and social, of the people of the United States? The assertion is a safe one ; but after all, it is only pushing the inquiry one step back. From whatever cause, it is certain that modern American humour is quite different from English humour. We use the word " modern " advisedly, because it should be remarked that the popular, or more characteristic form of American humour, is of quite recent origin. There is another, and older form of American humour—happily, by no means extinct—which is of a far higher quality. This may be called the literary form, and among its chief exponents are Washington Irving, Oliver Wendell Holmes, James Russell Lowell, and Charles Dudley Warner. Nor should the name of Howells be forgotten. These writers are humonrists, but they are a great deal more. They are accomplished and charming authors, whose books should be in everybody's hands. They do not, like the mass of the popular Immourists, write to be funny. With them, humour steps in, as it were, unbidden, but always welcome; not interrupting the flow of thought, bat aiding and enlivening it. This, indeed, may be taken as a test of the higher and more delicate form of humour, of what may, in short, be termed pure humour, that it arises naturally in the course of conversation, or springs without effort out of grave discussion, and slips easily back again into it.

The writings of Addison, Steele, Lamb, and Thackeray afford abundant examples of this delightful attribute. The quality of true humour, it may be said, like that of mercy, is not strained. It is spontaneous, enlarging, and free, blessing him that gives and him that takes. A clear perception of the pathetic element, too, forms an integral part of pure humour. It is never far removed from pathos, and for the most part plays near it, or hovers round it. In our merriest moments we are so close to sorrow. Tragedy and Comedy go band in hand. Together they travel the same road until they come to the last dividing. There, one goes to the right, and the other to the left. Man either triumphs over circumstance, or circumstance gains the victory

• Brand-new Ballads. By Charles G. Leland (" Hans Breitmann "). London : Fun Moo. 111035.—Pables. By George Washington, Asap, and Bret Harts. London : B. Hamilton.—The Poetical Works of Bret Harts. London: George Routledge and Sons.

over him. True humour, which concerns itself with man in all - his relations to his surroundings, does not fail to observe this, nor to recognise that, as there is but a step from the sublime to the ridiculous, so the interval between laughter and tears is no greater. A familiar sound may bridge over the space between. As Hood, who could be as tender as he was witty, has sung :—

"Ay, Beauty the Girl, and Love the Boy,

Bright as they are with hope and joy, How their souls would sadden instanter, To remember that one of those wedding bells, Which ring so merrily through the dells, Is the same that knells Our last farewells, Only broken into a canter!"

But there is no trace of this pure humour among the popular humourists of America. They are nothing if not funny, and hence some of them are little more than buffoons or jesters. Excellent fooling and admirable jesting this exposition of their humour may be, but it is not an " aid to reflection." On the contrary, a practical joke or a verbal quibble puts a stop to the train of thought. It is, perhaps, from this very fact that what is com- monly understood by the term " American humour " is in such demand. But at least it may make one laugh, and that is not a bad thing in itself.

As remarked above, this humour is quite a modern growth, and did not make its appearance in print, if it existed in an unwritten form, as it probably did to some extent, until the war. That tremendous event shook the people up together, so to say. In the huge armies, men from all parts got mixed and shuffled ; and ideas and notions and dialects from extreme localities were rubbed together, and experiences of all kinds were exchanged. Moreover, the custom of " swapping stories " was largely indulged in. Somehow, a great deal of fun was got out of the incidents of the great struggle, and it certainly seems that the modern form of American humour had its rise at that time. We do not forget that The Biglow Papers, with their most wise and witty commentary on events and persons, commenced many years before the war; but they were written in the New England dialect, and were entirely different in motive from the humour of to-day. They were essentially political, and it requires knowledge of American history and politics to com- prehend them fully.

But the leading featnre of American humour will, we think, be found to consist in practical joking, or in rather the application of verbal wit to the old English love of practical joking, which is to be seen so strongly developed in the " merrie jests " of the sixteenth century. Take Mr. Leland's book, for instance. It contains a number of ballads, the motive of almost every one of which is a practical joke, often of the " diamond-cut-diamond type," the apparent victim being really the victimiser, and great fun is made out of the change of positions. Bret Harte's ballad of " The Heathen Chinee " is a notable example of the double practical joke ; but in that case the deserved success of the Celestial victim was unnaturally diverted from its course by the brutal application of physical force on the part of the would- be victimiser, William Nye, who, it will be remembered, " went for that Heathen Chinee." But in Mr. Leland's ballads, it is the subtler brain that wins, as it should be. Some of these lays are very amusing ; but to quote from them were to spoil them for future reading, and they are too long for insertion. Among the best will be found, " In Nevada," " Melodraronation," and " The Ballad of Charity." But best of all is one of the three "Hans Breitmann " ballads, given at the end of the book, and entitled, " Cobus Hagelstein." This is, perhaps, equal to anything in the famous book of Hans Breiineann Ballade, a work which, on the whole, stands far ahead of the one before us.

Another, but less special, feature of American humour is the adaptation of the experience embodied in proverbs and fables to modern instances. Here, again, surprise is the essence of the humour, and is co nmonly produced in one of two ways,—either by an entirely new application of a familiar phrase, or by parody.

When Artemus Ward says that his "Uncle Willyam," on being offered a coronet, said, " No ! give it to the pore ;" or when we read, "' Ignorance is bliss ;' this may be so, I have never tried it," it is the incongruity of the first application and the impudence of the second that moves to laughter.

There are a number of amusing fables in this clever little book, but some are too American to be appreciated on this side of the water. A few of them exhibit a tendency to bad puns. Be it noted that the American humourists, as a rule, are not given to punning. That form of wit, which Dr. Johnson met with

such aversion, is not often used by them ; and there is no writer among them who can compare, for brilliant punning, with Hood, Sidney Smith, Lamb, when at his best, or the late J. 11. Byron. Bret Harte, it is only just to add, is a writer of a different calibre from the ordinary American humourist of the modern type. The man who wrote The Luck of Roaring Camp and The Outcasts of Poker Flat deserves to take place among the members of the more honourable company of whom we have spoken. His admirers—and they are many—will be delighted to have the selection of his poems, grave and gay, which is given in this dainty little volume. In poetry, as in prose, Bret Harte is a most unequal writer, and his work will bear selecting. This book contains most of his best ballads and poems, but not all. The really powerful lines, " Miss Blanche says," reminding one of Mr. Browning in his more excellent manner, are omitted, with others equally worthy of attention. But "Things like that must always be ;" and in this vain world to look for perfection were an idle task.