Part 1 — INDEX
Reading edition
About a Woman’s Promise, Unknown, 172
Abraham á Sancta Clara,
Burdensome Wife, A (from Hie! Fie!), 413
Donkey’s Voice, The (from Judas, the Arch-Rogue), 412
St. Anthony’s Sermon to the Fishes, 413
Abu Ishak,
Parody on Hafiz, 154
Academy of Syllographs, The, Count Giacomo Leopardi, 616
Acrostics, Sir John Davies, 309
Adams, John Quincy,
To Sally, 650
Addison, Joseph, 421
Will of a Virtuoso, The (from The Tatler), 422
Address to Bacchus, An, Marc-Antoine Gerard, 392
Address to the Toothache, Robert Burns, 444
Ade, George,
Cocktail, The (from The Sultan of Sulu), 722
Fable of the Caddy Who Hurt His Head While Thinking, The, 723
Adventures of Baron Münchausen, (selections), Rudolph Erich Raspe, 589
Advice to a Friend on Marriage, Eustache Deschampes, 315
Advice to an Innkeeper, José Morell, 412
Advice to Ponticus, Johannes Audœmus, 194
Æsop’s Fables, 44
Lion, the Bear, the Monkey and the Fox, The, 44
Partial Judge, The, 45
Æsop, G. Washington. See Lanigan, George Thomas
Æstivation, Oliver Wendell Holmes, 666
After a Wedding (from Mrs. Partington), Benjamin Penhallow Shillaber, 664
After Herrick: Song, Oliver Herford, 747
After Swimming the Hellespont, Lord Byron, 462
Against Abolishing Christianity, Jonathan Swift, 415
Agathias,
Grammar and Medicine, 76
Alarmed Skipper, The, James Thomas Fields, 668
Alcazar, Baltazar del, Sleep, 359
Aldrich, Thomas Bailey, 683
Alexis,
Epigrams, 69
Aly Ben Ahmed Ben Mansour,
To the Vizier Cassim Obid Allah, on the Death of One of His Sons, 191
American humor, 643–760
Amicis, Edmondo de,
Tooth for Tooth, 623
Ammianus,
Epitaph, An, 77
Analects of Confucius, The (extracts), 156
Anaxandriades,
Epigrams, 68
Anstey, F. See Guthrie, T. A.
Anthologies, 311
Antiphanes, 66
Epigrams, 67
Apollodorus,
Epigrams, 85
Apology for Cider, Olivier Basselin, 317
Apology for Herodotus (Noodle Stories from), Henry Stephens (Henri Estienn), 215
Apuleius,
Metamorphose, or The Golden Ass (extracts), 112
Arabian humor, 33, 126–138, 208
Arabian Nights’ Entertainment, The, 33, 126
Bakbarah’s Visit to the Harem, 132
Husband and the Parrot, The, 131
Ignorant Man Who Set Up for a Schoolmaster, The, 129
Simpleton and the Sharper, The, 127
Thief Turned Merchant and the Other Thief, The, 128
Arabian Riddle, 35
Arabian tale, the universal, 208
Arbuthnot, John,
Dissertation on Dumplings, A, (from Bull and Mouth), 427
Aristophanes,
Birds, The (plot), 64
Frogs, The (extracts), 55
Aristophon, Epigram, 69
Aristotle,
definition of the Ridiculous, 3, 70
Disappointment Theory, 4 ff.
Arouet. See Voltaire
Artist and Public, Friedrich Rückert, 609
“As with my hat upon my head,” Samuel Johnson, 431
As You Like It (extract), Shakespeare, 288
Ass and the Flute, The, Thomas Yriarte, 626
Ass’s Testament, The, Rutebœuf, 312
At the Sign of the Cock, Sir Owen Seaman, 541
Audœmus, Johannes,
Advice to Ponticus, 194
To a Friend in Distress, 194
Authors Unknown,
Convenient Partnership, 78
Creation of Woman, The (from The Churning of the Ocean of Time), 122
Good Wife and the Bad Husband, The, 37
Lerneans, The, 79
Long and Short, 78
On Late Acquired Wealth, 190
On the Inconstancy of Woman’s Love, 191
Perplexity, 79
Voice from the Grave, A, 190
Wife’s Ruse, A: A Rabbinical Tale, 32
Aytoun, William Edmonstoune, 493
Husband’s Petition, The, 494
Lay of the Lovelorn, The, 495
Baby’s Début, The, James Smith, 466
Bacon, Francis,
Epigrams, 291
Baharistan, The (extracts), Jami, 196
Bakbarah’s Visit to the Harem (from The Arabian Nights’ Entertainment), 132
Bakin, Kiokutei,
On Clothes and Comforts (from The Land of Dreams), 161
Balaam and his Ass, story of, 30
Ballad, after Rosetti, Charles Stuart Calverly, 506
Ballad (from Hans Breitmann Ballads), Charles Godfrey Leland, 680
Ballad literature, 365
Ballad of the Primitive Jest, Andrew Lang, 526
Ballad of the Women of Paris, François Villon, 320
Ballad of Women’s Doubleness, Chaucer, 258
Ballade of an Anti-Puritan, A, Gilbert K. Chesterton, 558
Ballade of Dead Ladies, The, François Villon, 318
Ballade of Literary Fame, Andrew Lang, 527
Ballade of Old Time Ladies, A, François Villon, 319
Ballade of Suicide, A, Gilbert K. Chesterton, 557
Balzac, Honoré de,
Innocence (from Contés Drolatiques), 568
Slight Misunderstanding, A (from Contés Drolatiques), 567
Bangs, John Kendrick,
Mona Lisa, 731
Bards or rhapsodists, 26
Bar Hebræus, Gregory,
The Book of Laughable Stories (extracts), 204
Barham, Richard Harris,
Ingoldsby Legends, 455
Raising the Devil, 456
“True and Original” Version, A, 455
Barrie, James Matthew,
Humourist on his Calling, A (from A Window in Thrums), 535
Barrow, Dr. Isaac,
on facetiousness, 9
Basselin, Olivier,
Apology for Cider, 317
To My Nose, 316
Battle of the Frogs and Mice, The,
Homer, 51
Version by “Singing Mouse,” 53
Version by Samuel Wesley, 54
Battle of the Kegs, The, Francis Hopkinson, 647
Bayly, Thomas Haynes,
Why Don’t the Men Propose? 472
Beating of Thersites, The (from The Iliad), Homer, 49
Beer, Julian, 76
Belloc, Hilaire,
Bison, The, 556
Frog, The, 557
Microbe, The, 556
Python, The, 555
Beneficence and Gratitude, Ivan Turgenieff, 638
Beranger, Pierre Jean de, 563
Dead Alive, The, 565
Education of Young Ladies, The, 564
Bercheure, Pierre, 243
Bergerac, Cyrano De,
Soul of the Cabbage, The, 390
Bergson, on playfulness of animals and man, 18
Berni, Francesco,
Living in Bed (from Roland Enamored), 352
Between the Lines, Martial, 107
Beza, Theodorus,
Epigram, 193
Bhartrihari, cynical paragraphs, 195, 196
Bidpai. See Pilpay
Biglow Papers (extract), James Russell Lowell, 674
Billings, Josh. See Shaw, Henry Wheeler
Bison, The, Hilaire Belloc, 556
Bizarrures of Sieur Gaulard, 211
Board or Lodging, Lucilius, 78
Boccaccio, Giovanni,
Decameron, 164, 343
Of Three Girls and Their Talk (a sonnet), 343
Stolen Pig, The (from The Decameron), 345
Bohemian Life Sketches (extracts), Henri Murger, 579
Boileau-Despreaux, Nicolas,
On Cotin, 405
To Perrault, 405
Bonifacius, Balthasar,
Dangerous Love, 194
Book of Laughable Stories, The (extracts), 204
Boston Lullaby, A, James Jeffrey Roche, 708
Brandt, 337
Browne, Charles Farrar (Artemus Ward), 684
On Forts, 685
Browning, Robert,
Pope and the Net, The, 502
Bruyere, Jean de La,
Iphis, 406
Thoughts, 406
Bryant, William Cullen,
To a Mosquito, 655
Buchananus, Georgius,
On Leonora, 193
To Zoilus, 193
Buddha’s Jatakas, 34, 214
Buffoons, 26, 87
Burdensome Wife, A (from Hie! Fie!), Abraham á Sancta Clara, 413
Burdette, Robert Jones,
“Soldier, Rest!” 701
What Will We Do? 700
Burgess, Frank Gelett,
Invisible Bridge, The, 748
Psycholophon, 749
Purple Cow, The, 748
Villanelle of Things Amusing, 748
Burlesque, 25, 47
Burnand, Francis C.,
True To Poll, 532
Burns, Robert,
Address to the Toothache, 444
Holy Willie’s Prayer, 440
Busch, Wilhelm, 613
Butler, Samuel,
Description of Holland, 377
Poets, 377
Puffing, 377
Religion of Hudibras, The (from Hudibras), 374
Saintship versus Conscience, (from Hudibras), 375
Butler, William Allen, 681
Byron, Lord,
After Swimming the Hellespont, 462
Don Juan (extracts), 460
C. Mery Talys (Hundred Merry Tales) (extracts), 263, 265, 270 ff
Calverly, Charles Stuart, 537
Ballad, after Rossetti, 506
Cock and the Bull, The, 507
Lovers and a Reflection, 511
Ode to Tobacco, 513
Camden,
Britannia (extracts), 383
Witticisms, 274 ff
Candide (extract), Voltaire, 560
Canning, George, 438
Friend of Humanity and the Knife-Grinder, The, 439
Carew, Thomas, 368
Caricature, 25, 27, 47, 226
Carleton, Will,
Eliphalet Chapin’s Wedding, 723
Carroll, Lewis (Dodgson, Charles Lutwidge), 514
Jabberwocky (from Through the Looking-Glass), 515
Some Hallucinations, 518
Ways and Means (from Through the Looking-Glass), 516
Carryl, Charles E.,
Walloping Window-Blind, The, 699
Carryl, Guy Wetmore,
How a Girl Was Too Reckless of Grammar, 738
Cary, Phoebe,
I Remember, 676
Jacob, 677
Reuben, 678
“There’s a Bower of Bean-Vines,” 677
Casey at the Bat, Ernest Lawrence Thayer, 729
Castiglione, Baldassare,
Il Cortegiano (extracts), 183
Catullus,
Fixed Smile, A, 98
On His Own Love, 191
Roman Cockney, The, 97
Cellini, Benvenuto,
Compulsory Marriage at Sword’s Point, A (from his Biography), 356
Criticism of a Statue of Hercules (from his Biography), 358
Certain Young Lady, A, Washington Irving, 654
Certaine Conceyts and Jeasts (extracts), 268
Cervantes, Miguel de, 277
He Secures Sancho Panza as his Squire (from Don Quixote), 360
Of the Valorous Don Quixote’s Adventure of the Windmills (from Don Quixote), 363
Chammisso, Adelbert von,
The Pigtail, 605
Charivari, 229, 230
Chaucer, 253
Ballad of Women’s Doubleness, 258
Cock and the Fox, The (from The Nun’s Priest’s Tale), 254
To My Empty Purse, 257
Chekow, Anton,
Proverbs, 639
Chemnitzer, Ivan,
Lion’s Council of State, The, 632
Philosopher, The (from The Fables), 631
Chesterfield, Lord, 428
Letters to His Son (extracts), 429
Chesterton, Gilbert K.,
Ballade of an Anti-Puritan, A, 558
Ballade of Suicide, A, 557
Child’s Verses (extracts), Robert Louis Stevenson, 534
Chimmie Fadden (extract), Edward Waterman Townsend, 716
Chimpanzee, The, Oliver Herford, 745
Chinese humor, 156–161, 164, 214
Chinese Proverbs of Confucius, 160
Chinese story, 214
Chotzner, Professor, on Hebrew satire, 30
Churning of the Ocean of Time (extract), Unknown, 122
Chwang Tze,
Pleasure of Fishes, The (from Autumn Floods), 157
Claudius, Matthias,
The Hen and the Egg, 592
Clemens, Samuel Langhorne (Mark Twain), 8
Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, The (extract), 681
Clever Grethel (from Grimm’s Fairy Tales), 607
Cock and the Bull, The, Charles Stuart Calverly, 507
Cock and the Fox, The (from The Nun’s Priest’s Tale), Chaucer, 254
Cock and the Fox, The, Jean de la Fontaine, 403
Cocktail, The (from The Sultan of Sulu), George Ade, 722
Code of Love, The, 240
Cogia, Nasr Eddin Effendi, 199
Pleasantries of, The (extracts), 213
Cold Mutton, Pudding, Pancakes (from Mrs. Caudle’s Curtain Lectures), Douglas Jerrold, 476
Coleridge, on humor, 3, 249
Collections, 162 ff., 263, 311
Colman, George, the Younger, 438
Colubriad, The, William Cowper, 436
Comedy, 46, 48
Comic, the, 9, 48
Comic literature, 87
Compulsory Marriage at Sword’s Point A, (from Biography), Benvenuto Cellini, 356
Confucius,
Analects, The (extracts), 156
Proverbs, 160
Constant Lover, The, Sir John Suckling, 369
Convenient Partnership, Unknown, 78
Corbet, Bishop, 301
Epigram on Beaumont’s Early Death, 305
Farewell to the Fairies, 303
Like to the Thundering Tone, 302
Nonsense, 302
Cordus, Euricius,
Doctor’s Appearance, The, 192
To Philomusus, 192
Cosmetic Disguise (from Satires), Juvenal, 110
Couch, Arthur Thomas Quiller-,
De Tea Fabula, 546
Council Held by the Rats, The, Jean de la Fontaine, 402
Country Parson, The, Elizabeth Graeme Ferguson, 650
Country Squire, The, Thomas Yriarte, 628
Court Fool and King’s Jester, 87, 262
Court of Love, The, 240
Cowper, William,
Colubriad, The, 436
Faithful Picture of Ordinary Society, A, 435
Cozzens, Frederick Swartout, 664
Crane, Stephen,
Extracts, 734
Crane and the Cray-Fish, The, Pilpay, 167
Crates,
Cures for Love, 76
Cratinus Extracts, 65
Creation of Woman, The (from The Churning of the Ocean of Time), Unknown, 122
Crede Experto, Martial, 109
Credo (German Student Song), 614
Criticism of a Statue of Hercules (from Biography), Benvenuto Cellini, 358
Crow and the Fox, The, Jean de la Fontaine, 404
Cures for Love, Crates, 76
Curtis, George William, 678
Cynical paragraphs, Bhartrihari, 195
Dangerous Love, Balthasar Bonifacius, 194
Dante, 231
Darkness, Lucian, 76
Daudet, Alphonse,
William Tell (from Tartarin in the Alps), 583
Davies, Sir John,
Acrostics, 309
Married State, The, 310
Davison, Francis, 311
De Tea Fabula, Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch, 546
Dead Alive, The, Pierre Jean de Beranger, 565
Deane, Anthony C.,
Here Is the Tale, 543
Decameron, The, 164; (extract), 343, 345, Giovanni Boccaccio
Decorated Bow, The (from Fables), Lessing, 588
Defoe, Daniel,
Friday’s Conflict with the Bear (from Robinson Crusoe), 383
Dekker, Thomas,
Horace Concocting an Ode, 300
Obedient Husbands (from The Bachelor’s Banquet), 298
De Quincey, Thomas,
Murder as One of the Fine Arts, 458
Derby, George Horatio (John Phoenix),
Tushmaker’s Tooth-Puller, 678
Derision theory of humor, 5, 6, 9, 12
Desangiers, Marc Antoine,
Eternal Yawner, The, 562
Deschampes, Eustache,
Advice to a Friend on Marriage, 315
Description of Holland, Samuel Butler, 377
Desolation, Thomas L. Masson, 733
Dialogue between Shallow and Silence (from Henry IV, Part II), Shakespeare, 279
Diary of Samuel Pepys (extracts), 378
Diatribe Against Water, Francesca Redi, 410
Dickens, Charles, 14
Mrs. Gamp’s Apartment (from Martin Chuzzlewit), 491
Dinkey-Bird, The, Eugene Field, 710
Dionysiac festivals, 46, 55
Diphilus, Epigrams, 84
Disappointment Theory of humor, 4 ff.
Discomfort Better Than Drowning (from The Rose Garden [Gulistan]), Sadi, 142
Dissertation on Dumplings, A (from Bull and Mouth), John Arbuthnot, 427
Dissertation on Puns, Theodore Hook, 453
Diving for an Egg, Do-Pyazah, 156
Dobson, Henry Austin, (Austin Dobson),
On a Fan, 524
Rondeau, The, 525
Doctor, The (extract), Robert Southey, 450
Doctor’s Appearance, The, Euricius Cordus, 192
Dodgson, Charles Lutwidge. See Carroll, Lewis
Don Juan (extracts), Lord Byron, 460
Don Quixote (extracts), Miguel de Cervantes, 363
Donkey’s Voice, The (from Judas, the Arch-Rogue), Abraham á Sancta Clara, 412
Donne, John,
Will, The, 296
See Dunne, Finley Peter
Dooley, Mr., 720
Do-Pyazah, Definitions, 154
Diving for an Egg, 156
Dostoevsky, Fedor, 634
Karlchen, the Crocodile (extract), 635
Downing, Major Jack. See Smith, Seba
Drake, Joseph Rodman, and Halleck, Fitz-Greene,
Ode to Fortune, 657
Dream Wife, The, Kajetan Wengierski, 639
Drummond, William H., M. D.,
Wreck of the “Julie Plante,” The, 726
Drunkard’s Fancy, The, Wilhelm Müller, 606
Dryden, John,
Milton Compared with Homer and Virgil, 382
On Shadwell, 380
On the Duke of Buckingham, 381
Dumas, Alexander, the Elder,
Touching the Olfactory Organ, 574
Dunne, Finley Peter (Mr. Dooley),
On Expert Testimony, 720
Eastman, Max,
definition of the Disappointment Theory, 7
on sense of humor, 13
Education of Young Ladies, The, Pierre Jean de Béranger, 563
Eggs, The, Thomas Yriarte, 627
Egyptian humor, 27–29
Elegy, Arthur Guiterman, 743
Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog, An, Oliver Goldsmith, 432
Elegy on the Glory of Her Sex, Mrs. Mary Blaize, An, Oliver Goldsmith, 433
Eliphalet Chapin’s Wedding, Will Carleton, 723
Emerson, Ralph Waldo,
Mountain and the Squirrel, The, 660
Enforced Greatness, San Shroe Bu, 219
English humor, 253–311, 365–389, 415–559
Envy, Lucilius, 77
Epigram on Mrs. Tofts, Alexander Pope, 421
Epigrams,
English, 291, 295, 296, 377, 382, 421, 478, 479
French, 335–337
German, 588–589
Greek, 67–70, 76–79, 83–85, 189, 190
Haytian, 641, 642
Hindu, 195, 196
Mediæval, 189–207
Persian, 142, 196–199
Roman, 107–110, 333
Turkish, 199–204
Epitaph, An, Ammianus, 77
Epitaph, An, Matthew Prior, 387
Epitaph for an Old University Carrier, Milton, 373
Erasmus, Desiderius, 178
Praise of Folly, The (extracts), 337
Eternal Yawner, The, Marc Antoine Desangier, 562
Eubulus, Epigrams, 69
Eulenspiegel, Tyll (Owleglas or Howleglas),
Golden Horsehoes, The (from Eulenspiegel’s Pranks), 339
Paying with the Sound of a Penny (from Eulenspiegel’s Pranks), 340
Evening Reception, An (from Bohemian Life Sketches), Henri Murger, 579
Every Man in His Humor (extract), Ben Jonson, 293
Eve’s Daughter, Edward Rowland Sill, 698
Fable of the Caddy Who Hurt His Head While Thinking, The, George Ade, 723
Fables,
origin of, 27–28
use of term, 162, 235
Fables of Pilpay or Bidpai (selections), 164
Fabliaux, 164, 235, 236
Faithful Picture of Ordinary Society, A, William Cowper, 435
Faithless Nelly Gray, Thomas Hood, 462
False Charms, Lucilius, 78
Farewell to Chloris, Paul Scarron, 398
Farewell to the Fairies, Bishop Corbet, 303
Fauvel, 228
Ferguson, Elizabeth Graeme,
Country Parson, The, 650
Field, Eugene,
Dinkey-Bird, The, 710
Good James and Naughty Reginald (from The Tribune Primer), 713
Little Peach, The, 712
Fields, James Thomas,
Alarmed Skipper, The, 668
Filippo, Rustico di, 349
Making of Master Messerin, The, 350
Fine Lady, The, Simonides, 65
Firdausi,
On Sultan Mahmoud, 142
Fixed Smile, A, Catullus, 98
Fletcher, John,
Laughing Song, 300
Fontaine, Jean de la,
Cock and the Fox, The, 403
Council Held by the Rats, The, 402
Crow and the Fox, The, 404
Foss, Sam Walter, 717
Philosopher, A, 718
Francis, J. G., 760
Franklin, Benjamin,
“He Paid Too Much for His Whistle” (from Letter to a Friend), 643
Paper, 645
French humor, 211–213, 235–243, 312–337, 390–409, 560–585
Friday’s Conflict With the Bear (from Robinson Crusoe), Daniel Defoe, 383
Friend of Humanity and the Knife-Grinder, The, George Canning, 439
Frog, The, Hilaire Belloc, 557
Frogs, The (extracts), Aristophanes, 55
Furniture of a Woman’s Mind, The, Jonathan Swift, 416
Gammer Gurton’s Needle (extract), John Still, 308
Garden Hose, The, Edgar Wilson Nye, 714
Gargantua and Pantagruel, 323
(extracts), François Rabelais, 329
Gargoyles, 48
Gaulard, Sieur,
Bizarrures, 211
Contes Facetieux, Les (extract), 74
Gautier, Théophile,
Lap Dog, The (Fanfreluche), 577
Gellert, Christian F.,
Patient Cured, The, 586
Gentle Alice Brown, William Schwenck Gilbert, 529
Gentleman Cit, The (extract), Molière, 396
Gerard, Marc-Antoine,
Address to Bacchus, An, 392
German humor, 337–344, 412–415, 586–615
German Student Songs,
Credo, 614
Pope and Sultan, 613
Gesta Romanorum,
authorship and sources, 163, 243
Of Sloth, 243
Of the Deceits of the Devil, 246
Of the Good, Who Alone Will Enter the Kingdom of Heaven, 244
Of the Incarnation of Our Lord, 245
Of Vigilance in Our Calling, 247
Ghislanzoni, Antonio,
On Musical Instruments, 619
Gilbert, William Schwenk,
Gentle Alice Brown, 529
“Lady from the provinces, The,” 210
Mighty Must, The, 528
To the Terrestrial Globe, 529
Giles and Joan, Ben Jonson, 296
Gleemen, 232
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang,
Reynard the Fox (extract), 596
Gold, Oliver Herford, 747
Golden Ass, The (extracts), Apuleius, 112
Golden Horseshoes, The (from Eulenspiegel’s Pranks), Tyll Eulenspiegel, 339
Goldoni, Carlo, 616
Goldsmith, Oliver, 431
Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog, An, 432
Elegy on the Glory of Her Sex, Mrs. Mary Blaize, An, 433
Parson Gray, 434
Good Flea and the Wicked King, The (from Tales of a Grandfather), Victor Marie Hugo, 580
Good James and Naughty Reginald (from The Tribune Primer), Eugene Field, 713
Good Wife and the Bad Husband, The, 37
Goose, The, Alfred Tennyson, 500
Gothamites, 208, 214, 216, 341
Gozzi, Carlo, 616
Grammar and Medicine, Agathias, 76
Great Contention, The, Nicarchus, 190
Greedy and Ambitious Cat, The, Pilpay, 164
Greek Anthology, 75
Epigrams, 76 ff.
Greek Comedy, 46, 48, 55, 66
Greek humor, 43–85, 178–181, 189–190
Greene, Albert Gorton,
Old Grimes, 658
Griboyedoff, Alexander, 631
Grimm, Jakob and Wilhelm,
Clever Grethel (from Fairy Tales), 607
Guiterman, Arthur,
Elegy, 743
Mavrone, 742
Guthrie, T. A. (F. Anstey),
Select Passages from a Coming Poet, 554
Hale, Edward Everett, 678
Halleck, Fitz-Greene, and Drake, Joseph Rodman,
Ode to Fortune, 657
Halpine, Charles Graham, 681
Hamlet (extract), Shakespeare, 286
Hans Breitmann Ballads (selection), Charles Godfrey Leland, 680
Harington, Sir John,
Of a Certain Man, 293
Of a Precise Tailor, 292
Harris, Joel Chandler,
Sad End of Brer Wolf, The (from Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings), 708
Harte, Francis Bret,
Society upon the Stanislaus, The, 686
To the Pliocene Skull, 688
Hatefulness of Old Husbands (from The Rose Garden [Gulistan]), Sadi, 144
Hay, John,
Little Breeches (from Pike County Ballads), 690
Haytian Epigrams, 641
Hazlitt, William, 18, 277
on the laughable, 7
on distinction between wit and humor, 15, 16, 17
on Falstaff, 278
“He Paid Too Much for His Whistle” (from Letter to a Friend), Benjamin Franklin, 643
He Secures Sancho Panza as His Squire (from Don Quixote), Miguel de Cervantes, 360
Hebrew humor, 30–33, 124–126
Height of the Ridiculous, The, Oliver Wendell Holmes, 665
Heine, Heinrich, 610
Extracts, 612
Town of Göttingen, The, 611
Hen, A (extract), Henry Wheeler Shaw, 673
Hen, The, Oliver Herford, 745
Hen and the Egg, The, Matthias Claudius, 592
Henley, William Ernest,
Villanelle, 533
Henry IV, Part I (extract), Shakespeare, 281
Henry IV, Part II (extract), Shakespeare, 279
Heptameron, The, 164, 321
Herbert, George, 365
Here Is the Tale, Anthony C. Deane, 543
Herford, Oliver,
Chimpanzee, The, 745
Gold, 747
Hen, The, 745
Mark Twain: A Pipe Dream, 746
Phyllis Lee, 744
Prodigal Egg, The, 747
Some Geese, 744
Song—After Herrick, 747
Herrick, Robert,
Kiss, The—A Dialogue, 367
Ternary of Littles, upon a Pipkin of Jelly Sent to a Lady, A, 368
Hierocles,
Jests, 72, 175
Higher Pantheism in a Nutshell, The, Charles Algernon Swinburne, 522
Hindu humor, 36–39, 121–124, 164–175, 195–196, 214–215, 219–225
Hobbes, Thomas, 365
Laughter (from Treatise on Human Nature), 11, 12, 366
Hoffman, Heinrich, 613
Holley, Marietta,
My Opinions and Betsy Bobbet’s (extract), 702
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 18
Æstivation, 666
Height of the Ridiculous, The, 665
Holy Willie’s Prayer, Robert Burns, 440
Homer,
identity, 43, 48
Battle of the Frogs and Mice, The, 51, 53
Beating of Thersites, The (from The Iliad), 49
Homer’s Riddle, 35
Hood, Thomas,
Faithless Nelly Gray, 462
No!, 465
Hook, Theodore,
Dissertation on Puns, 453
Hopkinson, Francis,
Battle of the Kegs, The, 647
Horace,
Obtrusive Company on the Sacred Way (from Satires), 98
Horace Concocting an Ode, Thomas Dekker, 300
Horse Tied to a Steeple, A (from Adventures of Baron Münchausen), Rudolph Erich Raspe, 589
How a Girl Was Too Reckless of Grammar, Guy Wetmore Carryl, 738
How Jacke by Sophistry Would Make of Two Eggs Three (from The Jests of Scogin), 265
How Madde Coomes, When His Wife Was Drowned, Sought Her against the Streame (from Mother Bunches Merriments), 267
How Maister Hobson Said He Was Not at Home (from The Pleasant Conceits of Old Hobson, Richard Johnson), 267
How Scogin Sold Powder to Kill Fleas (from The Jests of Scogin), 265
How Skelton Came Late Home to Oxford from Abington (from Certayne Merye Tales), John Skelton, 264
How the Welshman Dyd Desyre Skelton to Ayde Him in Hys Sute to the Kynge for a Patent to Sell Drynke, John Skelton, 263
Hudibras (extracts), Samuel Butler, 375
Hugo, Victor Marie,
The Good Flea and the Wicked King (from Tales of a Grandfather), 580
Human Nature, Treatise on (extracts), Thomas Hobbes, 11, 12, 366
Humor,
use of term, 3
theories and definitions, 4 ff., 23
Hazlitt on, 7, 15 ff.
Max Eastman on, 7, 13
Dr. Isaac Barrows on, 9–11
Thomas Hobbes on, 11
George Meredith on, 12
sense of humor, 13–15
Brander Matthews on, 13
distinction between wit and, 15–17
playfulness of animals, 18 ff.
chronological periods, 20, 43
origin of, 23, 45, 46
educational use, 249
influx into literature, 277
Humorist on His Calling, A (from A Window in Thrums), James Matthew Barrie, 535
Hunting with a King (from Sakuntala), Kalidasa, 121
Husband and the Parrot, The (from The Arabian Nights’ Entertainment), 131
Husband’s Petition, The, William Edmonstoune Aytoun, 494
Hymn of the Frogs, The (from the Rig Vedas), 34
“I am a saint of good repute,” Monk of Montaudon, 238
Idiot’s Delight, The, Carolyn Wells, 749
Idler, The (extract), Samuel Johnson, 430
If I Should Die To-Night, Ben King, 728
Ignorant Man Who Set Up for a Schoolmaster, The (from The Arabian Nights’ Entertainment), 129
Il Cortegiano (extracts), Castiglione, 183
Iliad (extract), Homer, 49
Iliad in a Nutshell, The, 51
Ingenious Cook, An (from Trimalchio’s Banquet), Petronius, 102
Ingoldsby Legends, Richard Harris Barham, 455
Inheritance of a Library, The (from Novellino), Massuchio di Salerno, 350
I Remember, Phœbe Cary, 676
Innocence (from Contes Drolatiques), Honoré de Balzac, 568
Irish Bulls, prototypes of, 211
Invalid and His Deaf Visitor, The (from Stories in Rime [Masnavi]), Jalal uddin Rumi, 152
Invisible Bridge, The, Frank Gelett Burgess, 748
Iphis, Jean de la Bruyère, 406
Irishman, The, William Maginn, 471
Irving, Washington,
Certain Young Lady, A, 654
Italian humor, 182–184, 218, 344–359, 409–411, 616–625
Jabberwocky (from Through the Looking-Glass), Lewis Carroll, 515
Jack and Jill (a symposium), Charles Battell Loomis, 735
Jacob, Phœbe Cary, 677
Jalal uddin Rumi,
Invalid and His Deaf Visitor, The (from Stories in Rime [Masnavi]), 152
Old Age—Dialogue, 153
Sick Schoolmaster, The (from Stories in Rime), 149
Jami,
The Baharistan (extracts), 196
Japanese humor, 161
Játakas, or Buddhist stories, 34, 214
Jerrold, Douglas, 475
Cold Mutton, Pudding, Pancakes (from Mrs. Caudle’s Curtain Lectures), 476
Witticisms, 478
Jestbooks (extracts),
English, 262 ff., 274 ff.
French, 335–337
Jester Condemned to Death, The, Horace Smith, 469
Jests
Greek, 178–181
Mediæval German, 188–189
Old jokes, 72–75
Roman, 181–182
Jests of Hierocles, 72, 175, 176–178
Jests of Scogin, The, 263, (extracts), 265
Jobsiad, The (extract), Carl Arnold Kortum, 599
Johannes Secundus,
On Charinus, the Husband of an Ugly Wife, 193
Johnson, Richard,
The Pleasant Conceits of Old Hobson (extract), 267
Johnson, Samuel,
“As with my hat upon my head,” 431
On Lying News-Writers (from The Idler), 430
Jokes,
popular idea of, 4
what makes, 5
practical, 6
and bards, 26
Jolly Good Ale and Old (from Gammer Gurton’s Needle), John Still, 308
Jongleurs of Middle Ages, 233
Jonson, Ben,
Epigrams, 295
Every Man in His Humor (extract), 293
Giles and Joan, 296
To the Ghost of Martial, 295
Vintner, A, 295
Volpone (extract), 294
Jotham, story of, 31
Judas, the Arch-Rogue (extract), Abraham á Sancta Clara, 412
Jugglers, 233
Julian,
Beer, 76
Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, The (extract), Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 681
Juvenal,
Cosmetic Disguise (from Satires), 110
On Domineering Wives (from Satires), 111
Kalidasa,
Hunting with a King (from Sakuntala), 121
Kant,
definition of laughter, 13
Karlchen, the Crocodile (extract), Fedor Dostoevsky, 635
Kathá Manjari (extract), 75
Kathá Sarit Ságara, Somadeva, 214
Kerr, Orpheus C. See Newell, Robert Henry
Khoja Nasru’d Dín. See Cogia Nasr Eddin Effendi
Kind-Hearted She-Elephant, The, George Thomas Lanigan, 706
King, Ben,
If I Should Die To-Night, 728
Pessimist, The, 727
Kingsley, Charles,
Professor’s Malady, The (from Water Babies), 498
Kiss, The, Thomas L. Masson, 732
Kiss, The—A Dialogue, Robert Herrick, 367
Kock, Charles Paul de,
Theophile’s Mother-in-Law (from A Much Worried Gentleman), 572
Kortum, Carl Arnold,
The Jobsiad (extract), 599
Krishna,
caricatures of, 36
Kryloff (v), Ivan, 631
Musicians, The, 634
Swan, the Pike and the Crab, The, 633
Lady from the Provinces, The, W. S. Gilbert, 210
“La Gallisse, now I wish to touch,” Gilles Ménage, 407
L’Allegro, Milton, 371
Lamb, Charles (extracts), 449
Landon, Melville D., 698
Lang, Andrew,
Ballad of the Primitive Jest, 526
Ballade of Literary Fame, 527
Lanigan, George Thomas (G. Washington Æsop), 705
Kind-Hearted She-Elephant, The, 706
Ostrich and the Hen, The, 706
Threnody, A, 704
Lanty Leary, Samuel Lover, 482
Lap Dog, The, Théophile Gautier, 577
La Rochefoucauld, François de,
Maxims, 399
Laughable, the, ideas on, 4, 7
Laughing Song, John Fletcher, 300
Laughter,
what makes us laugh, 5
Hobbes’s definition, 11, 12, 366
Kant’s definition, 13
Lay of the Lovelorn, The, William Edmonstoune Aytoun, 495
Lear, Edward,
Limericks, 519
Two Old Bachelors, The, 520
Learned Women, The (extract), Molière, 394
Leland, Charles Godfrey,
Ballad (from Hans Breitmann Ballads), 680
Leopardi, Giacomo,
Academy of Syllographs, The, 616
Lerneans, The, Unknown, 79
Le Sage, Alan René, 406
Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim,
Decorated Bow, The (from Fables), 588
Epigrams, 588
Fables (extracts), 588
Raven, The (from Fables), 588
Let the Toast Pass (from The School for Scandal), Richard Brinsley Sheridan, 437
Letters to His Son (extracts), Lord Chesterfield, 429
Lever, Charles, 481
Widow Malone, 483
Lie, The, Sir Walter Raleigh, 305
Like to the Thundering Tone, Bishop Corbet, 302
Limericks, Edward Lear, 519
Lines by a Person of Quality, Alexander Pope, 419
Lines on Milton, Cowper, 382
Lion, the Bear, the Monkey and the Fox, The (from Æsop’s Fables), 44
Lions Council of State, The, Ivan Chemnitzer, 632
Little Billee, William Makepeace Thackeray, 487
Little Breeches (from Pike County Ballads), John Hay, 690
Little Peach, The, Eugene Field, 712
Living in Bed (from Roland Enamored), Francesco Berni, 352
Locke, David Ross (Petroleum V. Nasby), 684
Locker-Lampson, Frederick, 484, 503
My Mistress’s Boots, 503
On a Sense of Humor, 505
Some Ladies, 505
Terrible Infant, A, 505
Long and Short, Unknown, 78
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, 666
Mr. Finney’s Turnip, 667
There Was a Little Girl, 667
Loomis, Charles Battell,
Jack and Jill (a symposium), 735
Lord Erskine’s Simile, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, 438
Lost Hatchet, The (from Gargantua and Pantagruel), François Rabelais, 329
Love in a Cottage, Nathaniel Parker Willis, 661
Love Lesson, A, Clement Marot, 321
Lovelace, Richard, 368
Song, 369
Lover, Samuel,
Lanty Leary, 482
Rory O’More, 481
Lovers and a Reflection, Charles Stuart Calverly, 511
Love’s Labour’s Lost (extract), Shakespeare, 15
Lowell, James Russell,
What Mr. Robinson Thinks (from Biglow Papers), 674
Lucian,
Darkness, 76
Odysseus’s Trick on Polyphemus (from Dialogues of the Sea Gods), 80
Question of Precedence, A (from Dialogues of the Gods), 79
Lucilius,
Board or Lodging, 78
Envy, 77
False Charms, 78
Professor with a Small Class, A, 77
Schoolmaster with a Gay Wife, A, 78
Lucillius,
A Miser’s Dream, 190
Lying, Thomas Moore, 479
Madame d’Albret’s Laugh, Clement Marot, 321
Maginn, William,
Irishman, The, 471
Maid, the Monkey, and the Mendicant, The, Unknown, 170
Making of Master Messerin, The, Rustico di Filippo, 350
Man and Superman, Martial, 109
Mark Twain: A Pipe Dream, Oliver Herford, 746
Marot, Clement,
Love Lesson, A, 321
Madame d’Albret’s Laugh, 321
Married Life, Stephanus Paschasius, 194
Married State, The, Sir John Davies, 310
Marryat, Frederick (Captain Marryat),
Nautical Terms (from Peter Simple), 474
Marston, John,
Scholar and His Dog, The, 310
Martial, Father of Epigrams, 106, 333
Between the Lines, 107
Crede Experto, 109
Man and Superman, 109
Mere Suggestion, A, 108
Millions in It, 109
Mute Miltons, 108
Numbers Sweet, 109
Play’s the Thing, 107
Rounded with a Sleep, 108
To Aulus, 107
To Catullus, 107
To Linus, 109
To Mamercus, 110
To Postumus, 107
To Sabidins, 107
Total Abstainer, A, 108
Vendetta, 108
What Might Have Been, 108
Martin, Theodore, 493
Marvel, Ik. See Mitchell, Donald G.
Masks, 87
Masson, Thomas L.,
Desolation, 733
Kiss, The, 732
Matthews Brander, on sense of humor, 13
Mavrone, Arthur Guiterman, 742
Maxims of François de La Rochefoucauld, 399
Meeting, The, “Singing Mouse,” 53
Melchior de Santa Cruz,
Spanish Apothegms, 184–189
Ménage, Gilles,
“La Galisse, now I wish to touch,” 407
Menander, fragments, 82
Mendoza, Hurtado de, 359
Merchant and His Friend, The, Pilpay, 169
Merchant of Venice, The (extract), Shakespeare, 286
Merchaunte of London That Dyd Put Nobles in His Mouthe in Hys Dethe Bedde (from C. Mery Talys), 270
Mere Suggestion, A, Martial, 108
Meredith, George, on modification of Derision Theory, 12
Merie Tayles of Skelton (extracts), 263
Mery Tales of the Mad Men of Gotham (extracts), 266
Metamorphoses, or The Golden Ass (extracts), Apuleius, 112
Microbe, The, Hilaire Belloc, 556
Mighty Must, The, William Schwenck Gilbert, 528
Military Swagger (from The Braggart Captain), Plautus, 88
Milkmaid and the Banker, The, Horace Smith, 468
Millennium, The, James Kenneth Stephen, 549
Miller, Joaquin, 690
That Gentle Man from Boston Town, 692
Millions in It, Martial, 109
Milton,
Epitaph for an Old University Carrier, 373
L’Allegro (extract), 371
Milton Compared with Homer and Virgil, William Cowper, 382
Milton Compared with Homer and Virgil, John Dryden, 382
Milton Compared with Homer and Virgil, Selvaggi, 382
Mimi Pinson (extract), Louis Charles Alfred de Musset, 569
Mimicry, 23, 28
Miniver Cheevy, Edwin Arlington Robinson, 740
Minstrels, 233, 234
Miser and the Mouse, The, Plato, 190
Misers Dream, A, Lucillius, 190
Mrs. Caudle’s Curtain Lectures, Douglas Jerrold, 476
Mrs. Gamp’s Apartment (from Martin Chuzzlewit), Charles Dickens, 491
Mrs. Partington (extract), Benjamin Penhallow Shillaber, 664
Mrs. Partington (from Speech), Sydney Smith, 448
Mr. Finney’s Turnip, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 667
Mitchell, Donald G. (Ik Marvel), 678
Molière, 277
Gentleman Cit, The (extract), 396
Learned Women, The (extract), 394
Mona Lisa, John Kendrick Bangs, 731
Money, Jehan du Pontalais, 322
Montaudon, Monk of, 238
“I am a saint of good repute,” 239
Montfaucon’s alphabet of men and animals, 227
Moore, Clement C.,
Visit from St. Nicholas, A, 652
Moore, Thomas,
Lying, 479
Nonsense, 479
Of All the Men, 480
On Taking a Wife, 481
Upon Being Obliged to Leave a Pleasant Party, 481
What’s My Thought Like? 480
Moral Man, A, Nikolai Nekrasov, 637
More, Thomas, 277
Morell, José, 411
Advice to an Innkeeper, 412
To a Poet, 412
Mother Bunches Merriments (extract), 267
Mountain and the Squirrel, The, Ralph Waldo Emerson, 660
Much Ado About Nothing (extract), Shakespeare, 283
Much Married Gentleman, A (extract), Charles Paul de Kock, 572
Müller, Wilhelm,
The Drunkard’s Fancy, 606
Munkittrick, Richard Kendall,
What’s in a Name?, 715
Murder as One of the Fine Arts, Thomas De Quincey, 458
Murger, Henri,
An Evening Reception (from Bohemian Life Sketches), 579
Musicians, The, Ivan Kryloff, 634
Musset, Louis Charles Alfred de,
The Supper Party of the Three Cavaliers (from Mimi Pinson), 569
Mute Miltons, Martial, 108
“My boy, if you’d wish to make constant your Venus,” Rambaud d’Orange, 237
My Familiar, John Godfrey Saxe, 669
My First Visit to Portland, Seba Smith, 662
My Mistress’s Boots, Frederick Locker-Lampson, 503
My Opinions and Betsy Bobbet’s (extracts), Marietta Holley, 702
Mystery, The, Carolyn Wells, 751
Nasby, Petroleum V. See Locke, David Ross
Nathan, story of, 31
Nautical Terms (from Peter Simple), Frederick Marryat, 474
Nearchus,
Singer, A, 77
Nekrasov, Nikolai,
Moral Man, A, 637
Nephelidia, Swinburne, 523
Newell, Peter, 760
Newell, Robert Henry (Orpheus C. Kerr)
Rejected “National Hymns,” 695
Newspaper humor, 663, 678, 698
Nicarchus,
Great Contention, The, 190
No!, Thomas Hood, 465
Nocturne at Danieli’s, A, Sir Owen Seaman, 537
Nonsense, Bishop Corbet, 302
Nonsense, Thomas Moore, 479
Noodle stories,
origin, 72
selections, 199–225, 341
principle of humor in, 210
Novellino, Massuchio di Salerno, 350
Numbers Sweet, Martial, 109
Nye, Edgar Wilson (Bill Nye),
Garden Hose, The, 714
Obedient Husbands (from The Bachelor’s Banquet), Thomas Dekker, 298
Obstinate Family, The, tale of, 208
Obtrusive Company on the Sacred Way (from Satires), Horace, 98
Ode to Fortune, Fitz-Greene Halleck and Joseph Rodman Drake, 657
Ode to Tobacco, Charles Stuart Calverly, 513
Odysseus’s Trick on Polyphemus (from Dialogues of the Sea-Gods), Lucian, 80
Of a Certain Man, Sir John Harington, 293
Of a Precise Tailor, Sir John Harington, 292
Of a Queer Relationship, Unknown, 174
Of All the Men, Thomas Moore, 480
Of Hym That Sought His Wyfe Agaynst the Streme (from C. Mery Talys), 272
Of Loquacity (from The Characters), Theophrastus, 71
Of Sloth (from Gesta Romanorum), 243
Of Slovenliness (from The Characters), Theophrastus, 70
Of the Courtear That Ete the Hot Custarde (from C. Mery Talys), 272
Of the Deceits of the Devil (from Gesta Romanorum), 246
Of the Diseases This Year, François Rabelais, 324
Of the Eclipses This Year, François Rabelais, 323
Of the Foole That Thought Hym Selfe Deed (from C. Mery Talys), 273
Of the Fruits of the Earth This Year, François Rabelais, 325
Of the Good, Who Alone Will Enter the Kingdom of Heaven (from Gesta Romanorum), 244
Of the Incarnation of Our Lord (from Gesta Romanorum), 245
Of the Merchaunte of London That Dyd Put Nobles in His Mouthe in Hys Dethe Bedde (from C. Mery Talys), 270
Of the Scoler of Oxforde That Proved by Sovestry II Chickens III (from C. Mery Talys), 271
Of the Valorous Don Quixote’s ... Adventure of the Windmills (from Don Quixote), Cervantes, 363
Of the Woman that Followed her Fourth Husband’s Bere and Wept (from Wit and Mirth), 270
Of Three Girls and Their Talk: A Sonnet, Giovanni Boccaccio, 344
Of Vigilance in Our Calling (from Gesta Romanorum), 247
Old Age—Dialogue, Jalal uddin Rumi, 153
Old Grimes, Albert Gorton Greene, 658
Omar Khayyam,
Rubaiyat (extract), 138
On a Fan, Henry Austin Dobson, 524
On a Sense of Humor, Frederick Locker-Lampson, 505
On a Wet Day, Francho Sacchetti, 355
On Aufidius, Actius Sannazarius, 192
On Aurispa, Janus Pannonius, 192
On Celsus, Paulus Thomas, 194
On Charinus, the Husband of an Ugly Wife, Johannes Secundus, 193
On Clothes and Comforts (from The Land of Dreams), Kiokutei Bakin, 161
On Cotin, Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux, 405
On Domineering Wives (from Satires), Juvenal, 111
On Expert Testimony, Finley Peter Dunne, 720
On “Forts,” Charles Farrar Browne, 685
On His Own Deafness, Jonathan Swift, 418
On His Own Love, Catullus, 191
On Late-Acquired Wealth, Unknown, 190
On Leonora, Georgius Buchananus, 193
On Lying News-Writers (from The Idler), Samuel Johnson, 430
On Mental Reservations (from Les Provinciales), Blaise Pascal, 400
On Musical Instruments, Antonio Ghislanzoni, 619
On Shadwell, John Dryden, 380
On Sultan Mahmoud, Firdausi, 142
On Taking a Wife, Thomas Moore, 481
On the Duke of Buckingham, John Dryden, 381
On the Inconstancy of Woman’s Love, Unknown, 191
Orange, Rambaud d’,
Song: “My boy, if you’d wish to make constant your Venus,” 237
Ostrich and the Hen, The, George Thomas Lanigan, 706
Pain, Barry,
Poets at Tea, The, 551
Palabras Grandiosas (from Echo Club), James Bayard Taylor, 683
Palæolithic humor, 24, 25
Pannonius, Janus,
On Aurispa, 192
Paper, Benjamin Franklin, 645
Parasites and Gnathonites (from Eunuchus), Terence, 96
Paris, Paul Scarron, 398
Parodies
Select Passages from a Coming Poet, T. A. Guthrie, 554
After T. B. Aldrich
Palabras Grandiosas, James Bayard Taylor, 683
Rejected “National Hymns,” Robert Henry Newell, 697
After Browning
Cock and the Bull, The, Charles Stuart Calverley, 507
Nocturne at Danieli’s, A, Owen Seaman, 537
Poets at Tea, The, Barry Pain, 552
After Mrs. Browning
Symposium of Poets, A, Carolyn Wells, 754
After Bryant
Rejected “National Hymns,” Robert Henry Newell, 697
After Burns
Poets at Tea, The, Barry Pain, 554
After Cowper
Poets at Tea, The, Barry Pain, 552
After Dinah Craik
Symposium of Poets, A, Carolyn Wells, 750
After Austin Dobson
Jack and Jill, Charles Battell Loomis, 735
Symposium of Poets, A, Carolyn Wells, 755
After Emerson
Rejected “National Hymns,” Robert Henry Newell, 696
After Hafiz, Abu Ishak, 154
After Bret Harte
De Tea Fabula, Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch, 546
Symposium of Poets, A, Carolyn Wells, 758
After Herrick
Song, O. Herford, 747
To Julia under Lock and Key, Owen Seaman, 540
After Lady Arthur Hill
Symposium of Poets, A, Carolyn Wells, 759
After Hogg
Symposium of Poets, A, Carolyn Wells, 756
After Oliver Wendell Holmes
Rejected “National Hymns,” Robert Henry Newell, 696
After Hood
I Remember, Phœbe Cary, 676
After Jean Ingelow
Lovers and a Reflection, Charles Stuart Calverley, 511
After Kipling
Here Is the Tale, Anthony C. Deane, 543
Symposium of Poets, A, Carolyn, Wells, 757
After Longfellow
Rejected “National Hymns,” Robert Henry Newell, 695
After Macaulay
Poets at Tea, The, Barry Pain, 551
After George Meredith
At the Sign of the Cock, Owen Seaman, 541
After Milton
The Splendid Shilling, John Philips, 423
After Thomas Moore
“There’s a bower of bean vines,” Phœbe Cary, 677
After E. A. Poe
Poets at Tea, The, Barry Pain, 553
Symposium of Poets, A, Carolyn Wells, 753
After Rossetti
Ballad, Charles Stuart Calverley, 506
Poets at Tea, The, Barry Pain, 553
After Southey
The Friend of Humanity and the Knife-Grinder, George Canning, 439
After Swinburne
Jack and Jill, Charles Battell Loomis, 736
Nephilidia, Algernon Charles Swinburne, 523
Poets at Tea, The, Barry Pain, 551
Symposium of Poets, A, Carolyn Wells, 757
After Tennyson
Higher Pantheism in a Nutshell, The, Algernon Charles Swinburne, 522
The Lay of the Lovelorn, William Edmonstoune Aytoun, 495
Poets at Tea, The, Barry Pain, 551
After Walt Whitman
Jack and Jill, Charles Battell Loomis, 7
Poets at Tea, The, Barry Pain, 554
After Whittier
Rejected “National Hymns,” Robert Henry Newell, 696
After Oscar Wilde
Symposium of Poets, A, Carolyn Wells, 759
After Nathaniel P. Willis
Rejected “National Hymns,” Robert Henry Newell, 697
After Charles Wolfe
“True and Original” Version, A, Richard Harris Barham, 455
After Wordsworth
Baby’s Début, The, James Smith, 466
Jacob, Phœbe Cary, 677
Poets at Tea, The, Barry Pain, 552
After a Popular Song
If I Should Die To-night, Ben King, 728
Parody, 30
Parson Gray, Oliver Goldsmith, 434
Partial Judge, The (from Æsop’s Fables), 45
Pascal, Blaise,
On Mental Reservations (from Les Provinciates), 400
Paschasius, Stephanus,
Married Life, 194
Patient Cured, The, Christian F. Gellert, 586
Paying with the Sound of a Penny (from Eulenspiegel’s Pranks), Tyll Eulenspiegel, 340
Peasant of Larcarà, The, Pitrá, 218
Pegasus in the Yoke, Friedrich von Schiller, 593
Pepys, Samuel,
Diary (extracts), 378
Perplexity, Unknown, 79
Persian humor, 73, 138–156, 196–199
Persian Jest-Book, 73
Persius,
Poetic Fame (from Satires), 104
Pessimist, The, Ben King, 727
Peter Simple (extracts), Frederick Marryat, 474
Petronius, 101
Ingenious Cook, An (from Trimalchio’s Banquet), 102
Philippides, Epigrams, 84
Philips, John,
Splendid Shilling, The, 423
Phillis’ Age, Matthew Prior, 389
Philosopher, A, Sam Walter Foss, 718
Philosopher, The (from The Fables), Ivan Chemnitzer, 631
Phoenix, John. See Derby, George Horatio
Phoenixiana (extract), George Horatio Derby, 678
Phyllis Lee, Oliver Herford, 744
Pictorial humor, 27, 46, 47, 48
Pigtail, The, Adelbert von Chamisso, 605
Pike County Ballads (extract), John Hay, 690
Pilpay (or Bidpai), Fables, 120;
(Selections), 164–170
Pitrá,
The Peasant of Larcarà, 218
Plato,
idea of humor, 4
Miser and the Mouse, The, 190
Thief and the Suicide, The, 189
Plato Comicus, fragments, 66
Plautus, 87
Military Swagger (from The Braggart Captain), 88
Suspicious Miser, The (from The Pot of Gold), 91
Playfulness of animals, 18
Play’s the Thing, Martial, 107
Pleasant Conceits of Old Hobson, The (extract), Richard Johnson, 265, 267
Pleasantries of Cogia Nasr Eddin Effendi, The (extracts), 199
Pleasure of Fishes, The (from Autumn Floods), Chwang Tze, 157
Poems in Prose, Ivan Turgenieff, 638
Poetic Fame (from Satires), Persius, 104
Poets, Samuel Butler, 377
Poets at Tea, The, Barry Pain, 551
Poggio, Italian stories, 182
Polish humor, 639–641
Pontalais, Jehan du,
Money, 322
Pope, Alexander, 17
Epigram on Mrs. Tofts, 421
Lines by a Person of Quality, 419
Worms, 420
Pope and Sultan (German Student Song), 613
Pope and the Net, The, Robert Browning, 502
Popularity, Sung Yu, 158
Praed, Winthrop Mackworth,
Song of Impossibilities, A, 484
Praise of Folly, The (extracts), Desiderius Erasmus, 337
Prayer, Ivan Turgenieff, 638
Prior, Matthew, 386
Epitaph, An, 387
Phillis’ Age, 389
Reasonable Affliction, A, 389
Simile, A, 388
Prodigal Egg, The, Oliver Herford, 747
Professional entertainers of the Middle Ages, 231–236
Professor with a Small Class, A, Lucilius, 77
Professor’s Malady, The (from Water Babies), Charles Kingsley, 498
Proverbial Wisdom, Anton Chekov, 639
Provinciales, Les (extract), Blaise Pascal, 400
Psycholophon, Frank Gelett Burgess, 749
Puffing, Samuel Butler, 377
“Punning” (from Speeches), Sydney Smith, 446
Purple Cow, The, Frank Gelett Burgess, 748
Python, The, Hilaire Belloc, 555
Question of Precedence, A (from Dialogues of the Gods), Lucian, 79
Quiller-Couch, Arthur Thomas. See Couch, Arthur Thomas Quiller-
Rabelais, François,
Of the Diseases This Year, 324
Of the Eclipses This Year, 323
Of the Fruits of the Earth This Year, 325
Lost Hatchet, The (from Gargantua and Pantagruel), 329
“Rabelais Imitates Diogenes” (from Gargantua and Pantagruel), 325
Radhi Billah, the Kaliph,
To a Lady upon Seeing Her Blush, 191
Raising the Devil, Richard Harris Barham, 456
Raleigh, Sir Walter,
Lie, The, 305
Raspe, Rudolph Erich,
Horse Tied to a Steeple, A (from Adventures of Baron Münchausen), 589
Rather Large Whale, A (from Adventures of Baron Münchausen), 590
Raven, The (from Fables), Lessing, 588
Raven, a Fox and a Serpent, A, Pilpay, 166
Reasonable Affliction, A, Matthew Prior, 389
Redi, Francesca,
Diatribe Against Water, 410
Rejected Addresses (extract), James and Horace Smith, 465
Rejected “National Hymns” (burlesque), Robert Henry Newell, 695
Religion of Hudibras, The (from Hudibras), Samuel Butler, 374
Remonstrance, The, Sir John Suckling, 370
Reuben, Phœbe Cary, 678
Reynard the Fox,
forms and origin, 226
Goethe’s version (extracts), 596
Riddles,
Arabian, 35
Homer’s, 35
Samson’s, 35
Sphinx’s, 35
Rig Vedas (extract), 34
Robinson, Edwin Arlington,
Miniver Cheevy, 740
Two Men, 741
Roche, James Jeffrey,
Boston Lullaby, A, 708
V-a-s-e, The, 706
Roland Enamored (extract), Francesco Berni, 352
Roman Cockney, The, Catullus, 97
Roman humor, 86–119, 181–182
Rondeau, The, Henry Austin Dobson, 525
Rory O’More, Samuel Lover, 481
Rose Garden, The (Gulistan) (extracts), Sadi, 142
Rounded with a Sleep, Martial, 108
Rubaiyat (extract), Omar Khayyam, 138
Rückert, Friedrich,
Artist and Public, 609
Russian humor, 217, 631–639
Rutebœuf, the Trouvère,
Ass’s Testament, The, 312
Sacchetti, Francho, 354
On a Wet Day, 355
Sad End of Brer Wolf, The (from Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings), Joel Chandler Harris, 708
Sadi,
Discomfort Better Than Drowning, (from The Rose Garden [Gulistan]), 142
Hatefulness of Old Husbands (from The Rose Garden), 144
Strict Schoolmaster and the Mild, The (from The Rose Garden), 143
Wise Sayings, 145
Saintship versus Conscience (from Hudibras), Samuel Butler, 375
Sakuntala (extract), Kaildasa, 121
Salad, Sydney Smith, 448
Salerno, Massuchio di,
Inheritance of a Library, The (from Novellino), 350
Samson’s Riddle, 35
San Shroe Bu,
Enforced Greatness, 219
Sannazarius, Actius,
On Aufidius, 192
Satires (extract), Horace, 98
Satires (extract), Juvenal, 110
Satires (extract), Persius, 104
Satires on dress, 230
Saxe, John Godfrey,
My Familiar, 669
Scarron, Paul,
Farewell to Chloris, 398
Paris, 398
Schildburgers, the, tales of, 341–344
Schiller, Friedrich von,
Pegasus in the Yoke, 593
Scholar and His Dog, The, John Marston, 310
School, James Kenneth Stephen, 550
School for Scandal, The (extract), Richard Brinsley Sheridan, 437
Schoolmaster with a Gay Wife, A, Lucilius, 78
Scogin,
Jests, 263, 265
Seaman, Sir Owen,
At the Sign of the Cock, 541
Nocturne at Danieli’s, A, 537
To Julia under Lock and Key, 540
Select Passages from a Coming Poet, T. A. Guthrie, 554
Sense of humor, 13, 14
Shakespeare,
on sense of humor, 15
as humorist, 277, 278, 280
As You Like It (extract), 288
Hamlet (extract), 286
Henry IV, Part I (extract), 281
Henry IV, Part II (extract), 279
Love’s Labour’s Lost (extract), 15
Merchant of Venice, The (extract), 286
Shaw, Henry Wheeler (Josh Billings), 671
Hen, A (extract), 673
Tight Boots (extract), 671
Sheridan, Richard Brinsley,
Calendar, 438
Let the Toast Pass (from The School for Scandal), 437
Lord Erskine’s Simile, 438
Sheridan’s Calendar, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, 438
Shillaber, Benjamin Penhallow,
After a Wedding (from Mrs. Partington), 664
Sick Schoolmaster, The (from Stories in Rime [Masnavi]), Jalal uddin Rumi, 149
Sill, Edward Rowland, 690
Eves Daughter, 698
Simile, A, Matthew Prior, 388
Simonides,
Fine Lady, The, 65
Simpleton and the Sharper, The (from The Arabian Nights’ Entertainment), 127
Singer, A, Nearchus, 77
“Singing Mouse, The,” 52
Meeting, The, 53
Skelton, John,
How Skelton Came Late Home to Oxford from Abington (from Certayne Merye Tales), 264
How the Welshman Dyd Desyre Skelton to Hyde Him in Hys Sute to the Kynge for a Patent to Sell Drynke, 263
To Maistres Margaret Hussey, 261
Sleep, Baltazar del Alcazar, 359
Slight Misunderstanding, A (from Contés Drolatiques), Honoré de Balzac, 567
Smith, Horace,
Jester Condemned to Death, The, 469
Milkmaid and the Banker, The, 468
Smith, James,
Baby’s Debut, The, 466
Smith, Seba (Major Jack Downing),
My First Visit to Portland, 662
Smith, Sydney,
Mrs. Partington (from Speech), 448
“Punning” (from Speeches), 446
Salad, 448
Smollett, 429
Society upon the Stanislaus, The, Francis Bret Harte, 686
“Soldier, Rest!” Robert Jones Burdette, 701
Somadeva,
Kathá Sarit Ságara, 214
Some Geese, Oliver Herford, 744
Some Hallucinations, Lewis Carroll, 518
Some Ladies, Frederick Locker-Lampson, 505
Song, Richard Lovelace, 369
Song—After Herrick, Oliver Herford, 747
Song of Impossibilities, A, Winthrop Mackworth Praed, 484
Sonnet: “Two voices are there: one is of the deep,” James Kenneth Stephen, 548
Sorrows of Werther, William Makepeace Thackeray, 490
Soul of the Cabbage, The, Cyrano de Bergerac, 390
Southey, Robert,
Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, The, (from The Doctor), 450
Well of St. Keyne, The, 451
Spanish Apothegms of Melchior de Santa Cruz, 84
Spanish humor, 184–189, 359–364, 411–412, 626–630
Sphinx’s Riddle, 35
Splendid Shilling, The, John Philips, 423
Stanza for a Tobacco-Pouch, A, Yuan Mei, 158
Stedman, Edmund Clarence, 683
Stephen, James Kenneth,
Millennium, The, 549
School, 550
Sonnet, “Two voices are there: one is of the deep,” 548
Thought, A, 549
Stephens, Henry (Henri Estienne),
Noodle Stories from Introduction to Apology for Herodotus, 215
Sterne, 429
Stevenson, Robert Louis,
Child’s Verses (extracts), 534
Still, John,
Jolly Good Ale and Old (from Gammer Gurton’s Needle), 308
Stockton, Frank R.,
Lady and the Tiger, The, 686
Stolen Pig, The (from the Decameron), Giovanni Boccaccio, 345
Stories in Rime (extracts), Jalal uddin Rumi, 149
Strict Schoolmaster and the Mild, The (from The Rose Garden [Gulistan]), Sadi, 143
Stupid Man (from The Characters), Theophrastus, 72
Suckling, Sir John, 368
Constant Lover, The, 369
Remonstrance, The, 370
Sung Yu,
Popularity, 158
Sunt Qui Servari Nolunt, Jonathan Swift, 418
Supper-Party of the Three Cavaliers, The (from Mimi Pinson), Louis Charles Alfred de Musset, 569
Suspicious Miser, The (from The Pot of Gold), Plautus, 91
Swan, the Pike and the Crab, The, Ivan Krylov, 633
Swift, Jonathan,
Against Abolishing Christianity, 415
Furniture of a Woman’s Mind, The, 416
On His Own Deafness, 418
Sunt Qui Servari Nolunt, 418
“To Mrs. Houghton of Bormount, upon praising her husband to Dr. Swift,” 419
Swinburne, Charles Algernon, 521
Higher Pantheism in a Nutshell, The, 522
Nephelidia, 523
Symposium of Poets, A, Carolyn Wells, 752
Tales of a Grandfather (extract), Victor Marie Hugo, 580
Talmud, The (extracts), 124
Tatler, The (extract), Joseph Addison, 422
Taylor, James Bayard,
Palabras Grandiosas (from Echo Club), 683
Taylor, John,
Wit and Mirth (extracts), 74, 268, 270
Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, The (from The Doctor), Robert Southey, 450
Tennyson, Alfred,
The Goose, 500
Terence,
Parasites and Gnathonites (from Eunuchus), 96
Ternary of Littles upon a Pipkin of Jelly sent to a Lady, A, Robert Herrick, 365
Terrible Infant, A, Frederick Locker-Lampson, 505
Thackeray, William Makepeace, 486
Little Billee, 487
Sorrows of Werther, 490
When Moonlike Ore the Hazure Seas, 490
Wolfe New Ballad of Jane Roney and Mary Brown, The, 488
That Gentle Man from Boston Town, Joaquin Miller, 692
Thayer, Ernest Lawrence,
Casey at the Bat, 729
Theophile’s Mother-in-Law (from A Much Worried Gentleman), Charles Paul de Kock, 572
Theophrastus,
Of Loquacity (from The Characters), 71
Of Slovenliness (from The Characters), 70
Stupid Man, The (from The Characters), 72
There Was a Little Girl, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 667
“There’s a Bower of Bean-Vines,” Phœbe Cary, 677
Thief and the Suicide, The, Plato, 189
Thief Turned Merchant and the Other Thief, The (from The Arabian Nights’ Entertainment), 128
Thomas, Paulus,
On Celsus, 194
Thought, A, James Kenneth Stephen, 549
Thoughts, Jean de la Bruyère, 406
Threnody, A, George Thomas Lanigan, 704
Through the Looking-Glass (extract), Lewis Carroll, 515
Tight Boots, Henry Wheeler Shaw (Josh Billings), 671
Tithes, a Hebrew Satire, 31
To a Friend in Distress, Johannes Audœmus, 194
To a Lady Upon Seeing Her Blush, The Kaliph Radhi Billah, 191
To a Mosquito, William Cullen Bryant, 655
To a Poet, José Morell, 412
To Aulus, Martial, 107
To Catullus, Martial, 107
To Julia under Lock and Key, Sir Owen Seaman, 540
To Linus, Martial, 109
To Maistres Margaret Hussey, John Skelton, 261
To Mamercus, Martial, 110
To Mrs. Houghton of Bormount, upon praising her husband to Dr. Swift, Jonathan Swift, 419
To My Empty Purse, Chaucer, 257
To My Nose, Olivier Basselin, 316
To Perrault, Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux, 405
To Philomusus, Euricius Cordus, 192
To Postumus, Martial, 107
To Sabidius, Martial, 107
To Sally, John Quincy Adams, 650
To the Ghost of Martial, Ben Jonson, 295
To the Pliocene Skull, Francis Bret Harte, 688
To the Terrestrial Globe, William Schwenck Gilbert, 529
To the Vizier Cassim Obid Allah, On the Death of One of His Sons, Aly Ben Ahmed Ben Mansour, 191
To Zoilus, Georgius Buchananus, 193
Tooth for Tooth, Edmondo de Amicis, 623
Total Abstainer, A, Martial, 108
Touching the Olfactory Organ, Alexander Dumas, the Elder, 574
Town of Göttingen, The, Heinrich Heine, 611
Townsend, Edward Waterman,
Chimmie Fadden (extract), 716
Trimalchio’s Banquet (extract), Petronius, 101
Troubadours, 236
Troubadours’ Songs, 236–240
Trouvères, 236, 253
Trowbridge, John T., 681
“True and Original” Version, A, Richard Harris Barham, 455
True to Poll, Francis C. Burnand, 532
Turgenieff, Ivan,
Beneficence and Gratitude, 638
Prayer, 638
Turkish humor, 33, 199–204, 213
Tushmaker’s Tooth-Puller, George Horatio Derby, 678
Twain, Mark. See Clemens, Samuel Langhorne
Two Men, Edwin Arlington Robinson, 741
Two Old Bachelors, The, Edward Lear, 520
“Two voices are there: one is of the deep,” James Kenneth Stephen, 548
Udall, Nicholas, 277
Ulysses, stories of, 46
Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings (extract), 708
Upon Being Obliged to Leave a Pleasant Party, Thomas Moore, 481
V-a-s-e, The, James Jeffrey Roche, 706
Vega, Lope de, 359
Vendetta, Martial, 108
Ventadour, Bernard de,
“You say the moon is all aglow,” 237
Vers de Société, 503, 524, 706
Vicissitudes of a Donkey (from The Golden Ass), Apuleius, 116
Villanelle, William Ernest Henley, 533
Villanelle of Things Amusing, Frank Gelett Burgess, 748
Villon, François,
Ballad of the Women of Paris, 320
Ballade of Dead Ladies, The, 318
Ballade of Old Time Ladies, A, 319
Vintner, A, Ben Johnson, 295
Visit from St. Nicholas, A, Clement C. Moore, 652
Voice from the Grave, A, Unknown, 190
Volpone (extract), Ben Jonson, 294
Voltaire (Francis Marie Arouet),
Candide (extract), 560
Waller, Edmund, 368
Walloping Window-Blind, The, Charles E. Carryl, 699
Ward, Artemus. See Browne, Charles Farrar
Ward, William Hayes,
on Greek humor, 44
Warner, Charles Dudley, 681
Water Babies (extract), Charles Kingsley, 498
Ways and Means, Lewis Carroll, 516
Well of St. Keyne, The, Robert Southey, 451
Wells, Carolyn,
Idiot’s Delight, The, 749
Mystery, The, 751
Symposium of Poets, A, 752
Woman, 751
Wengierski, Kajetan,
Dream Wife, The, 639
Wesley, Samuel, 51
Homer’s The Battle of the Frogs and Mice, 54
What’s In a Name? Richard Kendall Munkittrick, 715
What Might Have Been, Martial, 108
What Mr. Robinson Thinks (from Biglow Papers), James Russell Lowell, 674
What Will We Do? Robert Jones Burdette, 700
What’s My Thought Like? Thomas Moore, 480
When Moonlike Ore the Hazure Seas, William Makepeace Thackeray, 490
Whitcher, Mrs. Frances Miriam, 664
White, Richard Grant, 678
Why Don’t the Men Propose? Thomas Haynes Bayly, 472
Widow Malone, Charles Lever, 483
Wife’s Ruse, A: A Rabbinical Tale, 32
Will, The, John Donne, 296
Will of a Virtuoso, The (from The Tatler), Joseph Addison, 422
William Tell (from Tartarin in the Alps), Alphonse Daudet, 583
Willis, Nathaniel Parker,
Love in a Cottage, 661
Wit and humor,
Hazlitt on the distinction between, 15–17
Wit and Mirth (extracts), John Taylor, 74, 268–270
Wolfe New Ballad of Jane Roney and Mary Brown, The, William Makepeace Thackeray, 488
Woman, Carolyn Wells, 751
Worms, Alexander Pope, 420
Wreck of the “Julie Plante,” The, William H. Drummond, M.D., 726
Wright, Thomas, on caricature by prehistoric man, 25
“You say the moon is all aglow,” Bernard de Ventadour, 237
Yriarte, Thomas,
Ass and the Flute, The, 626
Country Squire, The, 628
Eggs, The, 627
Yuan Mei,
Recipes (from Cookery Book), 159
Stanza for a Tobacco-Pouch, A, (from Letters), 158