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jnfianccs may ferve to fho'w, that they are only the lighter defefls 

 or blemiflies, unaccompanied by pain or mifery on the one hand, 

 or virulence and danger on the other, that are the proper fub- 

 jeds of mirth. And to convince us that contempt, a certain 

 lelf-triumph of the mind, is a principal fource of the pleafure 

 which we derive from mirth, let us recoiled that there muft, 

 to conftitute ridicule, be fome competition, as well as inferiority; 

 a rcfemblance and a contraft in the ohjeds compared. The 

 oyiter, or the earth-worm, the poor beetle which we tread upon, 

 are vaftly inferior to man ; yet that inferiority does not produce 

 contempt, becaufe thefe creatures never imitate us, and are as 

 perfed in their kind as imperial man in his. Some approximation, 

 fome refemblance there muft be ; fb that not every animal is a 

 fubjedl of mirth, but thofe only which imitate human nature, 

 whether that imitation be near or remote ; fuch are dogs,. 

 monkies, kittens, parrots, magpies, jays, and fome others. Song 

 birds and exotic animals may be kept for tlie purpofes of luxury 

 in our cages and menageries, and afford pleafure by the melody 

 of their notes, the beauty of their forms, or their rarity ; fome 

 animals, inftead of pleafure or mirth, produce, by their appear- 

 ance, only terror, difguft or pity ; every one of thofe creatures, 

 which are capable of exciting mirth, arc capable alfo, in a cer- 

 tain degree, of imitating fome adion of man. The monkey 

 confeiTedly refembles the human fpecics at all points ; the cat 

 ufes her fore paws like hands, and for that purpofe nature 

 hath provided her with clavicles ; the dog and the bear may be 

 taught to walk upright on two legs like man ; the jay, the par- 

 rot and the magpie have the power of forming articulate founds. 

 Nor is our mirth excited indifcriminatcly by thofe creatures ; it 



is 



