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WHAT DO FOLKS LAUGH AT ? 



DEMOCRITUS. 



" I'll dwell in cities, (as my genius guides,) 

 To laugh my fill, for siiiiling Peace provides 

 Sucli plenteous store of huigiiing stulFto fill me, 

 That still I'll laugh, unless that laughing kill me." 

 Dialogue upon Uie Troubles past, be/ween (lie JVcepiuf/ and Laughing Ph'iloso- 

 pltcrs, bij Josiah Sglcester, IG.'J.'J. 



Ay ! what do folks laugh at ? Is it not an awful question ? Dear 

 reader, you must now confess, that it is of paramount moment to ascer- 

 tain what is the cause tliat equally disfigures, willi contortions, (horrihle 

 if minutely inspected,) the fairy cheek of girlhood, curtained with love 

 and innocence, the enchanting languor of the leader of ton, the ruddy 

 face of the ploughman, the funereal visage of the chimney-sweep, the lofty 

 features of majesty, the memher's hrow of care, the card-playing cat- 

 loving old maid of fifty-eight, the haby in the cradle, the man of 'change 

 and checks, ditto of no 'change and drafts, the exquisite of Belgrave 

 Square and the omnibus box, or the box of the omnibus ; in fact, every 

 breathing being, from Mr. Green the aeronaut to IVIr. Blue the miner. 

 I say again, is it not of equal importance, as the miyJity mysteries of the 

 philosopher's stone ; preventive checks ; checks to ])revent pickpockets ; 

 or the query of how many of Dan O'Connell's tails will reach to the moon ^ 

 — Alas ! is it not doul)tful if anv will jjierce tlie clouds at all, at all, un- 

 less it be those of their oivn pigtail and potatoes ? — But to return to 

 my text. — I was walking — no, not walking, sauntering down Regent 

 Street the other morning, about 4 o'clock p. m., leisurely drawing on to 

 my left hand a kid glove of the purest white, Parisian make, and in- 

 wardly anathematizing the man, who, having taken the length, breadtii, 

 and depth of my manners, and afterwards counted its solid contents, 

 could be so insufferably donkeyish, as to make the receptacle for my 

 little finger so clumsily as not to show the figure of the brilliant turquoise 

 that embraced it, when, who should I perceive advancing on the same 

 side of the way hut my very amiable friend Emma Stanley, leaning upon 

 the arm of atallvouns: man, whose dark mustache actually twined from the 

 exterior of his features around his nasal organ, from which issued sounds 

 not at all in accordance with the inspired notes so often heard in War- 

 wick Street ; and whose finely-formed waist seemed trying, with won- 

 derous plunges, to escape the thraldom both of stays and buttons. My 

 eyes involuntarily glanced from the youth to his fair companion : (it's a 

 strange thing, they generally do) alas ! to my astonishment, her beau- 

 tiful lineaments were actually disfigured as horribly as those of her fellow 

 ])iomenadcr. She, who was looked up to as the beauty of beauties, was 

 actually more like the beast. — Her once smooth cheek, of the most deli- 

 cate hue of the sweetest flower coyly blushing at its sister bud, was no 

 longer to be discefned ; but, in its place, a surface of the texture and dye 

 of a red pickled-cabbage leaf ; the mouth, made for the home of kisses, 



