CORNISH HUMOUR 163 



stuck in the man's mind, and he spent most of the 

 day in going into the houses of all his intimates in 

 the village and discussing the subject with them. 

 " He said it were a hundred years since he saw me 

 now what did parson mean by that ? " When, anxious 

 to make a little mischief (having nothing else to do), 

 I reported the matter to the vicar, he slapped his leg 

 angrily and exclaimed, " That's how it is with them ! 

 There's an instance for you ! " But it was a very 

 delightful one, and in another moment his vexation 

 vanished in a burst of laughter. 



One might imagine that such misunderstandings 

 simply result from stupidity. It is not so, unless 

 we say that stupidity is nothing but the want of that 

 sense which acts on our social intercourse much as the 

 thyroid gland does on the bodily system, or, to take 

 another image, like that subtle ingredient of a salad 

 which " animates the whole." Curious to say, the 

 most striking instance I met with of this want was 

 from a man of that unpleasant class who must be for 

 ever doing or saying something to raise a laugh. 

 They are found everywhere, even in Cornwall, and 

 are common as is the " merry fellow " described over 

 a century ago in the Rambler the man whose ready 

 hearty laugh and perpetual good humour and desire 

 to say something to make you happy proceed from 

 his high spirits. He is quite tolerable : the would- 

 be witty or humorous person, the clown in the 

 company, determined to live up to his reputation, is 

 rather detestable, and reminds one of the actor who 

 can never be himself but is always posing to an 



