t 74 1 
its natural Suggeftions have not been applied to that 
Pafllon ; and, confequently, are not free enough to 
mand Laughter. But if he is perfect in his Part, 
having nothing to ftudy while he a£ts, he is then 
capable of taking to himfelf a Share in the Mirth, 
and of laughing in earned. 
Another Cafe wherein Laughter is unmeaning, is, 
when a Perfon, drefs'd with all the Marks of Adula- 
tion, feigns a Laugh, to favour that of a Superior, and 
feed his Vanity. Here, too, the other Mufcles of 
the Face give the Lips the Lie, and prove the Hy- 
pocrify 5 for it wants their Content, as in the Cafe 
juft mention'd. 
There is another miferable Circumftance which 
makes Laughter appear dreadful, and that is when it 
is convullive : In this Cafe, the Nerves which com- 
municate the Content or Sympathy between the 
diaphragm and the Mufcles of Laughter, are affe&ed, 
and the Cachinnations, occafioned by the convullive 
Twitches of the former, draw the latter into Confent to 
form that kind of unnatural and involuntary Laughter, 
which is called by Authors the Rifus Sardonicus *. 
It is a melancholy Sight, when a Perfon fallen to 
the 
* This Appellation comes from the Name of a Plant, by fome called 
Herha Sardonia , or Sardinia by others, Apium agrefle, or Apium Rifus ; 
which is faid to produce this kind of Convuliion ; and being faid to grow 
in great Plenty in Sardinia, thence came the Nam z Herba Sardonia, and 
thence this Name Rifus fardonicus . 
r I his Laughing without Caufe, or Rifus Sardonicus, had another Source 
with fome Authors: It was faid, the Sardinians uled to facrifice their 
Prifoners to Saturn , who laughed, to Ihcw their Bravery and Fortitude 
at their Deaths : Alio, that the Sardinians laugh, when they intend any 
Evil to another. 
