_Excessive Gravity._
XLIII. Opportune cheerfulness, is the most savoury seasoner of
conversation, and has so great a share in true urbanity, that some,
as we observed before, have considered it as the most essential part
of it; for, when introduced with propriety, it produces the most
desirable effects, as it enlivens both the speakers and the auditors,
conciliates their good-will to each other, and affords a relaxation
to the mind, after it has been fatigued with study, or any serious
occupation. It was on this account, that the moral gentiles, and even
the christians also, placed cheerfulness among the number of moral
virtues. Hear what Saint Thomas says on this head, in l. 2. quæst. 168.
art. 2. after declaring cheerfulness to be a virtue, he describes the
delight that results from it, not only to be useful, but necessary also
for the purpose of giving ease and relaxation to the soul: _Hujusmodi
autem dicta, vel facta, in quibus non quæritur nisi delectatio
animalis, vocantur ludicra vel jocosa. Et ideo necesse est talibus
interdum uti, quasi ad quandam animæ quietem._
LXIV. Men who are always grave, may be termed a sort of entities
between men and statues. Risibility being a property or quality
inseparable from reason, he who denies himself the pleasure of
laughing, degrades himself below the degree of a rational animal.
Fools, are apt to esteem such people as men of sense, judgment, and
mature understanding. But is a man’s deporting himself with the dryness
and rigidity of a stock or a stone, a proof of his understanding? No
brute is capable of laughing; and ought a property that is common
to every brute, to be considered as a descriptive mark of, and the
characteristic of a man of understanding? I look upon such a carriage,
to bespeak an obstinate genius, and a man of a sullen temper. The
antients were used to say, that all those who had ever entered the
enchanted cavern of Trophonius, never laughed afterwards. If there is
any truth in this story, which many people doubt, it is probable, that
the infernal deity who was consulted in that cavern, instilled into
those who consulted him this black diabolical melancholy.