much laughinge Ride si sapis O puella ride. If thou beest
wise laugh. ffor since the powres of discourse
and reason, and laughter, bee equally proper
only to man, why shall not hee bee most wise
that hath most use of laughing aswell as hee
that 154
that hath most use of reasoning, & discoursing,
I alwayes did, and shall understand that Adage
per risum multum possis cognoscere stultum,
that by much laughing thou maist know there is
a foole; not that the laughing are fooles, but
that amongst them there is some foole that wise
men laugh at: wchwhich mou'dmoued Erasmus to putt this
as the first argument in the mouth of his folly,
that shee made beholders laugh, for fooles are
moste laughed at, and laugh least themselues
of any. And Nature sawe this facultie to bee
soe necessarie in man, that shee hath beene con -
tent that by more cause wee should bee importu -
ned to laugh, then to any of any other power.
for things in themselues vtterlie contrarie beget
this effect, for wee laugh both at witty, and at
absurd things, at both wchwhich sorts I haue seene
men laugh soe longe and soe earnestly, that at
last they haue wept that they could laugh no
more. And therefore the Poet hauing described
the quietnesse of a wise retired man, saith in one
what wee haue said in many lines before. Quid
facit Camus tuus? ridet. wee haue receiued
that the extremitie of laughing, yea of weep -
ing alsoe hath beene accompted wisedome, &
Democritus, and Heraclitus, the Louers of these
extreames haue beene called the Louers of
wisedome
155
wisedome. Now amongst our wise men, I
doubt not but many would bee found, whoe
would laugh at Heraclitus his weeping,
but none that would weepe at the laughing
of Democritus. At the hearing of Comœ -
dies, or other wittie reports I haue noted
some wchwhich not vnderstaning Ieasts, yet haue
chosen this as the best meanes to seeme wise,
and vnderstanding to laugh when their com -
panions laugh, and I haue presumed them ig -
norant whom I haue seene vnmoued. A foole
if hee come to a Princes Court, and see a gay
man leaning at the wall, soe glittering, soe
painted in many collours, that hee is hardly
discerned from one of the Pictures in yethe Arras
hanging: His bodie like an Iron-bound Chest
girt in, and thicker ribb'dribbed wthwith broad gold laces,
may (and commonly doth enuy him, but alass,
shall a wise man, that may not, not only enuy
but not pittie this monster doe nothing? yes,
let him laugh. And if one of these Collerick
hott fire-brands, wchwhich nourish themselues by
quarelling, and kindling others, spit vpon a
foole but one spark of disgrace, hee like a
thatched house quicklie burning, may bee
angrie; But the wise man as cold as the Sa -
lamander may not only not bee angrie wthwith
him
156
him, but not bee sorrie for him, therefore lett
him laugh, soe shall hee bee knowne to bee a man
that can laugh, a wise man that hee knowes at
what to laugh, and a valiant man, that hee dares
laugh. fforFor who laughes is iustly reputed more
wise then at whom it is laughed. And hence I
thinck proceeds that wchwhich in these later formall
tymes I haue much noted, that nowe when our
superstitious ciuility of manners is growne, and
become but a mutuall tickling flatterie from
one another, almost euery one affects a humor
of ieasting, and is content to deiect, & deforme
himself, yea to become a foole to noe other
end that I can espie, but to giue his wise com -
panion occasion to laugh, and to shewe them -
selues wise, wchwhich promptnes of laughing is soe
great in wise men that I thinck all wise men
(if any wise man do read this Paradoxe) will
laugh both at it and mee.