I  do  not  know  any  work  in  Englifh,  nor

indeed  any  work,  in  which  there  is  more

humour,  as  well  as  wit,  than  in  Fielding's

Hiftory  of  Tom  Jones.  All  the  charaders  in

A  a  2


348  The  Origin  and       PartIL

it  are  charaders  of  humour,  that  is,  of  the  ri-
diculous kind,  except  that  of  Mr.  Allworthy,
Jones  himfelf,  Sophia,  and  Blifil,  who  is  a
complete  villain,  and,  perhaps,  two  or  three
more  j  but  he  has  taken  care  never  to  mix.
his  wit  with  his  humour ;  for  all  the  wit  in
the  piece  is  from  himfelf,  or,  at  leaft  he  does
not  put  it  into  the  mouth  of  hia  charaders.
gf  humour*


Book  IV.  Progress  ofXanguage.  349.
CHAR     XIX.
Particular  charaSters    of  Jiyle.^-^Firft^   the,

'  Jiyle  of  converfation — quit£  dijftrent  from

that  of  public  /peaking^ — The  epi/lolarj

Jljle — more  concife  than  that  of  £onverfa^

tion. — The  didadlic  Jiyle — of  two  kinds ^

— The  different  manner  of  the  two  di^

daElic  poems  of  Virgil  and  Lucretius, --rf^

The  hijiorical  Jlyle. — It  eonfifted  of  two

parts  among  the  antients — narrative  and

rheloritoL — Is  only  narrative  among  the

moderns-^but  the  narrative  often  too  rbe-^

toricjal  and  poetical.
