WISTOAI, the right use of knowledge. It may be considered both as afaculLy of the mind and as an acquirement. In the former sense it is the faculty of dis cerning or judging what is most just, proper, and useful ; in the latter, the knowledge and use of what is best, most just, and most conducive to prosperity or happiness.—In Scripture theology, wis dom, is the knowledge and fear of God, and sincere and uniform obedience to his commands ; in other words, true religion. of Solomon, one of the books of the Apocrypha,. It is by many thought to have been written after the cabalistic philosophy was introduced among the Jews.
WIT, in its original signification, was synonymous with wisdom. Titus we read of our ancient witenagemot, or Saxon parliament, an assembly of wise men ; and so late as the Elizabethan age, a man of great or pregnant wit, meant a man of vast judgment. The word wit, however, like many other words, has in the course of time undergone various mutations. According to Locke, wit lies in the assemblage of ideas, and putting those together with quickness and variety. so that a congruity of associations and pleasant images may be present to the fancy ; while Pope defines it to be a quick conception and an easy delivery. It is evident that wit excites in the mind an agreeable surprise, and that this is en tirely owing to the strange assemblage of related ideas presented to the mind. Of so much consequence are surprise and novelty, that nothing is more vapid than a joke that has become stale by frequent repetition. For the wane reason, a witty repartee is infinitely more pleasing than a witty tack ; and a pun or happy al lusion thrown out extempore in conversa tion, will often appear excellent, though it might be deemed execrable in print. Butner and wit are both addressed to the comic passion ; but humor aims at the risibility, and wit at the admiration ; humor is the seasoning of farce, and wit of comedy ; humor judges by instinct; wit by comparison. As a learned divine has well observed, "sometimes it playeth in words and phrases, taking ado:Int:1ga from the ambiguity of their sense, or the affinity of their sound ; sometimes it is wrapped in it dress of humorous expres sion ; sometimes it lurketh under an odd similitude ; sometimes it is lodged in a sly question, in a smart answer, in a quirkish reason, in a shrewd intimation, in cunningly diverting or cleverly retort ing an objection; sometimes it is couched in a bold scheme of speech, in a tail irony, in a lusty hyperbole. in a. startling meta
phor, in a plausible reconciling of contra dictions, or in acute nonsense. Often it consisteth in one knows not what, and springeth up one can hardly tell how." Note.—It is difficult to give any strict definition of the term wit, its precise boundaries being still too unsettled. It has passed through a greater variety of signitleations in the course of the last two centuries than most other terms in the English language. Originally, wit signified wisdom ; and anciently a man of ?title, was a wise man. In the reign of Elizabeth, a man of pregnant wit, or of great wit, was a man of vast judgment. In the reign of James I. wit was used to signify the intellectual faculties or mental powers collectively. In the time of Cow ley it came to signify a superior under standing, and more particularly a quick and brilliant. reason. By Dryden it is used as nearly synonymous with talent or ability. According to Locke, it con sists in quickness of fancy and imagina tion. Pope defined wit to be a quick conception and an easy delivery ; accord ing to which, a man of wit, or a wit, is a man of brilliant fancy ; a man of genius. At present, wit is used to designate a poeuliar faculty of the mind, connected with the more comprehensive faculty of the imagination: and also the effect pro duced by this faculty, which consists iu the display of remote resemblances be tween dissimilar objects, or an unexpected combination of remote resemblances; in the exhibition or perception of ludicrous points of analogy or resemblance among things in other respects dissimilar. Ilence, a man of wit, or a wit, is con sidered to be a man in whom a readiness for such exercise of the mind is remark ahlo. It is evident that wit excites in the mind an agreeable surprise, and that arising, not from anything marvellous in the subject, but solely from the imagery employed or the strange assemblage of related ideas presented to the mind.