An Essay towards Fixing the True Standards of Wit, Humour, Railery, Satire, and Ridicule

An Essay towards Fixing the True Standards of Wit, Humour, Railery, Satire, and Ridicule

The Project Gutenberg EBook of An Essay towards Fixing the True Standards
of Wit, Humour, Railery, Satire, and Ridicule (1744), by Corbyn Morris This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: An Essay towards Fixing the True Standards of Wit, Humour, Railery, Satire, and Ridicule (1744)
Author: Corbyn Morris
Commentator: James L. Clifford
Release Date: July 7, 2005 [EBook #16233]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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Series Two: Essays on Wit No. 4
[Corbyn Morris] _An Essay towards Fixing the True Standards of Wit, Humour, Raillery, Satire, and Ridicule_ (1744)

With an Introduction by James L. Clifford and a Bibliographical Note

The Augustan Reprint Society November, 1947 Price: $1.00
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GENERAL EDITORS
RICHARD C. BOYS, University of Michigan EDWARD NILES HOOKER, University of California, Los Angeles H.T. SWEDENBERG, JR., University of California, Los Angeles
ADVISORY EDITORS
EMMETT L. AVERY, State College of Washington LOUIS I. BREDVOLD, University of Michigan BENJAMIN BOYCE, University of Nebraska CLEANTH BROOKS, Yale University JAMES L. CLIFFORD, Columbia University ARTHUR FRIEDMAN, University of Chicago SAMUEL H. MONK, University of Minnesota JAMES SUTHERLAND, Queen Mary College, London
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INTRODUCTION
The Essay here reproduced was first advertised in the London Daily Advertiser as "this day was published" on Thursday, 17 May 1744 (The same advertisement, except for the change of price from one shilling to two, appeared in this paper intermittently until 14 June). Although on the title-page the authorship is given as "By the Author of a Letter from a By-stander," there was no intention of anonymity, since the Dedication is boldly signed "Corbyn Morris, Inner Temple, Feb. 1, 1743 [44]."
Not much is known of the early life of Corbyn Morris. Born 14 August 1710, he was the eldest son of Edmund Morris of Bishop's Castle, Salop. (_Alumni Cantabrigienses_). On 17 September 1727 he was admitted (pensioner) at Queen's College, Cambridge, as an exhibitioner from the famous Charterhouse School. Exactly when he left the university, or whether he took a degree, is not certain.
Morris first achieved some prominence, though anonymously, with _A Letter from a By-stander to a Member of Parliament; wherein is examined what necessity there is for the maintenance of a large regular land-force in this island_. This pamphlet, dated at the end, 26 February 1741/42, is a wholehearted eulogy of the Walpole administration and is filled with statistics and arguments for the Mercantilist theories of the day. At the time there was some suspicion that the work had been written either by Walpole himself or by his direction. When the _Letter from a By-stander_ was answered by the historian Thomas Carte, an angry pamphlet controversy ensued, with Morris writing under the pseudonym of "A Gentleman of Cambridge." Throughout, Morris showed himself a violent Whig, bitter in his attacks on Charles II and the non-jurors; and it was undoubtedly this fanatical party loyalty which laid the foundation for his later government career.
The principal facts of Morris's later life may be briefly summarized. On 17 June 1743 he was admitted at the Inner Temple. Throughout the Pelham and Newcastle administrations he was employed by the government, as he once put it, "in conciliating opponents." From 1751 to 1763 be acted as Secretary of the Customs and Salt Duty in Scotland, in which post he was acknowledged to have shown decided ability as an administrator. From 1763 to 1778 he was one of the commissioners of customs. He died at Wimbledon 22 December 1779 (_Musgrave's Obituary_), described in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ as a "gentleman well known in the literary world, and universally esteemed for his unwearied services and attachment to government."
Throughout his long years of public service he wrote numerous pamphlets, largely on economic and political questions. Merely the titles of a few may be sufficient to indicate the nature of his interests. _An Essay towards Deciding the Question whether Britain be Permitted by Right Policy to Insure the Ships of Her Enemies _(1747); Observations on the Past Growth and Present State of the City of London (containing a complete table of christenings and burials 1601- 1750) (175l); A Letter Balancing the Causes of the Present Scarcity of Our Silver Coin (1757).
It would be a mistake, however, to consider Morris merely as a statistical economist and Whig party hack. A gentleman of taste and wit, the friend of Hume, Boswell, and other discerning men of the day, he was elected F.R.S. in 1757, and appears to have been much respected. In later