_Mr. Firedamp_.—Sir, I feel the malignant influence of the river in every part of my system. Nothing but my great friendship for Mr. Crotchet would have brought me so nearly within the jaws of the lion.
_The Rev. Dr. Folliott_.—After dinner, sir, after dinner, I will meet you on this question. I shall then be armed for the strife. You may fight like Hercules against Achelous, but I shall flourish the Bacchic thyrsus, which changed rivers into wine: as Nonnus sweetly sings, Οίνω κυματόεντι μέλας κελάρυζεν Υδάςπης.
_Mr. Crotchet_, _jun._—I hope, Mr. Firedamp, you will let your friendship carry you a little closer into the jaws of the lion. I am fitting up a flotilla of pleasure-boats, with spacious cabins, and a good cellar, to carry a choice philosophical party up the Thames and Severn, into the Ellesmere canal, where we shall be among the mountains of North Wales; which we may climb or not, as we think proper; but we will, at any rate, keep our floating hotel well provisioned, and we will try to settle all the questions over which a shadow of doubt yet hangs in the world of philosophy.
_Mr. Firedamp_.—Out of my great friendship for you, I will certainly go; but I do not expect to survive the experiment.
_The Rev. Dr. Folliott_.—_Alter erit tum Tiphys_, _et altera quæ vehat Argo Delectos Heroas_. I will be of the party, though I must hire an officiating curate, and deprive poor dear Mrs. Folliott, for several weeks, of the pleasure of combing my wig.
_Lord Bossnowl_.—I hope, if I am to be of the party, our ship is not to be the ship of fools: He! he!
_The Rev. Dr. Folliott_.—If you are one of the party, sir, it most assuredly will not: Ha! ha!
_Lord Bossnowl_.—Pray sir, what do you mean by Ha! ha!?
_The Rev. Dr. Folliott_.—Precisely, sir, what you mean by He! he!
_Mr. Mac Quedy_.—You need not dispute about terms; they are two modes of expressing merriment, with or without reason; reason being in no way essential to mirth. No man should ask another why he laughs, or at what, seeing that he does not always know, and that, if he does, he is not a responsible agent. Laughter is an involuntary action of certain muscles, developed in the human species by the progress of civilisation. The savage never laughs.