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Becoming America - An Exploration of American Literature from Precolonial to Post-Revolution, 2018a

Becoming America - An Exploration of American Literature from Precolonial to Post-Revolution, 2018a

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BECOMING AMERICA<br />

REVOLUTIONARY AND EARLY NATIONAL PERIOD LITERATURE<br />

JESSAMY<br />

I mean graces <strong>of</strong> person: for instance, my lord tells us that we must cut o our nails<br />

even at <strong>to</strong>p, in small segments <strong>of</strong> circles—though you won’t understand that; in the<br />

next place, you must regulate your laugh.<br />

JONATHAN<br />

Maple-log seize it! don’t I laugh natural?<br />

JESSAMY<br />

That’s the very fault, Mr. Jonathan. Besides, you absolutely misplace it. I was <strong>to</strong>ld<br />

by a friend <strong>of</strong> mine that you laughed outright at the play the other night, when you<br />

ought only <strong>to</strong> have tittered.<br />

JONATHAN<br />

Gor! I—what does one go <strong>to</strong> see fun for if they can’t laugh?<br />

JESSAMY<br />

You may laugh; but you must laugh by rule.<br />

JONATHAN<br />

Swamp it—laugh by rule! Well, I should like that tarnally.<br />

JESSAMY<br />

Why, you know, Mr. Jonathan, that <strong>to</strong> dance, a lady <strong>to</strong> play with her fan, or a<br />

gentleman with his cane, and all other natural motions, are regulated by art. My<br />

master has composed an immensely pretty gamut, by which any lady or gentleman,<br />

with a few years’ close application, may learn <strong>to</strong> laugh as gracefully as if they were<br />

born and bred <strong>to</strong> it.<br />

JONATHAN<br />

Mercy on my soul! A gamut for laughing—just like fa, la, sol?<br />

JEREMY<br />

Yes. It comprises every possible display <strong>of</strong> jocularity, <strong>from</strong> an aettuoso smile <strong>to</strong><br />

a piano titter, or full chorus fortissimo ha, ha, ha! My master employs his leisure<br />

hours in marking out the plays, like a cathedral chanting-book, that the ignorant<br />

may know where <strong>to</strong> laugh; and that pit, box, and gallery may keep time <strong>to</strong>gether,<br />

and not have a snigger in one part <strong>of</strong> the house, a broad grin in the other, and a<br />

d—-d grum look in the third. How delightful <strong>to</strong> see the audience all smile <strong>to</strong>gether,<br />

then look on their books, then twist their mouths in<strong>to</strong> an agreeable simper, then<br />

al<strong>to</strong>gether shake the house with a general ha, ha, ha! loud as a full chorus <strong>of</strong><br />

Handel’s at an Abbey commemoration.<br />

Page | 634

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