Sir Richard Steele

Sir Richard Steele (1672-1729)

WAG

A wag is in the last order even of pretenders to wit and humor, – generally he has his mind prepared to receive some occasion of merriment, but is of himself to empty to draw any out of his own thoughts, and therefore he laughs at the next thing he meets, not because it is ridiculous, but because he is under the necessity of laughing.