The humourous qualities of Lynd's essays
Robert Lynd is an essayist of fair charm, and he is extremely pleasant. The most distinguishing feature of his essays is their delightful humour. He has himself said about his humour in the following words: "The world is crying out just, now for a return of the good humour. Lacking its good humour London would be one of the most inhabitable of cities. Who would live amid the buzz of a thousand spites?"
His essays are uniformly light, playful and mildly satirical. They sparkle with wisdom, wit and irony. They are written, like those of Lucas or A.G. Gardiner, in a light vein, rippling with the peals of laughter. In "Sweets" he humorously describes the agonies of indecision of a child before a mountain of sweets with only one penny in his hand.
He humorously applies Browning's philosophy to himself and says that his own good intentions in wishing to share the sweets with others at home should have comforted him. His mild satire and playful irony are illustrated in his delightful essay "The New Cat" in which he describes that his friend and his wife are so obsessed with their cat that they pay more attention to it rather than to their guest. Near about all his essays are dealt with humour, satire and wit.
