Jokesomeness

But with a kind of perverse jokesomeness (the hodgepodge of words and symbols on the coffin recollects Addison's examples of "false wit"), she leaves behind a mystifying substitute for the self — [...]

It is even a ghastlier notion that the jokesomeness of a philosopher, the unessential fringe of a subject, often becomes the soul-destroying weary, worrying study of a schoolboy.

"We mought be; and yet again we mought not," Master Popplewell returned, with a glance at Mrs. Deborah, who had just been describing to the company how much her husband excelled in jokesomeness.