To listen to some devout people, one would imagine that God never laughs; Heine was nearer the mark when he found in Him the divine Aristophanes. God's laughter is sometimes very coarse and unfit for polite ears; He is not satisfied with being Molière, He must needs also be Aristophanes and Rabelais.
Bio: John Trench was an eighteenth-century English Anglican priest in Ireland:he was educated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford and was Dean of Raphoe from 21 January 1692 until his death on 24 June 1725.
