council-table. The greatest authors, in their most serious works, made frequent ufe of Puns. The fermons of Bishop Andrews, and the tragedies of Shakespeare, are full of them. The finner was Punned into repentance by the former, as in the latter nothing is more ufual than to see a hero weeping and quibbling for a dozen lines together. I must add to these great authorities, which feem to have given a kind of fanction to this piece of falfe wit, that all the writers of rhetoric have treated of Punning with very great refpect, and divided the several kinds of it into hard names, that are reckoned among the figures of fpeech, and recommended as ornaments in difcourfe. I remember a country schoolmafter of my acquaintance told me once, that he had been in company with a gentleman whom he looked upon to be the greatest Paragrammatist among the moderns. Upon enquiry, I found my learned friend had dined that day with Mr. Swan, the famous Punfter; and defiring him to give me fome account of Mr. Swan's converfation, he told me that he generally talked in the Paranomafia, that he fometimes gave into the Ploce, but that in his humble opinion he shined most in the Antanaclafis. I must not here omit, that a famous university of this land was formerly very much infested with Puns; but whether or no this might not arife from the fens and marshes in which it was fituated, and which are now drained, I muft 2 leave leave to the determination of more fkilful naturalifts. After this short hiftory of Punning, one would wonder how it fhould be fo entirely banished out of the learned world as it is at prefent, efpecially fince it had found a place in the writings of the most ancient polite authors. To account for this we must confider, that the first race of authors, who were the great heroes in writing, were deftitute of all rules and arts of criticism; and for that reason, though they excel later writers in greatnefs of genius, they fall short of them in accuracy and correctness. The moderns cannot reach their beauties, but can avoid their imperfections. When the world was furnished with thefe authors of the firft eminence, there grew up another fet of writers, who gained themselves a reputation by the remarks which they made on the works of those who preceded them. It was one of the employments of these fecondary authors, to diftinguish the feveral kinds of wit by terms of art, and to confider them as more or lefs perfect, according as they were founded in truth. It is no wonder therefore, that even fuch authors as Ifocrates, Plato, and Cicero, fhould have fuch little blemishes as are not to be met with in authors of a much inferior character, who have written fince thofe feveral blemishes were discovered. I do not find that there was a proper feparation made between Puns and true wit by any of the ancient authors, except Quintilian and Longinus. But when this distinction A a 2 diftinction was once fettled, it was very natural for all men of fenfe to agree in it. As for the revival of this Falfe WIT, it happened about the time of the revival of letters; but as foon as it was once detected, it immediately vanished and difappeared. At the fame time there is no queftion, but as it has funk in one age and rofe in another, it will again recover itself in fome diftant period of time, as pedantry and ignorance fhall prevail upon wit and fenfe. And, to fpeak the truth, I do very much apprehend, by fome of the last winter's productions, which had their fets of admirers, that our posterity will in a few years degenerate into a race of Punfters: at least, a man may be very excufable for any apprehenfions of this kind, that has seen Acroftics handed about the town with great fecrecy and applaufe; to which I must alfo add a little epigram called the Witches Prayer, that fell into verfe when it was read either backward or forward, excepting only that it curfed one way, and bleffed the other. When one fees there are actually fuch pains-takers among our British wits, who can tell what it may end in? If we must lash one another, let it be with the manly strokes of wit and fatire; for I am of the old philofopher's opinion, that if I muft fuffer from one or the other, I would rather it fhould be from the paw of a lion, than the hoof of an afs. I do not speak this out of any fpirit of party. There is a most crying dulnefs on both fides. I have feen Tory Acroftics and Whig Anagrams, and do not quarrel quarrel with either of them, because they are Whigs or Tories, but because they are Anagrams and Acroftics. But to return to punning. Having pursued the history of a Pun, from its original to its downfal, I fhall here define it to be a conceit arifing from the use of two words that agree in the found, but differ in the fenfe. The only way therefore to try a piece of wit, is to tranflate it into a different language. If it bears the teft, you may pronounce it true; but if it vanishes in the experiment you may conclude it to have been a Pun. In fhort, one may fay of a Pun, as the countryman described his nightingale, that it is vox & præterea nihil, a found, and nothing but a found. On the contrary, one may represent true wit by the defcription which Ariftenetus makes of a fine woman; when he is dressed the is beautiful, when she is undressed fhe is beautiful; or as Mercerus has tranflated it more emphatically, Induitur, formosa est: exuitur, ipfa forma eft*. C+. * "Dressed she is beautiful, undressed she is Beauty's felf. + By ADDISON, dated perhaps from Chelsea. See final Note to N° 7. *.* At the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane, May 10, "The Tender Hufband; or, Accomplished Fools." Biddy by Mrs. Oldfield; Sir H. Gubbin by Mr. Bullock; Tipkin by Mr. Norris; Mr. Clerimont by Mr. Mills; Captain Clerimont by Mr. Wilks; Humphry Gubbin by Mr. Penkethman; Mr. Pounce by Mr. Eftcourt; Mrs. Clerimont by Mrs. Bradshaw; and Aunt by Mrs. Powell. Farce, "The "Stage Coach." SPECT. in folio. N° 62. Friday, May 11, 1711. Scribendi recte fapere eft & principium, & fons. Sound judgment is the ground of writing well. MR ROSCOMMON. R. Locke has an admirable reflection upon the difference of Wit and Judgment, whereby he endeavours to fhew the reafon why they are not always the talents of the fame perfon. His words are as follow. "And "hence, perhaps, may be given some reason of "that common obfervation, That men who "have a great deal of Wit, and prompt memo"ries, have not always the clearest Judgment, or deepest reafon. For Wit lying most in the 66 affemblage of ideas, and putting those toge"ther with quickness and variety, wherein can "be found any refemblance or congruity, there by to make up pleafant pictures and agreeable "vifions in the fancy; Judgment, on the con"trary, lies quite on the other fide, in feparating carefully one from another, ideas wherein can "be found the leaft difference, thereby to avoid being milled by fimilitude, and by affinity to "take one thing for another. This is a way of proceeding quite contrary to metaphor and al"lufion; wherein, for the most part, lies that "entertainment and pleafantry of Wit, which "ftrikes |
