The Sun.
London, England, 1864-04-07 00:00:00

rundemonitun.

Puns aro not popular in modern drawing-rooms, and pro.-
bably never were really popular anywhere. A pun may
oontain a joke as a nutshell may contain a kernel, or not
But the number of people what understand a joke off-han
is very limited ; end it is obviously inconvenient to have a
joke cracked in your presence if Sou don't know on the spa
of the moment how to treat it. ts'omething may be done by
the formula of saying " how very bad I" to everything in
the nature of a joke that everybody ventures on; but if the
joke happens to be very good, and there is a sprinkling of
wits present, who "know a joke when they hear it," the
dull man who says "how very bad" in the wrong place is
himself in a false position. Dull men, who are the majority;
have made an effort to confuse good and bad in jokes by the
theory that jokes are " good in proportion to their badness,"
and that "how very bad" may be a protest or a compliment
provisionally, as the joke may prove successful or stillborn.
But on the whole dull men dislike jokes when there is any
responsibility attached to themselves in appreciating or re-
probating these troublesome squibs and crackers. The
authorised wits joke and laugh at one another's jokes in
spirit of mutual accommodation; and society is obliged to
accept a few recognised humorists at whose sayings, good
or bad, they laugh principally by faith.
Society takes its revenge on the small, young, and unac-
knowledged wits by snubbing them as much as possible.
And, on the wide average, with reason. For wit is like
poetry in the rarity of the gift and the multitude of pre-
tenders to it. Mere punning is to wit what mere versifica-
tion is to poetry. The wit seizes a numerous and unex-
pected collateral meaning in a commonplace phrase, by
which', without dislecating the sequence of ordinary con-
ventional talk, he conveys, to those who teoe its point, some
keen insinuation of satire, some vivid conviction of absur-
dity. Dr it he is a good wit, such as society tolerates, the
blunt eno of his remark must pass muster as sense, if the
company fail to perceive the point at the sharp end of it.
The pun pure and simple, the pun impertinent and ob-
noxious, instead of letting in a fl asi2 of the intense through
a rift in the commonplace, thrusts in the blunt end of s
commonplace double meaning on some casual word perhaps
occurring in a discussion of interest. This is a bore ; and
as desperate punsters in barbarous days were guilty of this
turpitude, they brought puns into such b id odour that the
tuffaim:l has been almost extirpated from society. But the
bad habit, banished from private life, has taken refuge on
,he stage. 'lull men congregated in large bodies seem to
like the very worst jokes, ard at Easter and Glaristrnas time
Pandemonium is let loose in extravaganzas and burlesques.
Released from the pressure of intersocial criticism, punning
h os in these gradually swollen to a magnitude and malignitY
which the old punmen never dreamed of. Our forefathers
used to pun at worst on single words, but the modern fashion
is to dislocate whole sentences. Wit remains as rare as ever;
but the mechanical substitute has advanced in elaborate
complication with the scientific appliances of the age. The
motto of the Comic Naos is a typical example of this phrase-
excruciating conceit. Honi soil qui mel y pence is thus
Euglished—" tan his walk he madly puns," It is melan-
choly to think of the labour this effort must have coet, and
when the teat is performed there is no tun in it.
Now we wish to speak seriously to those three busy B's,
Messrs. Brough, Byron, and Burnand, who seem to employ
each shining and shady hour of their lives in cudgelling
their brains for fresh forms of word-torture. Cease your
punning, gentlemen, at aoy rate in your draanatic works.
Your best quips are really thrown away on your audiences.
they don't " take" above one joke out of a score, and usually
miss the most ingenious altogether.— The Realm.

COTTON SUPPLY ASSOCIATION.

At the usual weekly meeting of the Executive)
Committee, held on luesday, a letter was read from.
Nassau, stating that a small bale of cotton grown
from Egytian seed at Grand Bahama, and cleaned
by a gin sent out by the association, has deen fore'
warded for sale. A correspondent at Long Islandr
one of the Bahamas, reports that almost everybodY
on that island has now planted cotton, and that A.
gentleman on his way to Nassau purchased in tL
few hours 3,0001 b. of fine cotton. The favourable'
results so far realised seem to justify the expeetfr.
Lion that cotton will continue to be grown in an
increased degree at Grand Bahama. A letter was
received from Sr. Kitts, West Indies, reporting that
some experiments in growing cotton had succeeded
well, and that the writer intends to plait a lure
area t '•,year. On some estates in which he is in:
terested in the adjoining island of Nevis cotton ha
been tried, but had not done well, owing to e see°:
eive drought. some samples have been forwa.'de°
which, if found to be satisfactory, will prove °
stimulus to greater efforts. Tne cultivation of e
on is gradually extending, although it is yet but
experiment. A letter was read enclosing a setup le
of cotton from Batavia which bad been grown foil/
American seed sent out by ttie association. It 11
stated that the Egyrian and iSea bland seed 115'4
not succeeded, but that ;hi; New Orleans promieo
well, and it was intended to sow a larger quantiti
or that description. Encouraging accounts were,
also forwarded trout Mantra. Letters were receive!
trom Genoa and Turin, representing the importaiscce
of promoting the growth of Sea Island cotton to
Sardinia, for which that island is well adapted,a) 1
requestieg to be furnished with large supteles
seed. It is intended to plant 1,000 hectares at one M
and upwards of 5,000 hectares next year, as eve' di
experiment so far gives assurance of eatisfactcl
results, A letter was read from Malta, convey!
the thanks of the directors of the Exhibition ye
Maltese Industry for a grant of gins made by ti3;s
Association, as prizes to be presented to the ni°lo
successful cultivators of cotton. The ExhibiO4:o
opens in the second week of April, and intornitit'co,
of its progress will be supplied. Consular do
spatches, forwarded by the Foreign-office, 'isftso
received from he.r Majesty's Coneut•GeneraL
Beyrout, containing a comparative return of. Oof
qieiiio.)y or cotton s, ed sown in the pasha.llo,.lit
Solon in t hie years 186' and 1863, and showing t' ad
tie excess in the latter over trio former year
been 209 per cent., and amounted to 1,193,79311:1'40
return of the quantity of cot ton shipped at the
1 .)I`.'
be
of the pashalic during the last two years
speedily obtained and forwarded, The Cotton.L:'-of
mission is taking measures for the distrinuto to
the American cotton seed from CinstantinePira'or
the
be given to the growers gratuitously f!„1" cotithol
proaching season. A despatch from IVA r.
repast
Green, Bucharest, contains an interestzng
. Icatioo
froth Galatz of some experiments in the CIT
of cotton, communicated by Prince Couza.e a in
tarp. The result of these experiments
conviction that cotton can be Belvantageousl?
in the Danubian provinces. A same l°
b® pee
forwarded as an illustration of what eau
duced.

General Garibaldi leaves Brooke on g°lld°l
morning foz I,,•ndon. Lunch is ordered to bet
et
ready for him and his friends at the Fountain lintel, NI
Cower, on his arrival there. He is to embark tram tPi
Fountain-pier at ten o'clock, so as to reach SeuthaniVto
time for the 11,35 train for Loudon,