Literary cadet and Rhode-Island statesman. [volume] (Providence, R.I.) 1827-1829, 1827-09-22

| iomny upper,
Sung for his supper,
What shall have
White bread and huttcr.
How shall cut ii, without any knife
| And how shall marry without any wife"
Now, it is supposed, that the literal mean
ing of this beautiful little poem, according to
PomfrcD is this. Little Tommy Tupper, the
son of old Mr.. Tuppcr, who lived in the Strand,
Basdad, at the early age of ten, took it into
his head, that he would take to his bed and
board wife, but his father Mr.. Jethro Tup-
per, of the Strand, Bagdad, sworo lie should
do no srch hing, unless he the said Tommy,
would sing for his supper;-when the afore-
Sail Tommy did sing 70. his supper, and got
it; but when the white bread and butter was
placed on the table, he could not cut the
bread, because ho had not a knife ;--and the
association of IDEAS, instantly induced him to
cxcaim, "ifI can't cut white b.cad, without
Knife, how can marry without have a
wife?" This may be correct, but we doubt
il; so did Doctor Johnson, who thus expressed
himself on the subject.
" From an attentive consideration of the
poem ofTommy Tuppcr, am cloarly Of opin-
ion, that the language employed by its author.
has been mutilatcd and transposed whilst 60
| ing through tho press; for il appears to me,
that lad of the acknowledged talent of Tom
my Tuppcr, never would have been guilty Of
so gross an absurdhy as to say
} "IIow cnnI cut it without any knife,
| And how can marry without any wife,"
tor 1t is well known fact to all, and it must
havo been as we'll known 10 Tommy Tuppcr,
that bread cannot be cut without knife, and
that man cannot marry, without he has a
wife"
Doctor Arbuthno,, in his annotatons on
this exquisite production, differs with Doctor
Johnson, and though perhaps willing TO dscov-
or his research, at the expense OF his labor,
says:
"In looking over an old edition Of the wri-
tings of Waller, l find that he agrees with me
decidedly, in relation to the poem Of Tommy
Tuppcr. He says, that the poem, as publish
cd by Wool, in the year 1897, is evidently
wrong, and that the lines should read thus,
"Lme Tommy Turper,
| Sung for his supper
But didn't white bread
Or new made butter;
Enr the butter he couldn't
To save hi. very life,
And well he knew that white bread
would much dIplcase his wife,
Now says Waller it is impossible for an intel
ligcnt mind 10 suppose, that any poet, should
be so stupid to make Tommy Tuppcr, speak
lines so sublimcly ridiculous as those which
/, read
"IIow can cut il without an, KNIFE
| And how can marry without any wife,
To be sure, man cannot cut white bread
without hc has a knifc--nor can man marry
if he has n wife, without being guilty of poly.
gamy." Iagrec with Waller exactly, and ar
Of opinion that his version of the poem is cor
, rcct.'' Langhorn differed altogether will
! both of the learned commentators, and was o
y opinion that the stanzas, as they stand, were
e correct, and ranked then among the many ex
y quistc specimens of the beautiful and sublime.
After finding such a diversity Of opinion
, among those who cxcclcd in the science g
j.. criticism, VIC confess that we are not willing t.
indulge an opinion, and here VIC leave the sub
jcct, TO consider the poem, entitled GA Trip Il
London" We copy the poem as it stands il
!. the existing and latest cditions
"whcn was ltll, 10y
| | lived by myself
: Aud all the bread and cheese had,
o aid upon the shelf;
| Til, rats aud the mice,
= They made such strife,
| The streets wide
| AMI the gates
was forced TO take my wife home
In wheeharrow. 49,
The whc-i-banow broke, and my wife took fall
l. Digs take the whe.l-barrow, wife and ALL"
:, Now,sto eur minds, there is nothing in th
poem that can in the least be considered inti
in cate or abstrusc, if VIC except the two last lines
5, anG even those have been satisfactorily explain
cd by Doctor Johnson. To be sure, it is some
what strange, that ca little boy" should Inv
4, by himsclf-hut then tho thing is possible
"a and if little boy did live SO, il was very RI
q" tional for him 10 lay "upon the shelf" all I'll
- bread and cheese he got; and If the rats an
mice made a strife, among the " bread an
cheese" it was by no means singular, If
", went 10 London 10 get him wife, TO take cat
81 oft. Though il is evident that the writer II
nr tended TO display the meaning which his linz
convey, il cannot he admitted, that the tw
lncs which read thus,
U" The and the mice
Tl,v made och ''fi'r =