Staunton spectator, and general advertiser. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 183?-1849, 1841-04-29
Miscellany.
From Bentlty's Miscellany.
MUNGO MACKAY, THE PRACTICAL
JOKER.
BY A BLUE NOSE.

BY BLUE NOSks
OF all the amateur lovers Of wit, or regu-
lar professors of jesting, Heaven defend me
from the entire tribe of practical jokers.
There is no race more dangerous to the peace
of mankind, or who commit more outrages
upon the good sense and good feeling OF So
ciety. i can endure a mere verbal wit, a
perpetrator of puns, or an inventor of quaint
sayings and humorous anecdotes; can toll
crate even an ilnatured satirst, provided there
be something like impromptu in the fun or
the mischief: but when a fellow desccnds to
plot, to introduce machinery, and erect a reg.
ular battery of malicious drollery against his
neighbor, "Put me a whip in every honest
hand to scourge the rascal naked through the
world" / have tried hard-for some whose
good qualities respected have been given to
this vice--but never could preserve lasting
friendship with practical joker. The wife
of his bosom is not always safe; how then
can the chance acquaintance or intimate
| friend hope Tor enduring courtesy and esteem2
have known man disinherited for indul-
| ging this evil propensity upon his father. l
have known two men sent out to exchange
shots of a cold morning, because neighbor,
to make sport at the expense of the one, had
breathed what was meant for humor, but
what was in reality foul suspicion, into the
ear of the other. But of all the mad devotees
to the science of practical joking, of all the
| inveterate manufacturers of mischief in this
| line of acting, the most notorious, the most
systematically troublesome that ever heard
Of, was Mungo Mackay of the good old town
of Boston, III Massachusetts Bay. Others
followed the sport as most men follow the
hounds, or cultivate music, as. a recreation
but Mackay might be said to follow it as
though it were his trade. With them it is
the by-play, with him it was the business of
life. 1t was food and raiment TO him, he
could not exist without plot against the
tranquility Of his neighborhood he laughed
but when Others were in rage, and enjoyed
life to mark when those around him were
suffering from the results of his inventive ge.
nius.--iIis father died just as he had grown
to mans estate, leaving him a comfortable
independence; and from that period he pass
, ed his days and nights in crusade agans
the peace of the good people Of Boston.--He
: was an Ishmaelitsh wit; for truly, ''his hanC
was against every man, and every mans hant
: against him." and the hand of every woman
too, from the River Charles 10 South Boston
and for many miles around the villages, by {
q semicirce of which the ancient capitol of tht
/. land of steady habits is enclosed.
1t is not my intention to write the life o
this eccentric individual, although ] hav
read less amusing, and perhaps less instruc
i tive biographies than it would make, but
shall throw together few passages that tn
!. readers Of Bentey's Miscellany may know
what manner Of man he was, and that som
enterprising publisher may be induced to sen
out scribe in the Great Western to gathe
I'D the anecdotes of him that are scattered a
profusely as plums in good pudding in tn
memories Of those whose ancestors he d,
LIGHTED TO torment. Pass we then over hi
juvenile days Of pristine wickedness, owe
countless manifestations fprecocious talent
that we may come without further preface
few of those exhibitions of ripened genil
which prove him to be master OF his art.
One cold, raw November night in the ye
o 49,, the wind blew as though it would bio
down old Faneuil Hall, and the rain fell
ne such torrents, that Bunker's Hill was ne
ne washed away. The sky was as black
- call around my hatw and the air was cor
of pounded of that delightful admixture Of frc
u and moisture, in which there is enough
es the latter to open the pores, while the form
goes directly to the heart. In the midst
he this rumbling of the elements a tall 6gu
X might be seen winding stealthily along tn
s. the narrow streets and lonely alleys, sh
TO with pair of fisherman's boots, and env
he oped in huge pea-iacket, for indeed robb
and Mackntoshes were unknown In tho
vi days, until it halted under the window OF
,g- lonely cottage, at some distance FROM
we town, and, the family having been some ii
,vt in bed, knocked violently at the door.
first the rude summons was unanswered
after repeated thumps, bedroom wind
was thrown up, and a voice demanded v
was there.
= PRAY, sir said Mackay-for il was
iv- twill you be kind enough to tell ne if a
s,o,, ,,or,o cd Nutt lives in tniS uoiuhbprh of.
. TO be sure he does replied the voice fl