Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1851-07-23
The re gn of James |. of ENGLAND. WAS

ne Ieisn oI James /. OF England, was
celebrated Tor punning, and all orders of So
cIe'y seemed infected by their monarch lin
state addresses, tragedies and sermons, pun
was The order of the day, as may be seen in
almost every page Of the quain, style of The
authors of that date. Upon sprighlly SUBJ
jects pun in loco may not be dsagreeable;
but when we see writer's invention con-
tnuslly on the stretch to squeeze out
qulbbling concei', mere puerile play upon
words, we cannot but condemn the bad
taste which thus destroys the utility Of his
work, by diverting the readers attention
from the subject. An occasional happy pun
is but poor salve for the numerous far
fetched attempts at wha. was then, has ever
been, and is still called wit. The licenlious
reign of Charles ii was a shameful outrage
OF the rules Of common decency; and the
whole English nation determined, by its
complete violation of decorum, TO make up
for the trammels and straight-lacing of pu-
rilanism, from which it had just been re-
leased. The mos. obscene double enten-
dress, and grossesl vul lgari,y, were not only
tolerated on the stage, bu. even applauded
in word, the morals of society were utter
Iy corrupted. Such low enusions not only
deny an authors preen!ions to wit, bu,
loudly proclaim want of genius, and dis
grace the character of man.
"Immodest words admit of no defence,
| For want of decency is want of sense.''
At that period, throwing a tavern waiter
ou! of the window, and desiring it to be
charged in the bill, with, (to borrow an ele-
CANT modern phrase,) larks and sprees OF
this nature, were considered extremely wit
ty; indeed in most cases it strongly resem-
bled the Tom and Jerry school Of our time,
in which the slang of pickpocke.s and pug
lists is SO prevalent. But we would not
compel John Bull to sit for this picture a.
lone, since Brother Jonathan is so good a
subject. We cannot criminate our English
neighbors when we are not wi,hou, sin.
Many writer's confuse wit with wisdom,
as being one and the same thing but they
differ most essentially in their natures, and
are, when apart, commendable, but when
united truly admirable. Wi. is the nimble-
ness of the understanding, but wisdom the
strength; hence we find that witty man
rarely says a foolish thing wise one sell
uOIu uOeS Uue. UT lHStdNCe, tOe IleV.
Dr. writes an epigram, the sting .ol
Which is pointed at an old friend. This rs
generally termed wit; but had he instead
employed himself in illustrating some scrip
tural truth, it had been wisdom. Wisdom,
the offspring of truth, is a substantial being
accompanied by experience wit the prog
eny Of fancy, an imaginary one, attended by
humor, sort of hermaphrodite, between
wit and wisdom, being neither real nor i'm
imaginary, but partly both. A really witty
man is indeed rare; hence the term is com
monty used for humorous one, of whose
character, Shakespeare thus speaks-where-
in we may remark, that mirth is never I'M
becoming unless it oversteps decency:
| ga merrer man,
| Within the limits of becoming mrth,
| never spent an hours talk withal:
His eye begets occasion for his witt
For every object that his eye doth catch,
The other turns to mirth-moving jest;
Which his fair tongue (conceit expositor,)
Delivers in such apt and gracious words,
That aged years play truant at his tales,
And younger hearings are quite ravished
! So sweet and voluble is his DISCOURSE"