Butte record., 1855-12-22

the mlhu. But, though these come
under the newspaper head Of Wit and
iiamor, they have but slight claim to
the name. Marianne may be silly
enough to be gratiGed that the initial
letters Of eight lines Of rhyme should
spell her name; but what pleasantry
IS there in the fact, unless, indeed, in
the tablcau which fancy creates Of the
poor poet cudgeIIing has brains by the
hour! As for the tribes Of anagrams,
charades, riddles, and such small deer,
We heartily wish they were lost tribes.
The Sphinx and Solomon made the
only good ones cxtant. Modern ones
smell Of the lamp. The humor Of
most Of them resembles That Of math-
ematical problem-showing ingenuity
and exercising ones wits, but not over
and above amusing.
a triAe better is the wit Of double
rhymes, which, by their odd sound,
tickle the ear hugely. We are tempt
cd to read and re-rcad them, as we are
to awaken and re-awaken a lusty echo.
In allitcration, too, the Wit lies wholly
IN the sound.
Little more, We confess, can be said
for quasi-puns, bubbles, lame Of u
limb mere word-catcling, funny nei-
ther in themselves, nor in the circum-
stances under which they appear, sim
pie proofs that Syla}lcs pronounced
alike are sometimes spelt differently,
lifcless entities in the power Of any
one to make, and Of no one to laugh at.
On the same level stands large class
of puns (and other icsts as well, J which
are in their dotagc, their meaning all
oozcd out, but haunting certain minds
like ghosts. We have a friend who
never fails to greet us with pun on
our name. We do not account him a
marvel Of Lumor. But why confomd
the pun proper with Its poor relations?
1t is not, Of necessity, a mere clashing
Of sounds. 1t Is as lcgimate a vchi-
Gle Of Wit, as any other. The differ
cnce hes, not in It's essence, but in the
means Of mfusing Its essence into the
mind; and it is this means, which has
thrown it into disgrace. Mankind
always Judge a great deal by costume,
and the dress Of pun, any beegar
can purchase. Still it may clothe a
royal soul. A good pun cannot fail to
contain some wit Of ideas; that men
are only too apt to fix their minds on
the words does not alter the fact; for
that Is their custom in all matters, nor
does Sydney Smith deny cur position.
"A pun" says lie, '-should contain
two distinct meanings. In the notice
which the mind takes Of these two sets
Of words 4. e., Of their meanings, J and
in the surprise which that cxcites, the
pleasure consists" Resemblances in
words as to sound, apart from their
meaning, neither surprise nor please;
we meet with such every day without
the faintest smile. IN puns, as in
other facetie, the hmor hangs on the
more or less surprising resemblauces in
ideas.
A very serious diplomat, describing
a picture Of the animals leaving the
ark, spoke Of the strange effect pro
duced by the little ones going first, and
tile elephants waddling in the rear
'Ah, no doubt" said Canning, "the
wise fellows, staid behind
to pack up their trunbs." Is it the
expression which amuses one here, Or
the thou-hts expressed, the picture
sketched! 1t is so natural to be de
layed by trunk-packing, and the notion
of trunk grows SO readily out Of that
Of elephant, that there IS a momentarv
confusion in the mind-now forget
ting Of the nominative, now Of the verb;
a whimsical perplexity as to what was
done and how.
Puns would not seem then to be al
ways mere word-wit.
This could, however, be proved by
the testimony Of their bitterest malign-
ers. They belle their own theory by
inadvertently quoting puns among their
examples Of true wit. Thus Sydney
Smith, in this very lecture from which
We have quoted so-much, repeats with
the remark Of Voltaire,
that 1.-THE adjective IS the greatest
enemy Of the substantive, though it
agrees with it in gender, number, and
cas-" The point of the antithesis Is
as plain pun as ever skipped or two
legs. So Hazitt gives, as the ''inest
example of metaphorical wit" Sheri-
dams bon mot on Mr.. Addington's
keeping his seat after Pitt had retired
from the cabinet: ''Ie (Pit0 remain
cd, said Sheridan, so long on the
treasury bench, that like Nicias in the
fable, he left the sitting part Of the
man behind him" Metapholical oe
not, the pun Is not to be questioned.
What is the worlds practical opin-
ion Of puns! Who, in the first place
have sanctioned them by their exam