Butte record., 1855-12-22
5tliGrtllanrong.
PUNS AND PCNSTERS.

To sneer down puns, Is quite the
mode, nowadays. DR.. Johnson :
alliterative antithesis between the
pumster and the pickpocket Is in every
ones mouth. Not only serious per
sons, but true joyial jokers join in the
onslaught. Whoever lets fall pun,
IS bound, in good breeding, to be
ashamed Of it. Dictionary makers, in
echo Of the popular voice define a pun
as play upon words" "a low and
vulgar species of Wit" &c.
In this single point, writer's on the
nature of wit and humor agree as far
as philosophers ever can. Hazlitt
damns them with faint praise. Camp
bell begs pardon for descending so low
as to mention them. And even Svd-
ney Smith, in some youthful lectures,
must needs have his fling at what he
was all his life making. That the
prince Of modern punsters should affect
to desplse his subjects, should put wea-
pons into the encmy's hands, and com
pletely fal>ify Swift's saving, that
they only deride pns WHO are unable
to make them, was a blow too much.
To tilt against such champions
seems a littIe presumptuous. But to
the true knight, what matters the odds!
The more desperate the better, if so
be he show pluck.
To cross spears, however, at once :;
what, as far as any exists, is the main
charge against puns! Under what
PreteXt do self-appointcd Judges con
denim them TO transportation for life
into the Botany Bay Of false witt
"Pmning is the wit Of words" SAYS
Sydney Smith, says the general voice.
That simple remark, with the quota
ton from johnson, is thought to settle
,he question, though the Great Bear of
literature, it must be remembered, did
not condemn puns in the large, bat
only pms On mems names.
What now IS meant by the wit of
words! In one sense, all wit, spoken
or written, is such; for without words
it could not exist. This, Of course
but more Is true Of wit and humor.-
Amusing ideas have more or less merit
create more or less pleasure, according
as they are domicilcd IN good or bad
words and phrases. A story which Is
IN one persons mouth, melancholy as
a price-cuwcnt, in another's viii be
provocative Of infinite ninth. What
is meant by numbering a good Joke,
missing the point, and kindred expires
sions! Clearly the want Of the best
words in tie best places. Give an or
dinary man the facts and ideas Of
scene of Dickens, or a lit Of Sheridan,
OF Swift; let him perceive, as far as
possible without the author words, Its
full force, and see what he VIII make
Of it. Whoever tries the experiment
will admit that words have something
to do with all pleasantly.
With poetry the case is the same.
It would be the easiest thing in the
world to spoil many lines in Milton,
Wordsworth, or Byron by changing
word or phrase for It's apparent syn
onyme. Nor Is this ''felicitas'' Of Ian
guage the least excellence Of any good
prose. And, in conversation, though
the same thoughts are in a dozen
heads, the one who expresses them best
wins the attention. ''On Il word, says
Landor, turns the pivot Of the intel
lectual world" Words, without doubt,
are the great means Of literary or col
loquial success. The difference be-
tween men IS less in their ideas than
IN their power of bringing them out.
Nowhere is this truth more striking
than in Wit and humor How much
finish, and force, and graphic power,
does choice language give 1t bright
ems and points the witticism. 1t ex-
cites a pleasing surprise and concen-
trates it INTO flashes. 1t raises and
poises the attention, and bring it to
bear at the precise moment, with the
precise force required. 1t makes every
form in which the Pr0tean wit shows
itself just the type Of its species,
whether its excellence lies in Its deli
cacy, or strength, or grotesqueness.-
, In wit, if anywhere. words are the IN
canation Of thought. Without the
Wit which hes in them, what a scurvy
appearance would that Of ideas makel
1t IS not appeamntly intended to
attribute this crowning grace and su-
pcr-excellence in high degree to
puns. The wit Of words, /" says sgd
ney Smith, Is miserably inferior to
the wit Of ideas" From this We should
gather that the pun, in his Judgment,
Is the wit Of words as such, viewed
simply as unmeaning characters Or
sounds.
That Wit should live on such chaff,
~ G,.- l,,-l, -aas,- rtpl4 l-aiv ku-