The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1857-12-10

BY o. W. HOLMES.


DO you mean to say that the pun question is
not clearly settled in your minds? Let me lay
down the law upon the sutioct Life and lam
guage are alike sacred. Ho ncide and uer5i.
cade-thst is, violent treatment of word with
iasai results to Its legitimate meaning, which is
its iife-are alike forbidden. Mansaughter,
which Is the meaning of the one, is the same
as man laughter, which is the end of the other.
pun is prtma fdcie an insult to the person
you are talking with. 1t implies inter indiffer-
ence to or sublime contempt for his remarks,
no matter how serious. / speak of total deprav.
ity, and one says all that is written on the sub
Ject is deep raving. have committed my self.
respect by talking with such a person. should
IKE to commit him, but cannot, because he lie
nuisance. Or | speak of geological convul-
sions, and he asks nae what was the cosine of
Noahs ark; also, whether the Deluge was not
a great deal huger than any modern inunda-
ton.
pun does not commonly Justify blow in
return. Bat if blow were given for such cause.
and death ensued, the jury would be Judges
both of the facts and of the pun, and might if
the latter were of an aggravated character, re-
turn the verdict of justfable homicide. Thus.
IN case lately decided before Miller, j., Doe
presented Roe subscription paper, and urged
the claims of suffering humanity. Roe replied
by asking, When charity was like top? 1t
was IN evidence that Doe preserved dignified
silence. Roe then said, "When it begins to
hum" Doe then-and not till then-struck
Roe, and his head happening to strike bound
volume OF the Monthly Rag Bag and Stolen
Miscellany, intense modification ensued, with a
fatal result. The chief laid down his notions
OF the law to his brother justices, who unani.
mously replied, #" Jest So" The chief reioined,
that no man should jest SO without being pun.
lshed Tor 1t, and charged for the prisoner, who
was acquitted, and the pun ordered to be burn
ed by the sheriff. The bound volume was for.
teited as deodand, but not claimed.
People who make puns are like wanton BOYS
that put coppers on the railroad tracks. They
amuse themselves and other children, but their
little trick may upset freight train of converse
ton Tor the sake of a battered wittcism.
wish to refer to two eminent authorities.
Now, be 80 good as to listen. The great NOR.
alist says, To trihe with the vocabulary which
ID the vehicle OF social intercourse, is to tamper
with the currency of human intelligence. He
who would violate the sanctities of his mother
tongue, would invade the recesses of the pater.
nal till without remorse, and repeat the banquet
OF Saturn without an Indigestion"
And, once more, listen to the historian:
The Puritans hated puns. The Bishops
were VIGOROUSLY addicted to them. The Lords
Temporal carried them to the verge of license.
Majesty itself must have its Royal bubble. sYe
be burly, my Lord of Burleigh,' said Queen
Elizabeth, bat ye shall make less stir in our
realm than my Lord of Leicester The gravest
wisdom and the highest breeding lent their
sanction to the practice. Lord Bacon payfully
declared himself a descendant of 'Og, the King
OF Bashan. Sir Philip Sidney, with his last
breath, reproached the soldier who brought him
water, tor wasting casque full upon a dying
man. courtier, who saw Othello performed at
the Globe Theatre, remarked that the blackamore
was brute, and not a man. Thou hast reason
replied greet Lord, according to Plato his
saying; Tor this be two-legged animal Nth
feathers The fatal habit became universal.
The language was corrupted. The infection
sPead to the rational conscience. Political
double-dealings naturally grew out of verbal
douoie-meanings. The teeth of the new dragon
were sown by the Cadmus who introduced the
alphabet of equivocation. What was levity in
the time of the Tudors, grew to regicide and
revolution i'll the age of the Stuarts."
Who was that boarder who lust whispered
something about the Macaulay flowers of liter
AZURE? There was a dead silence. | said,
calmly, shall henceforth consider any interrup.
ton by pun as hint to change my boarding
house. Do not plead my example If have
used any such, it has been only as Spar an
father would show up a drunken Helot We
have done with transatlantic MONTHLY.