The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-07-30
OLD AND NEW JOKES.
a CHAPTER Of FncetIpe.

by the paragraph in the Irish newspapers an
nouncing, with much pleasure" that on
such day "Lady - had publicly re-
nounced the errors of the Church of Rome for
those of the Church of England" The penny
a-liner had merely forgotten that his ante
cedent to those was "errors'' and not "doc-
trines.'
A ludicrous class of failures are those of
which ''Mrs. Slipslop," in "Joseph Adrews,"
and ''Mrs. Malaprop, in The RiUaiS supply us
with the richest or most finished examples.
The attempts of ignorant persons to use fine
or peculiar words, and their unconscious sub
stitution Of others having quite different
meaning or character, never fail to amuse.
Take as specimens the old lady who in windy
weather observed that the dnte-nuptiaL gales
seemed to be coming earlier than usual; the
wOuld-be connoisseur who spoke of picture
of the Venus Anno Domini; the military vete-
ran who was for always taking time by the
DTeLock; and the nabob who told ragged
school the fable of the hare and the tortoise
and exhorted them thence to perseverance, as
the Gkeliest means of bringing them first to the
gdoi.
AN OLD JOKE IN NEW DRESS.
Some readers may remember the amuse-
ment afforded by the late Sir William Allan's
story of the minister and the cuddie, which
most Of us, in the days when he told it, be-
heved to be of Scotch extraction. 1t happens,
however, to be very old joke, not traceable,
perhaps, to classical times, but a great favorite
and standing jest against the clergy from the
middle ages downwards. The general idea
or as we may call it, the algebraic expression
Of the incident, seems to be this:-"V Vanity
when fishing for praise, catches nothing but
modification" A monk, chanter, or preacher,
while exercising his function with stentorian
power of voice, is flattered to see IN the church
anelderly female in tears, and apparently much
affected by his performance. On afterwards
asking the cause of her emotion, he finds it
arises from the likeness between his voice
and that of an ass or "cuddie'' which she or
her husband had lately lost. We meet with
this story in Bonerius, a German writer of
metrical fables in the fourteenth century, in
whose collection it occurs as No S2 under the
title, ,.-s"Von einem Pfaffen und Won enem
Esel" We meet with it again in Poggie's
"Facetia'' in the fifteenth century, under the
title, "Concionators asinina vOX.'' But we
may notice. as proving the superior art with
which Poggio tells a story, that in BOnerius
we are informed from the first of the reason of
the woman's demeanOr, while in PoggiO the
explanation is reserved to be equally sur
prise to the reader as it is disappointment to
the inquirer 1t is to be found repeated in
halfa-dozen other writers, in all fOrms-in
Latin and in French verse, as well as in French
and Italian prose.
THE MlSDOM OF FOOLS.
The enjoyment that proceeds from the alb
surdities of weaklings and fools has always
| had recognized place, though not one of a
very high order, in the range of merriment
| The sight of those who have the beard and
| body of man with the intellect of baby,
| produces great mirth and satisfaction to the
| vulgar mind. Clowns and court-fools and
| SloaO-codcheS of all kinds, and still more, per-
| haps, absent men, please us by the absurd dis
Iak..- ,l.,A4 i ~
| ought to do, and perhaps think they are
doing. 1t is in this department of the comic
that there seems most foundation for the
theory of Hobbies, 'that the passion of laugh
ter is nothing else but sudden glory arising
from some sudden conception of some emil
nency in ourselves by comparison with the
infrmity of others; or with our own formerly;
for men laugh at the fOlles of themselves past
where they come suddenly to remembrance,
except they bring with them any present dis.
honor" We always thought that of the in
Vulnerable LOndoners who laughed at "Lord
Dundreary," large proportion did so with
increased heartiness from the comfortable
conviction that here was at least one "fellow''
to whom they were intellectually superior.
But there is another and better way il
which fools and simpletons become source O
amusement, and that is by the unexpected
displays which they sometimes make of wit
spirits, or ingenuity for which one gave then
no credit, and in particular, by their success
full retoTts upon assailants who had looked
upon them as an easy prey. This latent anC
ftful power of turning round upon too conf
dent adversary was well-known character
istic and essential ingredient in the characte
of the court jester, who, amid the eccentrici
ties of an unsettled and ill-regulated intellect
was often more knave than fool. The flashe
of sense and cleverness that thus came ou
, were all the more striking from the genera
| darkness and dullness which they enlivened
, and they always command that sympath,
which we so readily bestow upon the weak
, when they get the better of the strong o
insolent
3 Some of the sayings or answers ascribed
/ fools are very good. We think it was Wi
8 Somers, Henry the Eighth's jester, who said {
I Wolsey, against whom he had grudge, tha
If he was made Pope it would be great boo1
n ''for that Peter, the first Pope, being iishel
: man, had ordered people to eat fish in Lent fo
Q the good OF the trade, but that Wolsey, bein
: butchers son, would be all for butcher meat.
a We know well the revenge that poor Arch
+ Armstrong took upon Archbishop Laud, wh
o had forbidden him to speak Of such magnate
8 but could not prevent him from saying, as h
s grace before meat, ''Great praise to GOd an
3; little Laud TO the devil" Il is reported
v more than one court fool, and among others
o TribOulet, the fool of Francis /, that Whe
If told by his sovereign that If certain courti