The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1867-08-06
Old and New JOkcs-A Chapter OF F"'

| An example OF tnc pi'nue'H -o,ber
ties which excite laughter, arising 'a'" -
from confusion Of words than Q, w. r.nh
afforded BY the paragraph IN 'nI . i,,o'
newspapcrs announcing, : WIN i'iHe" p'N''-
snre J, that on such day Lacy
had publicly rcnounccd the errors ol 'Ee
Cburrb of Romo for those OF the Church OF
England The ponny-a-liner mad merely
forgotten that his antccedcnt 10 nose was
errors - and not doctrines"
A ludicrous class Of failures are those of
which "Mrs. Slipsiop," in Joseph An
drcws, and "Mrs. Malaprop," in The RiudlS,
supply us with the richest or most finished
examples. The attempts Of ignorant per-
sons to use fine or peculiar words, and their
unconscious substitution Of others having
quite q different meaning or character,
never fail to amusc. Take as specimens
the old lady who in windy weather OBJ
served tina. the a,te-nuptial gales seemed
to be coming earlier than usual; the
would-bc connoisSeur who spoke OF PIC
turc of tho Venus AnnO DOmial; the mill
tarv veteran who was for always taking
time BY the freiOct and the naboo who
told a ragged school the fable of the hare
and the tortoise, and cyhortcd them thence
to perseverance as the likeliest means Of
bringing them first to the gaol.
AN OLD JOKE ~ NEW DRESS.
Some readers may remember the amuse-
mcnt afforded by the late Sir William Al
lan's story Of the minister and the cuddie,
which most Of us, in the days when he told
It. believed to be OF Scotch extraction. 1t
happens, however, to be very old joke,
not ,raccable, perhaps, to classical times,
but q great favorite and standing jest
against the clergy from thc middle ages
downwards. The general idea, as we
may call it, the algebraic expression of
the incident, seems to be this: "Fanity,
when fishing for praise, catches nothing
but modification" A monk, chanter,
or preacher, while exercising his tunc-
ton with d stentorian power Of voice, is
f!attered to sec in the church an elderly
female in tears and apparently much al
fccted by his performance. On afterwards
asking the cause Of her emotion, he tindslt
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 Boncrius, q German
| writer of mctrical fables in the fourteenth
century, in whose collection it occurs as
No. 81. under the title, "Von einen Pfai-
fen uud Won einem Esel." We meet with
il again in Poggic's "Facetin " in the tif-
tecnth century, under the title, "Con-
cjonatoris asthma vox." But we may
notice, as proving the superior art with
which Poggio tells story, that in Bone
RUS we arc informed from the first OF the
reason Of tie woman's dcmcanor, while IN
Pogcio the explanation is reserved to be
equally q surprise to the reader as it is a
disappOintment to the inquirer. 1t is to
be found repeated in half dozen other
writer's, in all forms-in Latin and in
French verse, as we'll as in French and
Italian prose.
TIE WISDOM OF FOOLS.
The endowment that proceeds from the
absurditics of weaklings and fools has
always had recognized place, though not
one of very high order, in the range Of
mcrriment. The sight of those who have
the beard and body of man with the in
tellect Of IL baby produces great mrth
and satisfaction to the vulgar mind.
Clowns and court fools and Slo10 coaches oil
ali kinds, and still more, perhaps, absent
men, please us by the absurd discrepancy
between what they do and what they
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 pas
) sion Of laughter is nothing else but sudden
glory arising from solnc sudden conception
; of some eminency in ourselves by com
parison with the infirnity of others, or
with our own formerly for men laugh at
the follics Of themselves past where they
: come suddenly TO remembrance, except
they bring with them any present dis
honor" We always thought that Of the
inrumcrallc Londoncrs who laughed ut
"Lord Dundrcary" a large proportion did
so with increased hcartincSS from the COM
Portable conviction that here was al least
one "ltllow" 10 whom they were intelcc-
tuaIy superior.
Bat there is another and better way in
which fools and simpletons become Il
source of amusement, and that is by the
unexpected displays which they some
times make Of wit, spirits, or ingenuity
for which one gave them no credit, and in
particular by their successful rctorts upon
assailants who had looked upon them as
an easy prey. This latent and iitlul power
of turning round upon too confident adj.
versary was . wcll-knOwn characteristic
; and essential ingredient in the character
, of the court Jester who, amid the ccccn
trcijcS Of an unsettled and ill-regulatct
intellect, was often more knave than fool
The flashes of sense and cleverncss thai
thus came out were all tho more striking
from the general darkness and dullncs
which they enlivcncd, and they Away:
command that sympathy which We 81
readily bcStow upon the weak when the!
4 get the better Of the strong or insolent.
/ Some Of the sayings or answers aScribe(
a to fools are very good. We think it wa
n Will SomcrS, Henry the Eighth'S Jester
| who said of Wolscy, against whom he hac
: grudgc, that if he was made Pope i
+ would bc great boon; "for that Peter
: the first Pope, being a fisherman, had or
I dcrcd people to eat fish in Lent for The
4 good of the trdde, but that WolScy, being
$ a butchers son, would be all for butcher
, meat We know we'll the revenge tha
$ poor Archie Armstrong took upon Arch
r bishop Laud, who had forbidden him t.
; speak Of such magnates, but could moi
prevent him from saying, as his grace be
. fore meat, "Great praise TO God, and lit
) tie Laud to the devil" 1t is reported O.
. more than one court fool, and among
others of Triboulet, the fool of Francis I.
that when told by his sovereign that if a
certain courtier beat him to death, as he
threatened, he would hang him the hom
after, his request was that his Majesty
would rather do SO tie hour before.
The earliest French fool on record seems
to have been one named Jean, at the court