New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-12-25
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
0In WIT

,x,,,,op WIT AND SATIRE OF THE SEVENTEENTH
cEsTYR Ia SS si S s9a !. ". Saufon ''
A h;bliographical appendix to this volume gives
Abe titles of surprising number OF seventeenth cen
trrv q collections and jest books from WINCH as
we'll AZ from old ballads and miscellaneous sources
nr;rted and manuscript in tho British Museum Mr.
Asbton mas made his amusing compendium OF fun
The professional humorst is by no means an lhVen-
ton of modern times Here is proof that Tor az least
two hundred and fifty years he has been manu1ac-
turing iocose books with great industry, nay that
The very identical jokes to which he is most fohdly
attached have been all that time in the market
The springs of laughter in of these cases must
lie deem down in universal human nature II two
and half centuries of use cannot exhaust them. III
one respect there has been agrcat change IN popular
taste since the date of these antique specimens Inc
orossness which used to characterize Engllsh
facetie would not now be tolerate III PRINT; put
Mr. Ashton after carefully excluding obJectlohapIe
pieces. has collected enough genuine and Tor the
most part pretty clean, humor, to show thah we
have inherited our of the ridiculous, without
important notifications, from laughter-lovlng Eng
lsh ancestors. "a
C;rossness was In some measure a result of simple
,ty of character and manners. Simplicity OF char-
octer is indicated also in the precise and dehpera'e
STYLE in which old Jokes used to be made pah 10 INC
iull apprehension The jester was sure OF roaring
laugh, when his Jest was understood; tut theh no
seems to have been far from sure that IL would DO
understood The elements of breylty ana uheApect-
edness therefore, were often lacking from his pleas
ant conceits He will not let us come upon ridlcu
Ions idea too suddenly will he let us leave IL
until he has made the most of it, The modern hu-
morist is nothing if he be not quick and daring lie
disguises his Jest in natural and compact wrap
ping drops it in path. and without waiting lor
il to explode he passes quickly with serious ana
innocent face. His seventeenth century progenitor
used to lay the train with great frankness calling
out to the bv-standers to halt for he was gong TO Oe
extremely funny; and when the joke was over he
would not depart until he had made sure that
everybody saw the point. The popular intellect
must have been more sluggish in those days than III
ours To us the careful anecdotes of stupid yokels
smart servants and ingenious rogues, want SAVIOR he
cause it does not s0em as if the narrator partlcu
larly enjoyed them. But how much it improves the
taste of the terse fourlne Jokes in the corners of
American newspapers to think of the fun their
authors must have had in making them! There is a
curious illustration this book of the difference be-
tween the old and the new manner, tbs story being
one which has been transmitted to our day, and
stripped of all unnecessary trappings, made 10 do
duty as a sample of American humor:
A Country Tanner that was running hastily
through Eastcheape and having long Plke-Staiie
on his shou lder one of the Butchers dogs caught
him by the breech The fellow got loose and ranne
his pike into the Dogs throat and killed him. The
Butcher seeing that his Dog was klrd t0oke hold Oh
the Tanner and carried him before the Deputy, VINO
asked him. What reason lie had to kill the dogge
For mine own defence (quOth the TANNER. WY,
quoth the Deputy hast thou no 9ner Geigno e hu.
fashions are not like the Countries, for here the
stones fast in the streets and the DOGS are d 99se
stones are loose to throw at them and hat should
do in this extremity, but use his stale lor MS
own defencei Marry (quoth the Deputy II man MAJ
will needs his static he might use ms blnnt end
and not the sharp pike True, Master Deputy,
quoth the Tanner, but you must consider u tle uog
had used his blunt end and rUnne his tale at me-
then had there good reason for me TO do the IKE;
but l vow, Master Deputy, the Dogge came sharpe
at me- and fastned his teeth in my breech, and
again ranne sharp at him. and thrust my PIKE INTO
his belly. By my faith crafty knave, qno.h the
Deputy, if you will both stand to my verdict senI
for quart of wine be friends, and so you are ooth
discharged.
The quickness and precision with which the mod
ern intellect and especially the American Intellect
goes straight to the heart of joke is exemphed in
the treatment which this story has undergone Inc
one udicrous element in it is the idea OF the blunt
end" of dog; and that is about all there is lett OF
il in the current American version. Another IN
stance of the distillatiOn of humorous story until
nothing but its essential spirit remains is to be
found in the anecdote of the conceed scholar that
was lately come from Oxford" who tried to prove
that two glasses of wine were three (See page ST.
This seems TO have been favorite bit of wit, and
was probably of considerable antiquity for it ap-
pears in this volume under several forms. The con-
temporary version, however, is more concise than
any of the old ones. In making these comparisons
however We must make come allowance for the tact
that the of expressing ones self with pen and ink
was rare accomplishment in the seventeenth cen
tury, and that there is not country newspaper
however wretched, or a dime story book, however
ilterate in which we could find at the present day
such hating and clumsy English as that in which
the old humOrists had to stammer and dribbe their
jokes. Lady in this Kingdom" so runs or rather
SO limps, an anecdote in the once highly popular
"Coffee- House Jests,"--@ Lady in this Kingdom,
hearing that Lady, that was Person of Quality
did much long for oysters, she then sent FoOt-man
of hers that Irish man, to the said Lady with
Barrel of Oysters and as he was going, he met an
Arch Wag by the way, who askt him whittier he
was goingi Then he told him." etc. 1t was n" bet
ter when the humorist committed himself to poetry
There is hardly penny ballad of our time which
cannot do better than these stanzas from The
Scolding Wite":
They was not all at supper set,
OF at the board safe down.
Fer she began TO brawl and scOld
and cald him peaking Clown
That nothing could lie doe
that was pleasing In her sight,
Rut still She scOlded day and night,