The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1883-02-24
Bulls.

gruity " of ideas popularity supposed to be
characteristic of the Irish mind. In ls02
there was published, by Richard and Maria
E~dgeworth, an Essay on Irish Bulls
which was handled by Sydney Smith in
the Eadinba9gh Recieu. The object of
this remarkable work was to prove that the
practice of making bulls is not more i'm
putable to the Irish than to any other peo.
pie and the manner IN which the authors
set it was to quote examples of bulls pro-
duced in other countries. A singular way
Of reasoning the question For, as the racy
reviewer remarks, 8 there are goitres out of
the Valois, extortioners who do not worship
Moses, oatcakes south of the Tweed, and
balm beyond the precincts of Gilead. If
nothing can be said TO exist pre.eminently
and emphatIcally In our country which
exists at all in another, then Frenchmen
are not g y nor Spaniards grave; nor are
gentlemen of the Milesian race remarkable
for their disinterested contempt of wealth in
their connubial relations We have said
that to accredit the Irish with this pecu-
liarly embarrassing talent is the result of
nothing more than popular suggestions /;
but it is, of course, probable that there is
some foundation for a character SO nation
ally maintained. however much it NAV be
enlarged by fame. Sydney Smith is the
author of the above definition of a q bull, ="
and he points out. with some show of
reason. that a bull is the very reverse of wit.
For as wit discovers re relations that are
not apparent, the bull admits app rent rela-
tons that re not real. The pleasure aris-
ing from wit proceeds from our surprise at
suddenly discovering two things to be SINH
lar in which we suspected no similarity.
The pleasure arising from our discovering
two things to be dissimilar IN which a re
semblance might have been suspected.
Lou s XIV being extremely harassed by
the repeated solicitations of q vetern officer
for promotion. said one day, loud enough to
be heard by the subject of his unintentional
compliment" That gentleman is the most
troublesome officer 1 have in my service"
"That is precisely the charge" said the
veteran, (which your Majesty's enemies
brings against me-" An English gentleman,
says Mr.. Edgeworth in a story cited from
Joe Miller, was writing a letter in a coffee
house. and perceiving that an freshman,
stationed behind him, was taking that liberty
which Parmenio used with his friend Alex
ander, instead of putting his seal upon the
lips Of the curious impertinen the Eng
fish gentleman thought proper treprove
the H~ibernian, if not with delicacy, least
with Justice He concluded writing his
letter with these words-"I would say
more, but a blackguard lrishman is reading
over my shoulder every word that | am
writing " ~ u lie, y.u scoundrel! = roared
the self-convicted culprit Now. with some
force oflogic 'lacumen. sydney Smith points
out that the pleasure derived from the first
OF these stories proceeds from the discovery
of TIL relation th-t subsiSts between the
object he h d in view aud the assent of the
officer to an observ ton SO uniriendly to
that end. In the first rapid glance which the
mind thr ws upon his words. he appears. by
his acquiescence, to be pleading G INST him
self. There seems to be no r~elatiOn between
what he says and what he wishes TO effect
by speaking.
In the second story the pie sure is directly
the reverse The lie given was apparently
the readiest means of proving his innocence,
and really the most ~effectual way of estab-
fishing his guilt. There seems for a mo-
ment TO be a strong relation between the
means and the object, while, in point of fact,
no irrelation can be so complete. What
connection is there between pelting monkeys
with stones and G. thering cocoanuts from
lofty trees? Apparently, none. But mon
keys sit upon lofty C cOinut trees, and
monkeys are initiative animals. Where
fore. if you shy up pebbles at the monkey,
the observant monkey will heave the cocoa
nuts at you. This scheme Of gathering
cocoanuts is as witty as the method of pro-
curing Australian parrots by slowly walkiRn-
rroGaind and round the base ofsfbe trees ;o
which they are III Tperched TIL they topple
down with sheer giddiness in trying to keep
you in their eye. Both these would be still
more witty if they did not also appear very
useful; for as Sydney Smith very truly OBJ
serves, 1.-THE idea of utility is ever inimical
to the idea of wit There appears, on the
contrary, to be some relati between the
revenge of the Irish rebels against a banker
and the means which they took to CRAFTY it
by burning all the notes of his bank
which they could lay hands on whereas, of
course they could hardly have rendered him
a more signal service. In these cases of
bulls. practical and verbal. there is an ap-
parent congruity and a real incongrulty of
ideas. In these cases of wit there is an ap-
parent incongruity and a real relation. OF
course. as our reviewer remarks, it is cle,r
that a bull cannot depend upon mere iucon-
gruity alone; ''for if a man were to say that
he would ride to London upon a crIcket-bat,
or that he would cut his throat with a pound
of picked salmon, this would not be to make
bulls. but mostly to talk nonsense And
this, too, is worthy of notice, that a great
deal of the pleasure experien ced from bulls
proceeds from a sense of superiority in our
selves. Bulls which we deliberately invent,
or know to be invented may please but they
do so in a less degree for lack of this add
zest. Whether the Irish make more
than their neighbors-w- agree with
Smiths of small importance; but
it is of considerable importanc nee that their
shall not be made to appear de-
If the Edgworths' curious Essay"
any good in its day, it was rightly
published 1t certainly deserved recognition
for the lively feeling of compassion that per-
it for the distresses of the wild. kind
he.rted. laundering poor of Ireland Globe.
NJ. no.., D.