West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1885-10-16
PUNS In LITERATURE.
Good Authority for Declaring
Pupning Good Writing.
The Species Of wit which FIourished Dur
Ing the Golden Age of English Lit
craturc Some Notable
Examples.


of his Rhetoric describes two or
three kinds of Iuns. which he calls
paragrams, among the beauties of good
writing, and produces instances of
them ont OF some OF the greatest
authors in the Greek tongue. "
Cicero he goes on to observe, ''has
sprinklod several of his works with
puns, and in his book where he Laws
down the rules of oratory, quotes
abundance of sayings as pieces of wit.
which also, upon examination, prove
arrant puns."
The age in which this species OF wit
chiefly tlourished in England was the
reign Of King James the First His
Ma scsty was tolcrable punster, and
the taste of the sovereign was studied
by the courtiers and by the clergy.
lhe greatest authors in their most scri-
Gus works made frequent Use of buns.
and even in the pulpit they were not
uncommon. Iunning was uScl under
all circumstances serious rs well as
trivial matters were infected with il.
This vice, aS some will consider il, cN-
tended Itself everywhere. IudCcl il
spread TO 20 dreadful "A degree tha, 1t was
rs freely used in the court of Justice
and the church as anywhere else Tho
criminal, when conducted to death, re.
ceiVcd his sentence in "A mixture of
gravity aud puns; and the preacher,
the more strongly, perhaps, TO impress
ms doctrine; p.aycd ON the words a he
vent aong. The following sentence
occurs IN sermon from tho pulpit:
'Ihc dtdt shows that we must die nL:
yet, nevertheless. al houses are turned
into mc-hOUScS: our cares into cdtcs; our
Tdrddtsc is a DdtT q dice; our UiGTriugc
IA mcrry dge; our DidiriDOHy matter
o money; our diCt1teS have become dJyI
OtHcS it was not 80 even in the days of
Noah, Ah-nO.
In the clever paper in the
Guardian, No. &C. entitled, "a Mod
est Apology for Punnng." is drawn
the distinction between the cXtcmpo-
rancous puns of conversation and the
deliberate aud grave use of this species
OF false wit in general composition
While defending the puns as means
Of euliycning the dull wit, of those en-
gagged in common conversation, the
writer, nevertheless, ailirmS Il look
upon prcmeditated bubbles and puns
committed to the press as unpaldon-
able crimes. There is as much differ
ence bctwixt these and the starts i'm
common discourse rs bctwixt casual
rencounter5 and murder with malice
prepensc. -
The greatest authors in their most
serious works made frequent use of
puns. The sermons of Bishop Andrews
and the tragedies OF Shakespeare are
full Of them. I'm the latter nothing is more
usual than to see q hero weeping and
quibbling for dozen lines together.
Butter, who was greatly taken with
Bishop Andrews style. ailrms that ne
was an inim table preacher i'm this way.
in an anecdotc which he tells with the
view Of showing how difficult or posi-
bic il was for those who attempted to
copy him with success But Butler un-
consciously records % severe and. at the
same time, wcil-dcscrycd condemnation
Of the manner Of writing which hc so
much admircs. "Pious and pleasant
Bishop Felton, says he, "his contom-
porary and colleague. cndcavOrcd i'm
vain 10 initiate his sermons, to assimi-
late his style and therefore said mcr-
rily for himself: i had almost marred
my own natural trot by cndeayoring to
lmitdJe his artificial amblC.
There is no kind of false wit. says
Addison. which has been 80 recommend
eel by the practice Of al ages as that
which consists in iangle OF words and
is comprehcnded under The general
name of punning lt is. indeed. inn
possible to kill n weed which the soil
has natural disposition 81 produce.
The seeds Of punninQ are iu The minds
of all men, and though they may be
sui dued by reason, reelection and good
sense. they bc very apt 90 shoot up in
the greatest genius that Is not broken
and cultivated by the rules of art
Punstcrs. in the opinion of steele.
very much contribute towards the sar-
donic laugh. and the extremes Of either
wit or folly seldom fail Of raising this
noisy kind OF applause "As the am
cicnt physician held the sardonic laugh
very beneficial tO the lungs, ! should.
mctHinks, advise all my cOuntrymcn Of
con-umptivo and hectical constitution
60 associate with the most facetiOus
puIsters Of the age"
We will give TWO or three examples
oi these slippery fellows who, 90 use 70
modern phrase. have succeeded boo l
ing q coa"h-and-six through Adds
act as 60 the non-trauslatabili'y of
puns.
The lectures OF Greek philosopher
were attended bv a young girl Of eN-
qui-itc beauty. One day grain OF sand
happened 10 get into her eye. and, be-
iug unable TO extricate 10 herself. she
re uc-ted his assistance As hc was
observed TO perform this little operation
wlek \ zeal which. perhaps. "a lea