Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1885-10-01
PUNS In LITERATURE.
Good Authority for Declaring
Punning Good Writing.
The Species of wit Which Fl0urished Dur
ing the Golden Age of English Lit
erature-Some Notable
Examples.

"Aristotle, in the eleventh chapter
of his Rhetoric describes two or
three kinds of puns, which he calls
paragrams, among the beauties of good
writing, and produces instances of
them out of some Of the greatest
authors in tho Greek tongue"
Cicero" he goes on to observe, "has
sprinkled several of his works with
puns, and in his book where he lays
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 flourished in England was the
reign of King James the First. His
Majesty was tolerable pllnster, and
the taste of the sovereign was studied
by the courtiers and by the clergy.
The greatest authors in their most seri-
Gus works made frequent use of puns
and even in the pulpit they were not
uncommon. Punning was used under
oil circumstances--serious as well as
trivial matters were infected with it.
This vice, as some will consider it, ex-
tended itself everywhere. Indeed, it
spread to so dreadful a degree that it was
as freely used in the court of Justice
and the church as anywhere else. The
criminal, when conducted to death, re-
ceived his sentence in mixture Of
gravity and puns; and the preacher,
the more strongly, perhaps, to impress
his doctrine, played on the words as he
went along. The following sentence
occurs in sermon from tho pulpit:
1.-The dial shows that we must die all;
yet, nevertheless, all houses are turned
into ate-houses; our cares into Gates; our
paradise is a pair o. dice; our marriage
a merry age; our matrimony matter
o money; our divines have become dry
s0tnes-it was not SO even in the days of
Noah, Ah-no."
In the clever paper in the
Guardian" No. SO, entitled, "a Mod
est Apology for Punning," is drawn
the distinction between the extempo-
rancous puns of conversation and the
deliberate and grave use of this species
of false wit in, general composition.
While defending the puns as means
of enlivening the dull wits of those en-
gagged in common conversation, the
writer, nevertheless, affirms: II look
upon premeditated bubbles and puns
committed to the press as unpardon-
able crimes. There is as much differ
ence betwixt these and the starts in
common discourse as betwixt casual
rencounters and murder with malice
prepense.
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. In the latter nothing is more
usual than to see hero weeping and
quibbling for dozen lines together.
Butler, who was greatly taken with
Bishop Andrews style, affirms that he
was an inimitable preacher in this way,
in an anecdote which he tells with the
view of showing how difficult or posi-.
BILE it was for those who attempted to
copy him with success. But Butler un-
consciously records severe and at the
same time, well-deserved condemnation
of the manner of writing which he SC
much admires. "pious and pleasan,
Bishop FELTON,, says he, ''his contenl.
porary and colleague, endeavored In
vain to initiate his sermons, to assiml-
late his style, and therefore said mer.
rily for himself: i had almost marred
my own natural trot by endeavoring to
initiate his artificial amble.' '"
There is no kind of false wit says
Addison, which has been so recommend.
ed by the practice of all ages as thai
which consists ina jangle Of words and
is comprehended under the general
aame0f punning. It is, indeed, i'm,
possible to kill weed which the sol
has a natural disposition to produce
The seeds Of punning are in the minds
of all men, and though they may b.
subdued by reason, reflection and goot
sense, they be very apt to shoot up in
the greatest genius that is not broker
and cultivated by the rules of art
Punsters, 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 thi,
noisy kind of applause. "As the an
Gent physician held the sardonic laugh
= very beneficial to the lungs, l should
mcthinks, advise all my countrymen o.
consumptivc and hectical constitution
to associate with the most facetiou,
pulsters of the age"
We will give two or three example.
of these slippery fellows. who, to use {
modern phrase. have succeeded in driv
ing a coach-and-six through Addison.
act. as 10 the non-translatability o.
puns.
The lectures of Greek philosopher
were attended by young girl of ex
quisite beauty. One day grain of sant
happened to get into her eye, ard, be
ing unable to extricate it herself. sh,
requested his assistance. As he wa.
observed to perform this little operation
with o zeal which, perhaps, a les.
sparkling eve might not have com
manded. somebody called 70 him il
Greek: do not spoil the pupil"
A punster, being requested to give s
specimen of his art, asked for a subject
.'The King" The King is not sub
jectn he replied. This holds good in
French likewise-Le Roi n est pas an
ssget
The last case belongs to class which
Is. perhaps more extensive than is com