New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-01-08
NEW PUBLICATIONS.

STUDIES IN JOCULAE LITERATURE. By W. Caiew
Hazlitt. 16mo. PIP. 80. ~ c. Armstrong q SON.
Mr. Hazlitt having edited the recent reprints Of the
old Jest books and being familiar with medieval
literature was specially well fitted TO write sach
volume as this in which the philosophy OF iocuar
literature is set forth. The task of making ancient
foxes interesting to the modern mind j. indeed one of
tho most difficult and Mr.. Hazlt. has here given what
will probably be accepted the true explanation OF the
diefclItv There Is a class of jcss which not for
an age but for all time, but this class i, narrow
one It is restricted to those jokes which depend for
their effect upon illusions to conditions or qualities
common TO human nature. This class If jcSS naturally
adapt themselves to all times and localities, and
consequently variants of them appear generation ateT
generation with local habitations and names
Iut the greater part Of all cSs those which per
tain TO special periods and customs aud manners, ana
Il is the inevitable destiny of such these to lose Their
flavor and their humorous significance tim" passes
and 10 become nat and pOiitleso TO modern lntcHl
Eences Every one who Ina, dipped into the medieval
list book knows how dull and crude most of the
merry tales Faction, jests' embalmed therein
appear nowadays. In regard TO large proportion
Of them the drocry originally consisted in what would
now be considered the buiiOOncTy the gross
est ndecency. Those not characterized are often
unintelGibc. depending for their point upon refer
ences to events and customs long since forgotten or
Changed.
Now it is certain that mcdiacval people were
more than modcrns in their ideas Is question con-
corning which Mr.. Haztt is not prepared to offer a
positive opinion He points out that the refinement
which has taken place in written aud printed language
does not necessarily signify real reform in moits'
The tendency he thinks, of the present axe - toward
concealment, far than toward real purihcation.
Modern conventions have banl>hed plain speaking to
great extent but the thing, about which our ancestors
smoke plainly survive none the less because We pre-
tend 10 ignore them However hi; may be- the secret
Of the apparent cIudcuess and fatncSs OF the ca
facctae lies in the changes witch have occurred Il!
social manners and general customs since they were
in vogue. But it is necessary also to bear in mind
that in the middle and down 10 the close OF the
seventeenth century, or later the masses every
where were in a comparatively barbdTOuS COhdltOl'
We may admit that if we fail to perceive the Wiz ana
humor of The iocular literature preserved IN INC pages
of Auber Gences and AhenoeuS, il is because we arc
too far removed from the in which those iestS
were the cause Of mirth. Bat in considering the o1
English lest books We must also perceive that after
making every allowance for the nunbng effect OF time'
the pointlessucss Of many of these old jokes can ONLY
be referred to their essential stupidity. They Were' IN
fact the primitive experiments Of rudc ana uhuc'
Neloped people and they show the nature OF tIelr
origin in many WAYS. No doubt they would Stl rElc
.he midriNs of the same kind of classes for whose
behoof they we're first printed If there are sun any
souire Westerns or Boobys, they would ina ucir
drolery exquisite. But 20 appreciate them deihahuS
q coarse palate and a crude intelligence.
PERHAPS the chief value of these old specimens OF
English iocular literature is to illustrate vanished
customs and usages This they do by many passing
olIusion as Mr.. Haztt effectively demonstrates
throuch ant citations But the whole subject Is e%-
trorncly difficult 10 discuss, for the reason lla' IN
doing 50 the Jest, which best preserve their point
arc rs rule of such character that Ii is impossible
unless in a privately printed book 10 quote tlem
in Illustration: and that without much quotation the
reader not vcr,cd in The subject cannot well comprc
herd the point % view Of the scholar. No do1ei a
time viii come when the iocilar literature Of the
nineteenth century will appear tame and jejune a.
that Of the fifteenth sixteenth aud seventeenth cen
tures does to Us 81 present, when new generation
will puzzle aud froWn over our b"st specimens ol
1umor ana wonder what manner Of bloc khchN the
ancicnts If IN, remote nineteenth century could nave
been to find amu,cment in such dlcaN Siuh In The
meantime W occupy The stage, and We are bound 10
play the critic upon our predecessors. We cannon
away with tie humor Of the DeipnosophiSt or of The
Hundred Merge Tale~.' or even with Joe Miller
himself: and IL is because, 50 far rs we are con
ccrncd all that archaic humor has really cNhalel
and cvani,h,d Mr. Iiazllt di~courscs with learning
and acueueSs upon the whole subject and his volume
/, a welcome addition to the Book Lovers Library