The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-11-04

| Ass intones to ass.
Harmonic .twang. of leather. horn and
Or. again. where he compares the CON-
| peting authors Of the day to divers in
| the Thames-"a pig OF lead to him who
| dives the best"-note how he disposes of
| the scurrilous pamphleteer Arnall:
| Not so bold Arnail; with weight of
Furious he dives. precipitately dull.
whirlpools and storms his circlins arms
| with all the might of sravitation blest.
| No crab more active in the dirty dance
| Downward to climb, and backward to ad-
vance.
And loudly claims the journals and the
And what could say more in . single
| line than this:
Now night descending. the proud scene
But lived in Settles numbers one day
more.
The teeming bitterness OF Byron's EN-
glish Bards and Scotch Reviewers" writ
ten nearly a century later, is but an echo
Of this earlier age. How like the Dun
clad" for instance, 10 such a passage as
this:
There Clarke. stili striving piteously to
Forgetting doggerel leads not to degrees.
A would-bs satirfst hired buffoon.
A monthly scrfbbler of some low lam
Condemned to drudge. the meanest of the
mean,
And furnish fal.ehoods for magazine.
Devotes to scandal his congeniaI mind;
Himself living libel on mankind"
But Pope is not always bitter. though
he Is always brilliant and bold. His
Rape of the Lock- is. according to
Taine. "buffoonery in a noble Style" and
according to DIR. Wharton ''the best sat
ire extant." 1t abounds in playful
touches. In mock solemnity, In exagger-
ated description, In pure burlesque. in
genuine fancy--in all Of the elements that
90 to make up a great masterpiece of
pure wit. Every word has its value. ev-
cry couplet IL finished jewel:
"one speaks the glory Of the British
And one describes charming Indian
The ., hungry judges soon the sentence
And wretehes hang that turymen may
Then flashed the living lightning from
And screams Of horror rent tn alright
ed skies.
Not louder shrieks to plying heavens are
When husbands or when lapdogs breathe
their last
Or when rich China vessels fallen from
In siitterins dust and painted fragment.
Ono may safely open the poem at ran
dom and quote the first couplet the eye
rests upon as an example of its wit and
briiiiancy
Some OF the dainty wit OF this most bril-
liant era has been preserved by Spence
and others, but what we have IL but a
pitifui fragment OF the table-talk and
repartee that made jovial the London
conee-house and clubs. The coffee house.
which first sprang into prominence dur
ing the early years Of the restoration era
became the distributing center OF ali
things merely intellectual Over claret or
tea or coffee the latest news was discuss
Cd. the latest anecdotes recounted and
tho wftticisms Of the day retold. A rare
poem. The School for Politicks," pub
hsnea IN 1880. gives US picture of these
convivtal centers:
The r murmurins busz which through the
DID beehives' noise exactly represent.
And. IKE beehive. too. twas filled. and
All tasting OF the Honey Politick
eaied news. which they all greediiy
More various scenes Of humor might tell
which In my little stay befeil:
7uch as grave wits. who. spending farth-
Sit. smoke and warm themselves an hour.
late.
with beaver cooked. and laughing loud
70 De thought wits among the crowd
or slipping tea while they relate
Iheir evenings frolic at the Rose
There was no Boswell at wins coffee
house. where Dryden so long sat en-
throned among the wits OF his day, nor
fhA grus
teenth century at Christopher Cats.
where the thirty-nlne members of the
hit-cat Club. all men of genius. met TO
eat mutton pies and TO revel i'm colloauial
banauets far more delicious
The life and soul OF this club was Con-
grove, The dramatist, who was the liter
airy father OF Sheridan Like '.The
School for Scandal" of later day, Con
Ereves Way OF the World" and THE
Doublc-Dealer' depend not so much upon
their plots as upon the brilliant dialogue
their biting sarcasm, which does not
spare even the finest ladies. and their
constant coruscation OF wit and word
| play. Even footmen and servants talk
with as fine polish and as nfmble a wit
as their masters.
II can't pretend to quote scenes" wrote
| Thaekeray In his English Humortsts.'
from the splendid congreve's plays
which are undeniahly bright. witty ana
Il
10 hear the dialogue OF witty barge.
man and brilliant fishwoman exchang-
ing compliments at Bililngsgste." ana
this Is difficulty that eonfronts any
one who would quote from any OF the
writer's OF the period, for Il Is undenla hia
that the average Joke of the restoration
era would sadly shock modern reaaers.
Not all are coarse and indecent. however.
| Nalentins. | know you: for I loved a
| woman. and loved her so long than
/ found out strange talug; l found out
/ what woman Was good for.
/ Iattle. Ay, prythee- what's that
| Valentine. Why. 20 keep secret.
| Tattle. Lordi
Valentine. oh, exceeding good 10 keen
| a secret for though she should tell vet
/ she Is not TO DC believed
Tattie. Hah' Good aEain. faitA.
The beautiful eoauegte NAlamant singu
| gaily:
I ~ there's delight IN love 'tls when I ~.
/ That heart that others bleed for bleeI