The weekly true Democrat. (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1905-1912, 1907-07-05
THE SOUL OF WIT.


Brevity has been thu marked charac-
teristie Of many happy retorts. What
could be more crushing, more grImly
witty, than the reply attributed to Tai
Iyrand on an occasion when certain
notorious parsonage, III and IN great
pain, sid he was suffering the tor
inents OF the lost. Swiftly came the
wicked retOrt "Deja"- already Of a
different complexion, but equally ex-
employing the soul Of wit, was the re-
ply, which has been attributed TO vari-
GUS painters, to questioner who wish
ed to know the vehicle with which the
painter mixed his colors. DR.. John
Brown tells the story Of Opie. Pray,
Mr.. Opie, may ask what you mix your
color With" said q brisk dilettante
student to the great painter. with
brains, sor," was the gruff reply-and
the right one.
Single word replies, more or less
witty, are fairly common. A patient
whom the famous DR.. Abernethy had
advised to take a walk on an empty
stomach, calmly replied, "WhoseT A
recent example was the answer Of the
late Dean Hole to a boring Cockney
fellow-traveler on the Great Northern
W
INF" asked the boro. ''Scratchin, :"
came the swift retort, and thereafter
the conversation tagged. Many brief
and telling replies are laid to the ac-
count of Douglas Jerrold. 1t will suf-
fee TO recall one. whats going?"
said a boro, stopping Jerrold in the
street 81 am" and the speaker suit
ed the action to the word.
Akin to this was the answer Of John
Wesley to the clustering swaggerer
who pushed against him on the path,
with the insulting remark, 81 never
make way for a fool" II always do, "
said Wesley, quietly stepping aside,
and then placidly pursuing his way.
Brief and witty was the reply Of a
Catholic cleric to an opponent in argu-
ment who had declared his disbelief in
purgatory. "You might go farther
and fare worse, was the ecclesiastic's
parting shot. The wit of more than
one of DR.. Johnson's crushing retOrts
was enhanced by brevity, but examples
are too familiar to be quoted. john
son came down like a sledgehammer
on Scotland and things Scottish. Less
familiar, perhaps, is the retOrt in which
a Scotsman scored An Englishman in
Scotland was abusing the country, COM
planning of the state of the larder and
wondering where he could get less to
eat. IL could tell We place whaur
We wad get less, ;" said Scot who was
listening to the TRADE. Where's
that?" asked the other. "Oh, just
whaur an Englishman' s been!" said the
Scotsman dryly.
Brevlty as the soul of wit is exemph-
fed in many popular sayings. Wit is
by no means an inevitable ingredient
in proverbs. Many of them are of
doubtful sense, and some are foolish,
yet there is a certain spice. The de-
finition Of proverbs by Howell as Say
ings which combine sense, shortness
and SALT" is the main true Though
truth may be altogether absent and wit
barely perceptible, yet there must be a
certain "salt" which gives life and saw
or 20 the saying. 1t would be difficult
TO find sayings more telling than some
Of the shortest-such, for instance, as
"Forewarned, fOrearmed, Extremes
meet" or the Between the hammer
and the anvil. Many sayings which
in English are short were briefer still
in their original classical form.
That the soul of wit was exemplifed
most strikingly among the Greeks Is
only what we should expect. 1t is cur
ious 10 remember that our word ia
comic" preserves the memory of the
reputation for conciseness of speech
bone by the people of one part Of
Greece the Laconans or Spartans.
When Phillip of Macedon threatened
them: IF enter Laconia ] will level
your city to the dust, " they made the
famous reply, of - London Globe.
-~-----~~~---~-~-~-~-----
AFS Brundydgs Dies at Helena.
Thursday morning at Helena Mrs.
II J.,I tho hoK,n 81