The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1910-07-17

likeWise-more perhaps for the sake OF
those who uttered them than for the ut
teranees themselves. II is noteworthy
however. how many Of these verbal jim
giles have actually take a permanent
place in the worlds annals, not infre-
auently to the exclusion. of the very
term that produced them.
The now forgottes. oEgours of Siberia,
whose grim visages Ammianus Marcel
linus In his blunt, soldierly style. de-
fined as mot face. but a bun," live
again in the ogres. whose child-devour-
ing exploits are the terror OF every nurs-
cry.
The mon Angli sed Angeli Of st. Au-
gustine is imperishable as the Anglo
Saxon race itself The great Athenian
teachers true name of Aristocles has
lost itself altogether in his punning cog
nomen of Plato (the broad
ST. Leo, watching the goblin rout OF
Attila's Huns sweeping over the plains Of
Lombardy. prayed. in form OF wit, and
scarcely worthy of a bishop of the en-
pire that these TartaTean demons might
be sent back to their native, Tartarus;'
and thus the word Tartar" sprang into
being. to be symbol forevermore of
cruelty and terror
Early in the second half Of the fifth
century a young Gothie warrior entered
the cell of Christian monk to beg hts
blessing. Announcing himself as the He
rullan chief. Haudy-y-w acker dIold-ye-
Stout. The recluse laid his hand on the
bowed head of the towering figure be-
fore him. and said: Stout shalt thou be
to win. ard firm shalt thou hold what
thou winnest" The listening Gotbs
laughed grimly at the uncouth jest, but
they had reason TO recall II fourteen
years later, when amid the ruins Of i'm
perial Rome. Haud-y-Wacker took his
place In history as Odoaker.
The Middle Ages, however. were un-
doubtedly the era Of punning par excel
lence. Grave dlvines, learned schoolmen.
stately prelates. kings. and prinees-nay.
the august wearer OF the Triple Crown
himseif-indvlged without stint IN the
form Of wit stismatized BY Or. Johnson
as the lowest Of the low
Even heraldry, in It's owl opinion, the
most exalted science on earth. tortured
three languages TO swell the number OF
the verbal juggles in which II delighted;
writing on the Vernon crest, Yer non
sempeT viret." and In that OF the Gusts.
''Qui Cust-odit. metuat" Indeed, in an
age when books existed only as scarce
rolls OF dusty parchment transcribed by
the lifelong toll of some laborious monk.
caustic jest OF this kind. leveled az
some familiar abuse or some tyrant IN
high places, few from mouth 10 mouth
Ike a watchword. stirring the souls OF
men in a way which our older century
can but family appreciate -
More than one Pope directed his spir-
itual thunders against the unknown au-
thors OF the biting epigrams placed In
the outstretehed hands of the statue OF
Pasquin at Rome-a circumstance which
has given TO this form Of satire its mod
ern name Of ''Pasquinade
The university statutes of England
TEEN with ordinances against the draw
ing Of caricatures OF writing of scurril
verses against the collegiate officers, to
the bringing into contempt of their law
full authority" A few years ago the
good Bishop OF washington, who was
also al the head Of the fashionable Ca
thedral School for Young Ladies. located
in the suburbs OF the National Capital,
suspended a young lady pupil, the daugh-
ter OF distinguished statesman, for hav-
ing written a play In which the good
bishop himself was made 10 appear in a
fole a Ia Dooley. After consideration and
consultation. the faculty and the bishop
withdrew their complaint. but not until
the young lady had made ample apology
The caustic hits Of those medieval Sat
urday reviewers. the court fools. more
than once changed the purpose of their
despotic masters. Sir Walter Scott and
other writers Of equal renown have borne
ample testimony TO the effect Of the old
anti-Romish ballads in paving the way
for the reformation.
Scandinavian chrOnlclers tell us that a
Norwegian king. who had maltreated
some Iceland traders. was informed by
their indignant countrymen that they IN
tended making as many lampoons upon
him as there were promontories In his
dominion-a threat which one glance at
the jagged coastline of Norway viii show
to be a very terrible one indeed!
Even in an age of such universal pleas
antry, however. il is somewhat strange
to ind the saturnine Charles uttering
such q fragrant pun as that OF II could
put Paris in my glove" (gan0. with
which he answered the vaunts of Fran
els Ia rude play upon the name OF
Gand or Client. then the largest town
In the Netherlands.
A much neater. as well as more prac-
teal. rebuke was given 10 the factious
Duke of Orleans in the century preceding
the last. by his rival. 5ean "Sans-Peur."
of Burgundy. who seeing on the Orleans
banner the figure of a knotty club. sig
nihcally adorned his own with a carpen-
ter's plane.
Amid the countless affectations OF the
sixteenth century stood pre-eminent the
fashion of testing by anagram; /. E.. by
inverting or transposing the letters of a
proper name. Every schoolboy (as Lord
Maeaulay would have saidl is familiar
with Henri of Navarre's appropriate
anagram upon the beautiful Marie Tou-
ohet. '-Je charme tout
The Huguenots extracted VILLAIN
Herodes'' from the name of their sworn
enemy Henri de Valois (Henry III of
France), and the Roman eccIesiastics,
smarting under the sarcasms Of Erasmus.
satirized his humble origin with the
taunt Of 'Eras mus" CThou vert a
mouse).
The courtly and artificial witticisms
which the Louis Quetorze era prescribed
to all Europe as an unalterable fashion
are too well known to need repetition.
but few manly spirits were found 10