Connecticut western news., 1913-02-20
CONCEALED PUNS.
James Russell Lowell CIeVerIy Hid
 One In a Review.
QUAINT HUMOR IN A. SNEEzE.

Buried Run by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
 Horace F. Scudder in some reminis cences of James Russell Lowell point ed out that the poet critic even in his soberest essays would sometimes hide uway a jest for the delectation of spe ciaIly discerning readers. Thus in Ii review of Richard Grant Whites edi ton of Shakespeare. Lowell remarked incidentally:
 ITO every commentator who has wantonly tempered with the text or obscured it with his inky cloud of para phrase We feel inclined to apply the quadrisylIabic name or the brother of Agis. king of Sparta"
 Professor FeIton of Harvard, we are told. was the first to remember or dis cover that the name of Agis' brother was Eudamidas.
 A more opaque mystifcation Is con tained in a passage in the first chapter of Nathaniel Hawthorne's "0ur Old Home"-opaque only because he pur- posely seeks to conceal every clew to the fact that pun is buried beneath the surface.
 The chapter is headed Consular Ex periences." Speaking of the lights and .I shadows of the consul's office at Liver pool. where he was stationed during the presidency of Franklin Pierce Hawthorne dwells with special pleas ure on the visits of young English friend. "a scholar and literary amateur 4 between whom and myself there sprang up an affectionate and. l trust. not transitory regard"
 This friend used to come and sit or stand by the Hawthorne flreside, with such kind endurance of the many rough republicanisms wherewith I us. sailed him and such frank and amiable assertion of all sorts of English preju dices and mistakes. that understood his countrymen infinitely the better for him and was almost prepared to love the intensest Englishman of them all for his sake. 1t would gratify my cher. ished remembrance of this dear friend if could remind him without offend ing him. or letting the public know it. to introduce his name upon my page Bright was the illumination of my dusky little apartment as often as he made his appearance there."
 The casual reader never suspects that Hawthorne has deftly accomplish. ed his purpose. It does not occur to him that Bright the apparent adjective that so cunningly begins a sentence and therefore achieves the right to Il capital initial may be alternatively read as a proper noun.
 Henry A. Bright was. in fact. flaw, thorne's only intimate friend in Liver pool He was a man of wealth and DO sition in that town, dilettante who had published for his own amusement botanical manual, -'The English Flower Garden" With Hawthorne he would frequently call upon the local bookseller, Henry Young, making use of little nook in the rear of the shop I to examine and discuss the recent pub lications. This came to be known as i Hawthorne's corner.
 There is a story told about Sydney Smith that represents him as carryinp concealed pun into the pulpit with him. The most familiar version is that which Lord Houghton used to tell i When settled at his small living fin Yorkshire. Sydney willingly assisted his brethren in that neighborhood in | their clerical duties. On one occasion he dined with the incumbent on tEp l preceding Saturday. The evening passed in great hilarity the squire Kershaw by name. being conspicuous by his loud enjoyment of the visitor, I jokes
 T am very glad that have amuse you." said Sydney Smith at parting ''but you must not laugh at my sermon tomorrow ''l should hope know the differen between here and church." remarked the squire little tartly perhaps
 I'm not so sure of that" I'll bet you Il guinea un it." l ''Take you" said the divine ] Next day the preacher ascended th. heps of the pulpit apparently suffering ! from a severe cold. with his handker chief to his face. and at once sneezpu ] out the name "Kershaw!" several times in various intonatiens This ingenious assumption of the readiness with which l a man would recognize his own namr in sounds unintelligibe to the ears of others proved accurate The pOoI squire burst into guffaw tO the scnu dal of the congrega tion. The minister after looking at him with stern rt. 1 proach proceeded with his discourse and won the bet
 Another version makes the victim of Sydney's jest certain Sir Archi bald Macdunald. equerry to the Duke of Sussex. Sir Archibald said to thp prelate. who was then canon at Sf ! Puul's cathedral:
 "I will come some Sunday to heat | lOu preach.
 If you do shall name you from the pulpit" was the reply.
 I'ndaunted by this threat. Sir Arch' bald went to St Paul's.
 \ sydney entered the pulpit. looked hand ot ba npH ras cafzg.l