VI. If 'tis true, as you say, that I've injur❜d a letter, VII. BY DR. Donne. "I am unable”, yonder Beggar cries Here the wit arises from the word lies signi fying both lies down and tells an untruth. VIII. BY HACKETT. When Jack was poor, the lad was frank and free; Why so? You see he has forgot himself. Here, the word forgot signifying to have lost the remembrance of a thing in the literal sense, and in a figurative sense to have neglected to conduct himself properly, in the same manner as if he had really lost the memory of who he was, an excellent and severe piece of wit arises: It is improved by the antithesis between the words remember and forgot. The last I shall produce is from the Collection in the Elegant Extracts, similar to one given in your Essay on Ingenious and Witty Songs, p. 174. IX. FROM MARTIAL, B. VIII. EP. 19. Hall says he's poor, in hopes you'll say he's not; But, take his word for't; Hall's not worth a groat. Where the wit consists in not worth signifying both not possessed of and not of the value of. If we compare these with some Epigrams which do not depend upon puns, the superiority of the wit or comic effect in the pun will be the more apparent. I select the following from the Elegant Extracts, which are some that I had previously marked as amongst the best there without any reference to this subject. X. BY PRIOR. To John I ow'd great obligation, But John unhappily thought fit To publish it to all the nation. Sure John and I are more than quit. XI. BY BANKS. Young Courtly takes me for a dunce, XII. Tom's coach and six !-Whither in such haste going? XIII. Jack his own merit sees. This gives him pride, XIV. BY JOSIAH RELPH. No, Varus hates a thing that's base; XV. MUTUAL PITY. Tom, ever jovial, ever gay, To appetite a slave, Still swears and drinks his life away, The fellow fondly laughs at me, While I could cry for him. XVI. FROM MARTIAL, B. I. EP. 39. The verses, friend, which thou hast read, are mine; To these I will add three from another collection. XIX. EPITAPH ON A MISER. Reader, beware immoderate love of pelf: Here lies the worst of thieves, who robb'd himself. These instances may be concluded with The Epigram on an Epigram from the Oxford Sausage. XX. 1 One day in Christ-Church Meadows walking, 2 "Your Simile, I own, is new, But how do'st make it out", quoth Hugh? Here, though in fact there is a double meaning in the word point, signifying the tapering end of any thing, and also the turn or sting of an epigram, yet there is too great a similarity in the two senses, the contrast is not sufficiently great to cause much surprise, and much laughter. Some of the best of the wit by the generallyacknowledged wittiest writer of the age consists of pun, as for instance, in The School for Scandal, A. ii. S. 2. Mrs. Candour. She has a charming fresh colour. Lady Teazle. Yes, when it is fresh put on. Mrs. C. 'Tis natural, for I've seen it come and go. Lady T. Yes, it comes at night, and goes again in the morning. Sir Benjamin. True, madam, it not only goes and comes, but, what's more, her maid can fetch and carry it. Again, in The Duenna, A. ii. S. 3. Jerome. She has her aunt Ursula's nose, and her grandmother's forehead to a hair. Isaac. Aye, and her grandfather's chin, to a hair. Instances might be multiplied without end from some of our best authors. Of Comic Songs containing puns, the first, which at this time presents itself to my notice, is one of Trudge's, in Inkle and Yarico, in which the puns, though not of the first rate, are yet amusing. In a Song, In a Song, where there are several, and there is the additional pleasure derived from the music, a less degree of excellence will suffice than in an Epigram, where the whole life of it depends upon the pun or point. |