THE first Occafion of these Bouts Rimez made them in fome manner excufable, as they were Tasks which the French Ladies ufed to impofe on their Lovers. But when a grave Author, like him above-mentioned, tasked himfelf, could there be any thing more ridiculous? Or would not one be apt to believe that the Author played booty, and did not make his Lift of Rhymes till he had finished his Poem?

I shall only add, that this Piece of false Wit has been finely ridiculed by Monfieur Sarafın, in a Poem entituled, La Defaite des Bouts-Rimex, The Rout of the BoutsRimez

I muft fubjoin to this laft kind of Wit the double Rhymes, which are used in Doggerel Poetry, and generally applauded by ignorant Readers. If the Thought of the Couplet in fuch Compofitions is good, the Rhyme adds little to it; and if bad, it will not be in the Power of the Rhyme to recommend it. I am afraid that great Numbers of those who admire the incomparable Hudibras, do it more on account of thefe Doggerel Rhymes than of the Parts that really deferve Admiration. I am fure I have heard the

and

Pulpit, Drum Ecclefiaftick,

Was beat with Fift inftead of a Stick.

more frequently quoted, than the fineft Pieces of Wit in

the whole Poem.

C

Tirfday,

N° 61. Thursday, May 10.

Non equidem ftudeo, bullatis ut mihi mugis
Pagina turgefcat, dare pondus idonea fumo.

'Tis not indeed my Talent to engage In lofty Trifles, or to fwell my Page With Wind and Noife.

T

Perf. Sat. 5. v. 19.

DRYDEN.

HERE is no kind of falfe Wit which has been fo recommended by the Practice of all Ages, as that which confifts in a Jingle of Words, and is comprehended under the general Name of Punning. It is indeed impoffible to kill a Weed, which the Soil has a natural Difpofition to produce. The Seeds of Punning are in the Minds of all Men, and tho' they may be fubdued by Reafon, Reflexion, and good Senfe, they will be very apt to fhoot up in the greatest Genius that is not broken and cultivated by the Rules of Art. Imitation is natural to us, and when it does not raife the Mind to Poetry, Painting, Mufick, or other more noble Arts, it often breaks out in Puns and Quibbles.

ARISTOTLE, in the Eleventh Chapter of his Book of Rhetorick, defcribes two or three kinds of Puns, which he calls Paragrams, among the Beauties of good Writing, and produces Inftances of them out of fome of the greatest Authors in the Greek Tongue. Cicero has fprinkled feveral of his Works with Puns, and in his Book, where he lays down the Rules of Oratory, quotes abundance of Sayings as Pieces of Wit, which alfo upon Examination prove arrant Puns. But the Age in which the Pun chiefly flourished, was the Reign of King James the First. That learned Monarch was himfelf a tolerable Punfter, and made very few Bishops or PrivyCounsellors that had not fome time or other fignalized themselves by a Clinch, or a Conundrum. It was therefore in this Age that the Pun appeared with Pomp and Dignity.

L 3

Dignity. It had before been admitted into merry Speeches and ludicrous Compofitions, but was now delivered with great Gravity from the Pulpit, or pronounced in the most folemn manner at the CouncilTable. The greateft Authors, in their moft ferious Works, made frequent ufe of Puns. The Sermons of Bishop Andrews, and the Tragedies of Shakespear, are full of them. The Sinner was punned into Repentance by the former, as in the latter nothing is more ufual than to fee a Hero weeping and quibbling for a dozen Lines together.

I must add to these great Authorities, which feem to have given a kind of Sanction to this Piece of falfe Wit, that all the Writers of Rhetorick have treated of Punning with very great Refpect, and divided the feveral kinds of it into hard Names, that are reckoned among the Figures of Speech, and recommended as Ornaments in Difcourfe.. I remember a Country Schoolmaster of my Acquaintance told me once, that he had been in Company with a Gentleman whom he looked upon to be the greatest Paragrammatift among the Moderns. Upon Inquiry, I found my learned Friend had dined that Day with Mr. Swan, the famous Punfter; and defiring him to give me fome Account of Mr. Swan's Converfation, he told me that he generally talked in the Paranomafia, that he fometimes gave into the Plocè, but that in his humble Opinion he shined most in the Antanaclafis.

I must not here omit, that a famous University of this Land was formerly very much infested with Puns; but whether or no this might not arife from the Fens and Marthes in which it was fituated, and which are now drained, I must leave to the Determination of more skilful Naturalifts.

AFTER this fhort Hiftory of Punning, one would wonder how it should be fo entirely banished out of the Learned World as it is at prefent, efpecially fince it had found a Place in the Writings of the most ancient Polite Authors. To account for this we must confider, that the first Race of Authors, who were the great Heroes in Writing, were deftitute of all Rules and Arts of Criticifm; and for that Reafon, though they excel

later

later Writers in Greatness of Genius, they fall fhort of them in Accuracy and Correctness. The Moderns cannot reach their Beauties, but can avoid their Imperfections. When the World was furnished with thefe Authors of the first Eminence, there grew up another Set of Writers, who gained themselves a Reputation by the Remarks which they made on the Works of those who preceded them. It was one of the Employments of thefe Secondary Authors, to diftinguish the feveral kinds of Wit by Terms of Art, and to confider them as more or lefs perfect, according as they were founded in Truth. It is no wonder therefore, that even fuch Authors as Ifocrates, Plato, and Cicero, fhould have fuch little Blemishes as are not to be met with in Authors of a much inferior Character, who have written fince those several Blemishes were discovered. I do not find that there was a proper Separation made between Puns and true Wit by any of the Ancient Authors, except Quintilian and Longinus. But when this Diftinction was once fettled, it was very natural for all Men of Senfe to agree in it. As for the Revival of this false Wit, it happened about the time of the Revival of Letters; but as foon as it was once detected, it immediately vanished and disappeared. At the fame time there is no question, but as it has funk in one Age and rofe in another, it will again recover it felf in fome diftant Period of Time, as Pedantry and Ignorance fhall prevail upon Wit and Senfe. And, to fpeak the Truth, I do very much apprehend, by fome of the last Winter's Productions, which had their Sets of Admirers, that our Pofterity will in a few Years degenerate into a Race of Punfters: At least, a Man may be very excufable for any Apprehenfions of this kind, that has feen Acrofticks handed about the Town with, great Secrecy and Applaufe; to which I must also add a little Epigram called the Witches Prayer, that fell into Verse when it was read either backward or forward, excepting only that it Curfed one way and Bleffed the other. When one fees there are actually fuch Pains-takers among our British Wits, who can tell what it may end in? If we must Lash one another, let it be with the manly Strokes of Wit and Satire; for I am of the old Philofopher's Opinion, That if I muft fuffer from one or the other, I would rather it should be from

the Paw of a Lion, than the Hoof of an Afs. I do not fpeak this out of any Spirit of Party. There is a most crying Dulness on both Sides. I have feen Tory Acrofticks and Whig Anagrams, and do not quarrel with either of them, because they are Whigs or Tories, but because they are Anagrams and Acrofticks.

BUT to return to Punning. Having pursued the Hiftory of a Pun, from its Original to its Downfal, I fhall here define it to be a Conceit arifing from the use of two Words that agree in the Sound, but differ in the Senfe. The only way therefore to try a Piece of Wit, is to tranflate it into a different Language: If it bears the Test, you may pronounce it true; but if it vanishes in the Experiment you may conclude it to have been a Pun. In fhort, one may fay of a Pun, as the Countryman described his Nightingale, that it is vox & præterea nihil, a Sound, and nothing but a Sound. On the contrary, one may reprefent true Wit by the Defcription which Ariftenetus makes of a fine Woman; when fhe is dreffed the is Beautiful, when she is undreffed the is Beautiful or as Mercerus has tranflated it more Emphatically, Induitur, formofa eft: Exuitur, ipfa forma eft.

N° 62.

Friday, May 11.

Scribendi relè fapere eft & principium & fons.

C

Hor. Ars Poet. v.

309.

Sound Judgment is the Ground of writing well.

M'

ROSCOMMON.

R. Locke has an admirable Reflexion upon the Difference of Wit and Judgment, whereby he endeavours to fhew the Reason why they are not always the Talents of the fame Perfon. His Words are as follow: And hence, perhaps, may be given fome Reason of that common Obfervation, That Men who have a great deal of Wit and prompt Memories, have not always the clearest Fudgment, or deepest Reafon. For Wit lying most in the Affemblage of Ideas, and putting thofe together with

Quickness