Here the pun arises on the word jure, that meaning both an elective franchise, and soup. In speaking againt Isauricus,

he says

Miror, quid sit, quod pater tuus, homo constantissimus te nobis varium reliquit.

Ibidem.

Here the pun is in the double meaning of the word varium, as it may be construed freckled, which was the peculiarity of the countenance of Isauricus; or as fickle, which was the peculiarity of his character.

Horace, the elegant Horace, has not scrupled to defile his pen by puns. Speaking of a villain named Rex Rupilius, he makes a most contemptible use of the prænomen as a pun: Persius exclamat, Per magnos, Brute, deos te

Oro qui reges consueris tollere, cur non

Hunc Regem jugulas? Operum hoc, mihi crede tuorum est.
Satirarium, lib. 1, sat. 7, v. 32, &c.

Martial, too

Esse nihil dicis quicquid petis, Improbe Cinna
Si nil Cinna petis; nil tibi, Cinna nego.

Epigr. lib. 12, ep. lxxvi.

The facetious Cervantes also punned continually.

describing Rocinante, he says

In

Fué luego á ver á su rocin, y aunque tenia mas quartos que un real, &c. Don Quixote, part 1, cap. 1. Here the pun is on the word quartos, meaning both the exossifications frequently found on the head of diseased horses, and farthings. Now in a real, there are twenty farthings, and thus the number of bumps, on poor Rocinante's head, are. assimilated to the number of farthings in a real.

In fact, puns are so frequent among the best writers, as well as those who are only deserving of a much lower rank, that it will be unnecessary to add to the number of our instances.

Having now gone through these three main branches, of wit in the thought, wit mixed, and wit in the word, we are, according to our plan, to take a view of the most common methods, by which dull persons, wholly destitute of wit, impose upon their own credulity, so far as to think they are witty, whereas they are only ingeniously stupid. If the étiquette, which determines the proper stations in the Temple of Dulness, of these efforts of impotent vigour should be infringed, the fault arises from ignorance, and not from intention. Therefore, as animus non actus crimen facit, no offence will, it is hoped, be taken.

First then, we will consider the Conundrum. This, when good, approaches in some degree, to wit. It has the property of remarking an ideal connexion between different things, but it wants that great requisite of true wit-quickness of perception. When good, it amounts to Enigma, but when bad, it is almost worse than the lowest Paronomasia. It is an attempt at wit, unfortunately, too well known to require many illustrations. The two following, from the Italian: the one of the bread-fruit tree; and the other of a bucket in a well, are sufficient to satisfy any moderate reader—

Alto padre, bassa madre, figliuolini bianchi, e nepotini neri: che cosa è? Qual è quella cosa che va giù ridendo, e ritorna su piangendo?

It may not be improper here to remark a species of in comprehensible punning, which is even lower than Conundrums. I speak of that, by which, witlings will bring in all the implements of a particular trade, in order to eke out their ponderous levity. One of these gentlemen, when he hears of a Mr. Carpenter, will tell you it is plain he never saw a man augur so much to be a bore. And thus the poor man imagines he has arrived at the acme of wit.

Next comes the Crambo-maker. This being is a perfect nuisance in the society he infests. Nothing is too grave, nothing is too important, for the display of this wise personage's qualification. He seeks no connexion, no opposition of either ideas, or words. If he can but discover an opportunity of making a good long string of rhymes, his happiness is complete. He will say, if he understands that you are possessed of some ground, that you were in duty bound, when you had found, a handsome hound, to let it bound, upon a mound, though not worth a pound, lest the sound, all around, should drive you aground, and you confound, make you compound, and thus expound, what was most profound, and that would redound, and you surround, with fame renowned; and thus he will proceed, as long as the language, or his memory, will permit.

These persons whom we have just mentioned, might, to a certain degree, be excused, as probably their puny efforts arose from the natural weakness of their minds; but we come now to consider those, who have displayed very successfully, the most ingenious folly, and therefore are quite inexcusable. Such were those minor Greek Poets, who wrote poems in the shape of eggs, axes, altars, and wings. These pretended votaries of Apollo were obliged, or rather they obliged themselves, to twist and turn their words, their verses, and

their subjects, so as to make them come into that shape, which it was then their object to form.

Next those philosophers, who employed themselves in writing a long work with a certain small number of words. One of those droll fellows was once able to write a long hexameter Hymn, to the Virgin Mary, in which he employed but eight words.

The Anagrammatist now comes to be noticed. The office of this joke-maker, is, to take a certain number of words, with the letters of which, he composes a long string of verses.

Far-famed Acrostick forms then the subject of observation. The wiseacres employed in this species of monkish wit are to take a particular name, and then write the letters of it in a perpendicular line. Afterwards, they are to compose a line of crambo, or a verse of poetry, as the champions for these witticisms would call it, to every letter which occurs in the line. But this is a mean attempt to those deeds, which the Herculean acrostick writers of the middle ages performed. They sometimes had the stream of the letters in the appointed name, running through the centre of the verses, as well as at both ends. Which of these two last mentioned professors deserves the preference, it is not intended by us here to determine, but whoever he may be, he certainly ought not to be crowned with laurel.

The Chronogram is similar in principle to the two last. It is found in the greatest perfection, on some of the German medals. Certain words are selected, in which, are certain letters, which, when struck in a larger character than their companions, will form in Roman numerals the date of the year, or some other period.

We shall now mention the Bouts rimés of the French. These were in their nature very similar to the acrosticks. They consisted of a number of words arranged as the ends of verses, in rhyme, to which the admirer of this species of fame was to write beginnings. The more fantastic the rhymes were, of course, the greater the merit was of the poet, who finished, or rather, who commenced, the verses.

The Lipogrammatist of the Greeks is now our theme. This is a person, who, if languages were asked the question, would be pronounced by them as their greatest torturer. This solemn blockhead manages so far to abuse his ingenuity and learning, as to write whole books without the use of a particular letter. This letter, the unhappy object of his occasional hatred, he chases like another Minotaur through all the mazy labyrinths of the Doric, Æolic, Ionic, and poetic dialects, together with all the figures of orthography, until

he is able to find some word, which possesses the required negative advantage. The renowned Tryphiodorus was able to compose twenty-four books on the same subject, as Homer's Odyssey, which had the undoubted advantage of the a, the B, they, and the 8, and the other letters of the alphabet, being excluded from the first, second, third, fourth, and other books respectively.

The last species but one, which we shall consider, is, that wherein poets write verses, in which the same word occurs a great number of times. The nine epigrams of Martial, which cannot be translated, possess this property. One of them abounds in the inflections of the verb agere :·

Semper agis causas; et res agis, Attale semper,
Est, non est, quod agas? Attale semper agis.
Si res et causæ desunt; Agis, Attale, mulas,
Attale, ne quod agas, desit; agas animam.

Alliteration, though far superior, seems to be something of the same nature. Ennius has got a curious instance of this nature:

O Tite tute Tati tibi tanta tyranne tulisti.

Last of all, we shall mention the Rebus. This is a species of hieroglyphic, by which, ingenious persons employ the pictures of different things, in the animate and inanimate world, to express their name, or some other word most suiting their fancy, or convenience. Cæsar made a very

famous rebus, when he was one of the masters of the Roman mint, by striking the picture of an elephant, one side of the coin. Cæsar, in the Punic language, meaning an elephant.

Having now explained the nature of wit, the writer would endeavour to give that, of which, he stands very much in need himself-advice. He certainly cannot be aware of all the difficulties which arise in restraining a witty imagination, as no one knows perfectly what a misfortune is, until he is afflicted with it. Certain he however is, that those persons possessed of wit, are generally regarded as a species of fulminating balls, which every body is afraid to touch, lest they should burst. Every person who knows them dreads their company, as he knows not when he may happen to use some unfortunate expression, tell some unlucky story, or employ some awkward gesture, which will give his Aristophanes acquaintance an opportunity of displaying his talent. There must be something very gratifying to the mind, in the display of wit, since it will prompt its unfortunate owners to sacrifice their interest, and even their friends, to this darling propensity. If this were the only use, of which

wit was capable, better be a Conundrum-maker, or blow water-bubbles for amusement, than thus continually play the asp. But that is not the case. Wit may be employed as a means of innocent recreation, and also for the promotion of virtue. Let it however be used more like a Horace than a Juvenal: let us strike at the vice, and not at the person; the crime, and not the criminal; and, in the intercourse of life, let it be like the lambent flame, which played about the forehead of Ascanius, and Servius Tullius, brilliant, but harmless...

The orator, too, may make very advantageous use of wit. By that he can put truth in a clearer light; by that he can paint virtue, with all her beauty, and vice, with all his deformity. In short, it would be endless to point out all the instances, in which he may avail himself of this talent. He should however, imitate, if modern orators can be supposed to imitate, the conduct of Hyperides, rather than that of Demosthenes. Let him be careful, that, in satire, he does not create the laugh at his own, instead of his antagonist's expence; and thus be pierced by an arrow from his own

quiver.

Much good advice might here be given; but as the person now writing, as he before observed, is much more suited to take a passive, than an active part in that particular, he will here take leave of his reader.

DISCUSSION:

ARE COLONIES BENEFICIAL TO THE PARENT STATE?

THIS subject was ably introduced to the Institution by one of its Honorary Members, who commenced the discussion by observing that

Man had, in all ages, left his native land to seek his fortune in distant or foreign climes. It was natural, and it was beneficial, for him to do so. By this means, the earth became peopled, and its vast productions were rendered available. It was not good that mankind should remain stationary, either in place or circumstance. By the planting of Colonies, various advantages accrued which would appear in the course of the discussion.

It was scarcely necessary to advert to the importance of