428 CRITICAL NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS, 



article from this literary melanf^e, we do not mean to affirm that it is the 

 best in the collection, or that it may exactly bear us out in our antecedent 

 observation, but it is still a good thing, and happens to be somewhat 

 about the length to which our review is required to be limited : — 



ON PUNNING, CONUNDRUMS, &c. 



"A pun, like every thing else, is a good thing in its proper place; there are 

 moments and hours in the lives of us all which are spent in vacuity, in doing 

 nothing or woise than nothing. If a pun, or any thing that is innocent can 

 make us smile instead of gaping, or laugh outright instead of nodding, we should 

 hail it as a ' consummation devoutly to be wished.' So far from scrutinizing its 

 pretensions too closely, the amusement it affords us is often in the precise degree 

 of its extravagance ; as we are more delighted with the antics of a merry-andrew, 

 the more he deviates from the beau ideal of beauty and grace. 



" It is sometimes pretended that no man of talent was ever a punster; but so 

 far from acceding to the truth of the observation, we contend that none, except a 

 man of genius, ever made a good pun. Shakspeare, the most exalted and 

 versatile genius ' that ever lived in the tide of time,' was a punster, although it 

 must be confessed he was none of the best, and that many of his puns are not 

 only bad, but sadly misplaced. 



" If Swift was an inveterate punster, he was, on the other band, the author of 

 the Tale of a Tub, Gulliver, and many other works which evinced much art, 

 learning, and extensive information. Foote, one of the best punsters that ever 

 ' set the table in a roar,' was a man also of genuine wit and humour, and a most 

 entertaining writer. Sheridan, who was very fond of a pun, was a brilliant 

 orator and an accomplished author ; and if George Colman has been guilty of 

 sundry puns, he has fully atoned for the sin by favouring us with some of the 

 best comedies in the language. 



" It has a thousand times been observed that ridicule and satire are the most 

 powerful correctives of folly or vice, and may they not be equally efficacious in 

 exploding vulgar phraseology ? Many a person upon whom the lesson and the 

 rod of the pedagogue have failed to produce correct pronunciation or emphasis, 

 has been shamed out of his slovenly habits by hearing a bad conundrum or pun 

 made the subject of exposure and laughter. No man that has heard Liston talk 

 of an horse and an hunter, and has seen the audience convulsed with laughter at 

 the vugarism, will be likely to fall into the same mistake ; or if he has already 

 acquired the bad habit, he will, forthwith, set about reforming it to avoid ridicule. 

 The abominable pronunciation of the letter h, so common in many counties, 

 is more likely to be reformed by dint of punning than by any more legitimate 

 process ; as the worst puns which are sported often depend upon false aspiration. 



" Conundrums, which are synonimous with puns, have other claims to notice, 

 besides the innocent and hearty laugh they afford— they may be rendered subser- 

 vient to correct pronunciation. 



" A celebrated writer has observed that ' Gravity is often a mere mystery of the 

 body, assumed to hide the defects of the mind ;' and most certainly our own ex- 

 perience, which has often confirmed the truth of the position, enables us to say 

 that the most agreeable triflers are to be found amongst men of the highest 

 literary and scientific attainments. Your dull and pedantic proser, who will turn 

 up his learned nose at a whimsical or outrageous conundrum, depend upon it 

 cannot make one himself. Of all the stimulants to mirth and laughter, we 

 scarcely know any to be compared to the conundrum, especially of the outri 

 class ; the more outrageous the better. 



" The pun often owes its zest to a vicious and distorted pronunciation, or 

 emphasis, and as this discrepance generally excites our laughter and ridicule, we 

 are not likely to fall into similar vulgarisms in our ordinary conversations, for 

 such is the dread of appearing ridiculous, that the generality of men would 

 rather be hated than laughed at. 



" We have said that puns are admissible, and agreeable, too, when introduced 

 at proper times and seasons, by which we mean, when they do not interrupt or 

 supersede rational and useful conversation, or when they are not incompatible 

 with the nature of the place in which they are uttered. It was, however, the 



