in the wafte two yards about; but I am now about no waste; I am about thrift. Lo. Sands. Merry wives of Windfor, at 1. fc. 7. By your leave, fweet ladies, If I chance to talk a little wild, forgive me : I had it from my father. Anne Bullen. Was he mad, Sir? Sands. O, very mad, exceeding mad, in love too; But he would bite none K. Henry VIII. An affertion that bears a double mean ing, one right, one wrong; but fo connected with other matters as to direct us to the wrong meaning. This fpecies of bastard wit is diftinguished from all others by the name pun. For example, Paris. Sweet Helen, I muft woo you, To help unarm our Hector: his stubborn buckles, With these your white inchanting fingers touch'd,. Shall more obey, than to the edge of steel, Or force of Greekish finews: you fhall do more Than all the island kings, difarm great Hector. Troilus and Creffida, alt 3. fc. 2. The The Effe nihil dicis quicquid petis, improbe Cinna: Martial, l. 3. epigr. 61. Jocondus geminum impofuit tibi, Sequana, pontem; Hunc tu jure potes dicere pontificem. N. B. Focondus was a monk. Sanazarius, Chief Justice. Well! the truth is, Sir John, you live in great infamy. Falstaff. He that buckles him in my belt, can. not live in lefs. Chief Justice. Your means are very flender, and your waste is great. Falstaff. I would it were otherwife: I would my means were greater, and my wafte flenderer. Second part, Henry IV. act 1. fc. 5. Celia. I pray you bear with me, I can go no further. Clown. Clown, For my part, I had rather bear with you than bear you: yet I should bear no cross if I did bear you; for I think you have no money in your purse. As you like it, act 2. fc. 4. He that imposes an oath makes it, Hudibras, part 2. canto 2. The feventh fatire of the first book of Horace, is purpofely contrived to introduce at the close a most execrable pun. Talking of fome infamous wretch whose name was Rex Rupilius. Perfius exclamat, Per magnos, Brute, deos te tuorum eft. Though playing with words is a mark of a mind at ease, and disposed for any fort of amufement, we must not thence conclude that playing with words is always ludicrous. Words are fo intimately connected with thought, thought, that if the fubject be really grave, it will not appear ludicrous even in this fantaftic drefs. I am, however, far from recommending it in any serious performance. On the contrary, the difcordance betwixt the thought and expreffion must be disagreeable; witness the following fpecimen. He hath abandoned his phyficians, Madam, under whofe practices he hath perfecuted time with hope and finds no other advantage in the process, but only the lofing of hope by time. All's well that ends well, act 1. Sc. I. K. Henry. O my poor kingdom, fick with civil, When that my care could not with-hold thy riots, Second part, K. Henry IV. A fmart repartee may be confidered as a fpecies of wit. A certain petulant Greek, objecting to Anacharfis that he was a Scythian: True, fays Anacharfis, my country difgraces me, but you difgrace your country. CHA P. 81 CHA P. · XIV. Cuftom and Habit. Nquiring into the nature of man as à fenfitive being, and finding him af I fected in a high degree with novelty, would any one conjecture that he is equally affected with custom? Yet thefe frequently take place, not only in the fame perfon, but even with relation to the fame fubject: when new, it is inchanting; familiarity. renders it indifferent; and cuftom, after a longer familiarity, makes it again defirable. Human nature, diverfified with many and various fprings of action, is wonderfully, and, indulging the expreffion, intricately conftructed. Custom hath fuch influence upon many of our feelings, by warping and varying them, that we must attend to its operations if we would be acquainted with human naVOL. II. L ture. |