though humble and low, is relished by fome at all times, and by all at fome times, in order to unbend the mind.

It is remarkable, that this low fpecies of wit, has, at one time or other, made a figure in most civilized nations, and has gradually gone into difrepute. So foon as a language is formed into a fyftem, and the meaning of words is afcertained with tolerable accuracy, opportunity is afforded for expreflions, which, by the double meaning of fome words, give a familiar thought the appearance of being new; and the penetration of the reader or hearer is gratified, in detecting the true fenfe disguised under the double meaning. That this fort of wit was in England deemed a reputable amusement, during the reigns of Elifabeth and James I. is vouched by the works of Shakespear, and even by the writings of grave divines. But it cannot have any long endurance: for as language ripens, and the meaning of words is more and more afcertained, words held to be fynonymous diminish daily; and when those that remain have been more than once employ'd, the pleasure vanifheth with the novelty.

I proceed to examples, which, as in the former cafe, fhall be diftributed into different claff

es.

A

A feeming resemblance from the double meaning of a word:

Beneath this stone my wife doth lie;
She's now at reft, and fo am I.

A feeming contraft from the fame cause, termed a verbal antithefis, which hath no despicable effect in ludicrous fubjects:

Whilft Iris his cosmetic wash would try
To make her bloom revive, and lovers die.
Some ask for charms, and others philters chuse,
To gain Corinna, and their quartans lose.

Difpenfary, canto 2,

And how frail nymphs, oft by abortion, aim
To lose a substance, to preserve a name.

Ibid. canto 3.

While nymphs take treats, or affignations give,

Rape of the Lock.

Other feeming connections from the fame

cause :

Will you employ your conqu'ring fword,

To break a fiddle and your word?

Hudibras, canto 2.

To whom the knight with comely grace

Put off his hat to put his cafe.

Hudibras, part 3. canto 3.

Here

Here Britain's statesmen oft the fall foredoom
Of foreign tyrants, and of nymphs at home;
Here thou, great Anna! whom three realms obey,
Does fometimes counsel take- and fometimes tea.

Rape of the Lock, canto 3. 1.5.

O'er their quietus where fat judges dofe,

And lull their cough and confcience to repofe.

Speaking of Prince Eugene :

Difpenfary, cantos.

This general is a great taker of fnuff as well as of

towns.

Pope, Key to the Lock.

Exul mentifque domufque.

Metamorphofes, lib. ix. 409,

A seeming oppofition from the fame caufe:

Hic quiefcit qui nunquam quievit,

Again,

Quel âge a cette Iris, dont on fait tant de bruit?
Me demandoit Cliton n'aguere.

Il faut, dis je, vous fatisfaire,

Elle a vingt ans le jour, et cinquante ans la nuit.

Again,

So like the chances are of love and war,
That they alone in this diftinguish'd are;

In

In love the victors from the vanquifh'd fly,

They fly that wound, and they pursue that die.

Wit of this kind is unfuitable in a ferious poem; witness the following line in Pope's Elegy to the memory of an unfortunate lady:

Cold is that breaft which warm'd the world before.

This fort of writing is finely burlesqued by Swift:

Her hands, the fofteft ever felt,

Though cold would burn, though dry would melt.

Strephen and Chloe.

Taking a word in a different fenfe from what is meant, comes under wit, because it occafions fome flight degree of furprise :

Beatrice. I may fit in a corner, and cry Heigh ho! for a husband.

Pedro. Lady Beatrice, I will get you one.

Beatrice. I would rather have one of your father's get. ting. Hath your Grace ne'er a brother like you? Your father got excellent husbands, if a maid could come by them.

Much ado about nothing, act 2. sc. 5.
Falstaff

Falstaff. My honeft lads, I will tell you what I am a

bout.

Piftol. Two yards and more.

Falstaff. No quips now, Piftol: indeed, I am in the wafte two yards about; but I am now about no waste; I am about thrift.

Lo. Sands.

Merry Wives of Windfor, act 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 meaning, one right, one wrong, but fo connected with other matters, as to direct us to the wrong meaning, is a fpecies of bastard wit which is distinguished 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 fteel,

Or force of Greekish finews; you

fhall do more

Than all the island kings, difarm great Hector,

Troilus and Crefida, act, 3. fc. 2.

The pun is in the clofe. The word difarm has a double meaning: it fignifies to take off a man's armour, and also to fubdue him in fight. We are directed to the latter fenfe by the context;

but