and sounds, the greater will be the difficulty of substituting one word or meaning in the place of another. The knack of punning is easily attained, but to get into the habit of doing so is contemptible: hence it has been said, that he who could make a pun could pick a pocket. Though this by no means follows as a necessary consequence, for we have known even judges and justices of peace to be guilty of the one, but seldom, very seldom, guilty of the other! though perhaps as much might be said in favour of the latter as of the former practice. It is not, however, our intention to advocate either. Punning, indeed, not unfrequently serves to enliven conversation, and to banish dulness and stupidity from the festive board. Herein, therefore, it has its use. But as it necessarily must partake of the speaker's general tone of thought and conversation, it is only pardonable when employed by a person of at least good common sense, while an elegant mind will make it a happy means of displaying the brilliant powers of genuine wit. There are some half-a-dozen well-known individuals whose puns are regularly chronicled in the newspapers, but who, like other celebrated wits, have been obliged to fat a formidable bastard progeny. The popular personages to whom we allude may be characterized in something after the following manner :Lord Norbury is a determined punster; Samuel Rogers is a patrician punster; Thomas Hood is an admirable punster; William Jerdan a provoking punster; Horace Smith a tolerable, and Theodore Hook an intolerable punster. The puns of Lord Norbury are to be met with in abundance in all the Irish papers. Those of Mr. Rogers pass current in Albemarle and New Burlington Streets, and are so often to be encountered in the circles of everyday society; where, indeed, their points could not be thoroughly perceived, concealed as they frequently are, rather in the meaning than the mere words of a sen. tence. The puns of Hood are mostly legitimate, as will be seen upon reference to his 'Whims and Oddities ;' where may be found some of the best specimens in our language. The pun-dits of Mr. Jerdan are rather allowable than legitimate, and sometimes puzzle us sorely to find out their interpretation; notwithstanding the preliminary and explanatory notes which generally accompany them; you may, however, meet occasionally with some capital hits in the Literary Gazette.' Horace Smith does not often dose you with his double meanings; save now and then when writing a song of names and their significations. But Theodore Hook is perfectly intolerable, and will make no more ado at punning all Johnson's Dictionary than he would of 'Saying' or Doing' the most unimportant thing imaginable. Had Shenstone lived in the days of Theodore, his boast of having a name pun-proof would soon have been taken from him by Hook or by Crook.' The witticisms of this incorrigible wit occupy a conspicuous place in the pages of the John Bull;' to the no small edification of all true sons of mother church, and the great delight and entertainment of gossipers and scandal-mongers generally. Next comes 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. It may not be improper here to remark a species of incomprehensible punning which is even lower than conundrums. We 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 plane 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 dis. cover 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. THE CORONATION OF CHARLES XII. O foolish youth, Thou seekest the greatness that will overwhelm thee. Shakspeare. HARK! heard you not the clanging sounds of war, Whilst love-lorn echo wafts the shouts around? Or rides some chief in his triumphal car, 'Midst vict'ry's notes on trumpets' joyful sound? Waves his right-hand the reeking blood-red steel, That hand intrepid for his country's weal, Drags he a thousand slaves, bound to his chariot wheel? Whose mane is light'ning, and his breath is flame. Who wept for other worlds to make a battle-scene. * Alexander. Amidst his subjects' shouts he rides along, The youthful monarch of a warrior-race; Like great Saturnian Jove on his Olympic throne. Its walls are lofty, in the Gothic style, Whilst grandeur sits enthroned with look sublime, As if the guardian genius of the pile Protects the temple from the hand of time : The mausoleum of the mighty slain ! Look round-your eyes from out their orbits strain, And say how man could raise such a gigantic fane. Whilst Swedish lords and guards stand silent round, The deed is done-a thousand shouts prevail, The solemn temple' and the silent graves; "God save the king,' the wond'ring nobles cry, 'God save the king,' the martial guards reply, Who best can lead the Swedes to conquer or to die!' Halifax. VOL. 1. June, 1829. GULIELMUS. 2 A NINE MONTHS IN AUVERGNE. IN Auvergne the vintage takes place in the beginning of October; and, as the riches of the county are principally derived from its vines, that month is one of unusual interest to the natives, and even to the passing observer, who cannot but partake of the general excitement. The precise time for the vintage is, in each district, regulated by an ordonnance of the prefect; for the whole country being uninclosed, and no vineyard being separated from the others by fence of any sort, it would be impossible for the proprietor of any particular farm to gather his fruit without injuring that of his neighbours. Besides, was the labour to be carried on every where at the same time, sufficient hands could scarcely be collected on any one spot. Grapes are, moreover, liable to be stolen; and there is less possibility of this being the case when the inhabitants of each parish are collected and employed together in their own district. So soon as the fruit begins to ripen, guards are stationed on the ground to protect it. Some years ago, one of these gardes champêtres espied me while gathering a bunch of grapes, which a hot walk rendered irresistibly inviting, and, accosting me, politely desired that I would accompany him, as his prisoner, to the mayor of the commune. Even had I been inclined to try the experiment, resistance would have been useless, for my aggressor was armed; I, therefore, thought it more prudent to enter into pourparler, to which the other had no objection, as he guessed what would be the probable result; and it was soon settled that I should continue my walk, in freedom, on giving him ten sous, pour boire. I have heard of English, anxious to ascertain whether such a larceny as that for which I had been arrested were punishable by the French police, who selected the moment to commit it when gens-d'armes were passing near them; and finding that they were not molested, my countrymen drew the liberal conclusion that vineyards were open to the incursions of all. Had they met |