words; and it is happy for us, that words can be employed, not only for useful purpofes, but also for our amufement. This amusement accordingly, though humble and low, is relifhed 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 moft civilized nations, and has gradually gone into difrepute. So foon as a language is formed into a fyftem, and the meaning of words are ascertained with tolerable accuracy, opportunity is afforded for expreffions, 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 difguifed 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 any long endurance: for as language ripens, and the meaning of words

words is more and more afcertained, words held to be fynonymous diminish daily; and when those that remain have been more than once employed, the pleasure vanisheth with the novelty.

I proceed to examples, which, as in the former cafe, fhall be distributed into different claffes.

A seeming 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 seeming contraft from the fame cause, termed a verbal antithefis, which hath no defpicable effect in ludicrous fubjects.

Whilft Iris his cosmetic wash would try

To make her bloom revive, and lovers die.

Some afk for charms, and others philters chufe,
To gain Corinna, and their quartans lofe,

Difpenfary, canto 2.

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

VOL. II.

K

Ibid. canto 3.

Other

*Other feeming connections from the fame

caufe.

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 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 také and fometimes tea.

Rape of the Lock, canto 3.1.5.

O'er their quietus where fat judges dose,

And lull their cough and confcience to repofe.

Difpenfary, canto 1.

Speaking of Prince Eugene. "This General is "a great taker of fnuff as well as of towns."

Pope, Key to the Lock.

Exul mentifque domusque.

Metamorphofes, lib. ix. 409.

A

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 love the victors from the vanguifh'd fly,
They fly that wound, and they pursue that die.

What new found witchcraft was in thee,

With thine own cold to kindle me?

Waller.

Strange art; like him that fhould devife

To make a burning-glafs of ice.

Cowley.

Wit of this kind is unfuitable in a serious 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.

Strephon and Chloe.

Taking a word in a different sense from what is meant, comes under wit, because it occafions fome flight degree of surprise.

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

fa

Pedro. Lady Beatrice, I will get you one. Beatrice. I would rather have one of your ther's getting hath your Grace ne'er a brother like you? Your father got excellent hufbands, if a maid could come by them."

Much ado about nothing, alt 2. fc. 5.

Falstaff. My honeft lads, I will tell you what

Falstaff. No quips now, Piftol: indeed, I am