Such are puns of the "atrocious" or
"villainous" class--a fertile source of bad riddles. For instance, "Why
is an old shoe like ancient Greece?" "Because it had a sole on (Solon)."
Here the words are very dissimilar and the allusion is imperfect--the
description of an old shoe being wrong and forced.
The founders of many of our great families have shown how much this kind
of humour was once appreciated by using it in their mottoes. Thus Onslow
has "_Festina lente_" and Vernon more happily "_Ver non semper floret_."
Some puns are amusingly ingenious when the reference hinges well on both
words, some additional verbal or other connection is shown, and the
words are exactly alike. When there are not two words, but one is used
in two senses, there is still greater improvement. Thus the Rev. R. S.
Hawker--a man of such mediaeval tastes that he was claimed, falsely, I
believe, as a Roman Catholic--made an apt reply to a nobleman who had
told him in the heat of religious controversy that he would not be
priest-ridden--
"Priest-ridden thou! it cannot be
By prophet or by priest,
Balaam is dead, and none but he
Would choose thee for his beast!"
We also consider that the mendicant deserved a coin, who, knowing the
love of wit in Louis XIV., complained sadly to him, _Ton image est
partout--excepte dans ma poche_.
Pages:
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361