or the carriages puts a happy termination to the riot.

Addison says, "One may say of a pun, as the countryman described his
nightingale, that it is _vox et praeterea nihil_, a sound, and nothing but
a sound;" and in another place he tells us that "the greatest authors in
their most serious works make frequent use of puns; the sermons of Bishop
Andrews and the tragedies of Shakespeare are full of them; if a sinner was
punned into repentance as in the latter, nothing is more usual than to see
a hero weeping and grumbling for a dozen lines together;" but he also
says, "It is indeed impossible to kill a weed which the soil has a natural
disposition to produce. The seeds of punning are in the minds of all men,
and though they may be subdued by reason, reflection, and good sense, they
will be very apt to shoot up in the greatest genius that is not broken and
cultivated by the rules of art."

Here is something like a justification of the enormity; and, as the pupil
is to mix in all societies, he may as well be prepared.

Puns may be divided into different classes; they may be made in different
ways, introduced by passing circumstances, or by references to bygone
events; they may be thrown in _anecdotically_, or conundrumwise.

It is to be observed that feeling, or pity, or commiseration, or grief
are not to stand in the way of a pun--that personal defects are to be made
available, and that sense, so as the sound answers, has nothing to do with
the business.

If a man is pathetically describing the funeral of his mother or sister or
wife, it is quite allowable to call it a "black-_burying_ party," or to
talk of a "fit of _coffin_"; a weeping relative struggling to conceal his
grief may be likened to a commander of "_private tears_"; throw in a joke
about the phrase of "funerals _performed_" and a re-_hearsal_; and wind up
with the anagram _real-fun_, funeral.

I give this instance first, in order to explain that nothing, however
solemn the subject, is to stand in the way of a pun.

It is allowable, when you have run a subject dry in English, to hitch in a
bit of any other language which may sound to your liking. For instance, on
a fishing party. You say fishing is out of your _line_; yet, if you did
not keep _a float_, you would deserve a _rod_; and if anybody affects to
find fault with your joke, exclaim: "Oh, _vous bete_!"

There you have _line_, _rod_, _float_, and _bait_ ready to your hand.

Call two noodles from