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

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 caufe, termed a verbal antithefis, which hath no defpicable effect in ludicrous fubjects:

Whilft Iris his cofmetic wafh would try
To make her bloom revive, and lovers die,
Some afk for charms, and others philters chufe,
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 caufe:

Will you employ your conqu'ring sword,

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.

Ibid. 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,
Doft fometimes counfel take-and fometimes tea.

Rape of the Lock, Canto 3. l. 5.

O'er their quietus where fat judges dofe,

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

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 jeur, 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 vanquish'd fly,
They fly that wound, and they pursue that die.

Waller.

What new found witchcraft was in thee,

With thine own cold to kindle me?
Strange art; like him that should devife
To make a burning-glass 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 burlefqued 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 fense 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 bo! for a husband.

Pedro, Lady Beatrice, I will get you one.

Beatrice. I would rather have one of your father's getting. Hath your grace ne'er a brother like you? Your

Your father got excellent husbands, if a maid could come by them.

Much ado about nothing, A&t 11. Sc. 5.

Falstaff. My honest lads, I will tell you what I am about.

Piftol. Two yards and more.

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

Lo. Sands

Merry Wives of Windsor, A& 1. Sc. 7.

By your leave, fweet ladies, If I chance to talk a little wild, forgive me :

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 introduced as to direct us to the wrong meaning, is a fpecies of baftard wit, which is diftinguished from all others by the name pun. For example,

Paris-Sweet Helen, I must woo you,

To help unarm our Hector: his stubborn buckles,
With these your white enchanting fingers touch'd,
Shall more obey, than to the edge of fteel,
Or force of Greekish finews; you fhall do more
Than all the ifland Kings, disarm great Hector.
Troilus and Creffida, At 111. Sc. 2.

The

The pun is in the clofe. The word difarm has a double meaning: it fignifies to take off a man's armour, and alfo to fubdue him in fight. We are directed to the latter fenfe by the context; but, with regard to Helen, the word holds only true in the former sense. I go on with other examples:

Effe nihil dicis quicquid petis, improbe Cinna :
Si nil, Cinna, petis, nil tibi, Cinna, nego.

Martial, l. 3. epigr. 61.

Jocondus geminum imposuit tibi, Sequana, pontem ; Hunc tu jure potes dicere pontificem.

N. B. Jocondus was a monk.

Sanazarius.

Chief Justice. Well! the truth is, Sir John, you live in great infamy.

Falstaff. He that buckles him in my belt cannot live in lefs.

Chief Justice. Your means are very flender, and your wafte is great.

Falftuff. I would it were otherwife; I would my means were greater, and my waist flenderer.

Second Part, Henry IV. A&t 1. Sc. 1.

Celia. I pray you bear with me, I can go no further. Clown. For my part, I had rather bear with you than bear you yet I should bear no cross if I did bear you; for I think you have no money in your purse.

As you like it, A&t 11. Sc. 4.

He