I remember a country schoolmaster of my acquaintance
told me once, that he had been in company with a gentleman whom he
looked upon to be the greatest paragrammatist among the moderns.
Upon inquiry, I found my learned friend had dined that day with Mr.
Swan, the famous punster; and desiring him to give me some account
of Mr. Swan's conversation, he told me that he generally talked in
the Paranomasia, that he sometimes gave in to the Ploce, but that in
his humble opinion he shone most in the Antanaclasis.
I must not here omit that a famous university of this land was
formerly very much infested with puns; but whether or not this might
arise from the fens and marshes in which it was situated, and which
are now drained, I must leave to the determination of more skilful
naturalists.
After this short history of punning, one would wonder how it should
be so entirely banished out of the learned world as it is at
present, especially since it had found a place in the writings of
the most ancient polite authors. To account for this we must
consider that the first race of authors, who were the great heroes
in writing, were destitute of all rules and arts of criticism; and
for that reason, though they excel later writers in greatness of
genius, they fall short of them in accuracy and correctness.
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