An assertion that bears a double meaning, one right, one wrong; but so connected with other matters as to direct us to the wrong meaning. This species of bastard wit is distinguished 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 inchanting fingers touch’d, Shall more obey, than to the edge of steel, Or force of Greekish sinews: you shall do more Than all the island kings, disarm great Hector. _Troilus and Cressida, act 3. sc. 2._ The pun is in the close. The word _disarm_ has a double meaning. It signifies to take off a man’s armour, and also to subdue him in fight. We are directed to the latter sense by the context. But with regard to Helen the word holds only true in the former sense. I go on with other examples. Esse 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. _Sanazarius._ N. B. _Jocondus was a monk._ _Chief Justice._ Well! the truth is, Sir John, you live in great infamy. _Falstaff._ He that buckles him in my belt, cannot live in less. _Chief Justice._ Your means are very slender, and your waste is great. _Falstaff._ I would it were otherwise: I would my means were greater, and my waste slenderer. _Second part, Henry_ IV. _act. 1 sc. 5._ _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, act 2. sc. 4._ He that imposes an oath makes it, Not he that for convenience takes it; Then how can any man be said, To break an oath he never made? _Hudibras, part 2. canto 2._ The seventh satire of the first book of Horace, is purposely contrived to introduce at the close a most execrable pun. Talking of some infamous wretch whose name was _Rex Rupilius_. Persius exclamat, Per magnos, Brute, deos te Oro, qui reges consueris tollere, cur non Hunc regem jugulas? Operum hoc, mihi crede, tuorum est. Though playing with words is a mark of a mind at ease, and disposed for any sort of amusement, we must not thence conclude that playing with words is always ludicrous. Words are so intimately connected with thought, that if the subject be really grave, it will not appear ludicrous even in this fantastic dress. I am, however, far from recommending it in any serious performance. On the contrary, the discordance betwixt the thought and expression must be disagreeable; witness the following specimen.