divertingly, or cleverly retorting an objection; sometimes it is couched in a bold scheme of speech, in a tart irony, in a lusty hyperbole, in a startling metaphor, in a _plausible reconciling of contradictions_, or in _acute nonsense_; sometimes a scenic representation of persons or things, a counterfeit speech, a mimic look or gesture, passeth for it. Sometimes an affected simplicity, sometimes a presumptuous bluntness, giveth it being. Sometimes it riseth only from _a lucky hitting upon what is strange_; sometimes from _a crafty wresting of obvious matter to the purpose_. Often it consisteth of one knows not what, and springeth up one can hardly tell how. Its ways are unaccountable and inexplicable, being answerable to the numberless rovings of fancy and windings of language.” If this definition be true, there is truth as well as wit in the punster’s reply to the taunt of the rhetorician that “punning is the _lowest species_ of wit.” “Yes,” said he, “for it is the _foundation_ of all wit.” But, whatever may be said of the practice by those who affect to despise it, it has been much in vogue in all ages. Horne, in his _Introduction to the Critical Study of the Holy Scriptures_, tells us that it was a very favorite figure of rhetoric among the Hebrews, and is yet common among most of the Oriental nations. Professor Stuart, in his Hebrew grammar, gives numerous examples of it in the Old Testament, and Winer and Horne point out others in the New Testament, especially in the writings of St. Paul. These cannot, of course, be equivalently expressed in English. Many of the Greek authors exhibit a fondness for this rhetorical figure, and some of the most excellent puns extant are to be found in the Greek Anthologies. As a specimen, the following is given from Wesseling’s Diodorus Siculus:— Dioscurus, an Egyptian bishop, before he began the service, had the common custom of saying ειρηνη πασιν, (irene pasin,) _peace be to all_. It was notorious that the pious churchman had at home a favorite mistress, whose name was Irene, which incident produced the following smart epigram:— Ειρηνη παντεσσιν επισκοπος ειπεν εχελθων Πως δυναται πασιν, ἡν μονος ενδον εχει; (The good bishop wishes peace—Irene—to all; But how can he give that to all, which he keeps to himself at home?) A PUN-GENT CHAPTER.