Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 1, CompleteVarious
General
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 1, Complete
Various
English wit and humor -- Periodicals
places little or no restraintbarbarians, who act as nature, rather than
as the book of etiquette dictates, (and among whom, for that very
reason, such a change would naturally first begin to show itself:) yet
do we trust, by pointing out to the more refined portion of the British
public, the advantage that must necessarily accrue from the general
cultivation of the art of pantomime, by proving to them its vast
superiority over the comparatively tedious operations of speech, and
exhibiting its capacity of conveying a far greater quantity of thought
in a considerably less space of time, and that with a saving of one-half
the muscular exertiona point so perfectly consonant with the present
prevailing desire for cheap and rapid communicationthat we say we hope
to be able not only to bring the higher classes to look upon it no
longer as a vulgar and extravagant mode of expression, but actually to
introduce and cherish it among them as the most polite and useful of all
accomplishments.
A man winking But in order to exhibit the capacities of this noble art
in all their comprehensive excellence, it is requisite that we should,
in the first place, say a few words on language in general.
It is commonly supposed that there are but two kinds of language among
menthe written and the spoken: whereas it follows, from the very nature
of language itself, that there must necessarily be as many modes of
conveying our impressions to our fellow-creatures, as there are senses
or modes of receiving impressions in them. Accordingly, there are five
senses and five languages; to wit, the audible, the visible, the
olfactory, the gustatory, and the sensitive. To the two first belong
speech and literature. As illustrations of the third, or olfactory
language, may be cited the presentation of a pinch of Princes Mixture
to a stranger, or a bottle of Bouquet du Roi to a fair acquaintance;
both of which are but forms of expressing to them nasally our respect.
The nose, however, is an organ but little cultivated in man, and the
language which appeals to it is, therefore, in a very imperfect state;
not so the gustatory, or that which addresses itself to the palate.
This, indeed, may be said to be imbibed with our mothers milk. What
words can speak affection to the child like elecampanewhat language
assures us of the remembrance of an absent friend like a brace of wood-
cocks? Then who does not comprehend the eloquence of dinners? A rump
steak, and bottle of old port, are not these to all guests the very
emblems of esteemand turtle, venison, and champagne, the unmistakeable
types of respect? If the citizens of a particular town be desirous of
expressing their profound admiration of the genius of a popular author,
how can the sentiment be conveyed so fitly as in a public dinner? or if
a candidate be anxious to convince the free and independent electors
of a certain borough of his disinterested regard for the commonweal,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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