again recover it self in some distant Period of Time, as Pedantry and Ignorance shall prevail upon Wit and Sense. And, to speak the Truth, I do very much apprehend, by some of the last Winter's Productions, which had their Sets of Admirers, that our Posterity will in a few Years degenerate into a Race of Punnsters: At least, a Man may be very excusable for any Apprehensions of this kind, that has seen _Acrosticks_ handed about the Town with great Secrecy and Applause; to which I must also add a little Epigram called the _Witches Prayer_, that fell into Verse when it was read either backward or forward, excepting only that it Cursed one way and Blessed the other. When one sees there are actually such Pains-takers among our _British _Wits, who can tell what it may end in? If we must Lash one another, let it be with the manly Strokes of Wit and Satyr; for I am of the old Philosopher's Opinion, That if I must suffer from one or the other, I would rather it should be from the Paw of a Lion, than the Hoof of an Ass. I do not speak this out of any Spirit of Party. There is a most crying Dulness on both Sides. I have seen Tory _Acrosticks_ and Whig _Anagrams_, and do not quarrel with either of them, because they are _Whigs_ or _Tories_, but because they are _Anagrams_ and _Acrosticks_. But to return to Punning. Having pursued the History of a Punn, from its Original to its Downfal, I shall here define it to be a Conceit arising from the use of two Words that agree in the Sound, but differ in the Sense. The only way therefore to try a Piece of Wit, is to translate it into a different Language: If it bears the Test, you may pronounce it true; but if it vanishes in the Experiment, you may conclude it to have been a Punn. In short, one may say of a Punn, as the Countryman described his Nightingale, that it is _vox et præterea nihil,_ a Sound, and nothing but a Sound. On the contrary, one may represent true Wit by the Description which _Aristinetus_ makes of a fine Woman; when she is _dressed_ she is Beautiful, when she is _undressed_ she is Beautiful; or as _Mercerus_ has translated it [more Emphatically] _Induitur, formosa est: Exuitur, ipsa forma est._ C. [Footnote 1: fine] * * * * * No. 62. Friday, May 11, 1711. Addison. 'Scribendi rectè sapere est et principium et fons.' Hor. Mr. _Lock_ has an admirable Reflexion upon the Difference of Wit and Judgment, whereby he endeavours to shew the Reason why they are not always the Talents of the same Person. His Words are as follows: