Sheridan, Thomas (1687-1738)

The Art of Punning

Dublin, reprinted London

J. Roberts

1719, 1720

"For, says he, PUNS are like so many Torch-Lights in the Head, that give the Soul a very distinct View of those Images, which she before seemed to groap after as if she had been imprisoned in a Dungeon."

I am much more inclined to give Credit to Buxtorf; nor is it improbable that Pythagoras, who spent twenty-eight Years at Egypt in his Studies, brought this Art, together with some Arcana of Philosophy, into Greece; the reason for which might be, That Philosophy and PUNNING were a mutual Assistance to each other: For, says he, PUNS are like so many Torch-Lights in the Head, that give the Soul a very distinct View of those Images, which she before seemed to groap after as if she had been imprisoned in a Dungeon. From whence he looked upon PUNS to be so Sacred, and had such a regard to them, that he left a Precept to his Disciples, forbidding them to eat Beans, because they were called in Greek [Greek letters]. Let not, says he, one Grain of the Seed of Beans be lost; but preserve and scatter them over all Greece, that both our Gardens and our Fields may flourish with a Vegetable, which, on account of its Name, not only brings an Honour to our Country, but, as it disperses its Effluvia in the Air, may also, by a secret Impulse, prepare the Soul for PUNNING, which I esteem the first and great Felicity of Life.
(Preface, v-vi)

Light::Torch Architecture::Dungeon

Reading at Lewis Walpole Library

4 entries in ESTC (1719, 1720).

Reading Thomas Sheridan and Jonathan Swift [attrib.], Ars Punica, sive Flos Linguarum; The Art of Punning; or, The Flower of Languages, 2nd ed. (Dublin; reprinted at London, J. Roberts, 1719).

10/10/2012