Henry Erskine? John Dryden? Tom Sheridan? Anonymous?
Question for Quote Investigator: An irritated critic stated that puns were the lowest form of wit. A wordsmith responded to this attack with the following clever conclusion which twisted the remark using word play. Since puns occupy the lowest position they must be the foundation of all humor. Would you please explore the provenance of this repartee?
Reply from Quote Investigator: The earliest match located by QI appeared in 1787 within “The County Magazine” of London. The joke appeared in a section of miscellaneous items called “Scraps”. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:1
“I hate Punning!”—said a gentleman well known at Bath,—“it is the lowest of all wit.”—“Then (replied the Punster whom he addressed) you must acknowledge it to be the foundation of all wit!”
Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.
In 1672 English poet, playwright, and literary critic John Dryden published “An Essay on the Dramatique Poetry of the Last Age”. Dryden sharply criticized his fellow English playwright Ben Jonson for using too many puns in his popular satirical play “Every Man in His Humour”. Dryden referred to puns as clenches which he described as the “lowest and most groveling kind of wit”:2
Nay, he was not free from the lowest and most groveling kind of wit, which we call clenches; of which, Every Man in his Humour, is infinitely full and, which is worse, the wittiest persons in the Drama speak them.
In 1787 the quip appeared in “The County Magazine” of London as mentioned previously. The person who delivered the rejoinder was only identified as “the punster”:
“I hate Punning!”—said a gentleman well known at Bath,—“it is the lowest of all wit.”—“Then (replied the Punster whom he addressed) you must acknowledge it to be the foundation of all wit!”
In 1808 “The Sporting Magazine” of London attributed the sharp retort to British politician and lawyer Henry Erskine who died in 1817:3
The Hon. Henry Erskine is as distinguished for that species of wit called punning, as George Selwyn was formerly in England.— “Punning is the lowest sort of wit,” said a gentleman to him one day; “It is so,” said he, “and is therefore the foundation of all wit!”
In 1810 the version of the joke in “The Sporting Magazine” was reprinted in the compilation titled “Yorick’s Budget; Or, Repository of Wit, Humour, and Sentiment”.4
In 1820 the compilation “Scrapiana, Or, Elegant Extracts of Wit” printed an instance crediting Henry Erskine:5
A gentleman observed one day to Mr. Henry Erskine, who is a great punster, that punning is the lowest sort of wit. “It is so,” answered he, “and therefore the foundation of all wit.”
In 1821 the London periodical “The Gossip” printed a version of the tale which attributed the retort to Tom Sheridan. This name was ambiguous, but it might refer to the son of playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan:6
“Pshaw! that’s a pun, and a pun is the lowest kind of wit.” “Then, according to Tom Sheridan, it must be the foundation of all wit.” “Pshaw! that’s a pun again.” “Well Sir you may say what you please against punning; but it gives the character to our national wit.”
In 1835 “The London Joke-Book” compiled by Paul Pry reprinted the version of the joke published in “The Gossip”.7
In 1857 “The Harvard Magazine” published an instance with an anonymous attribution:8
If puns were the lowest kind of wit, it would only prove, as has been well said, “that they are the foundation of all wit”; but the truth is, they are among the highest kinds; for they contain wit condensed into a very few words, sometimes two,—and of course half of even this number of words, distinct in sound. A neat pun is the most pointed kind of wit a man can utter. And to invent new good puns is a task congenial to the wittiest mind.
In 1872 an instance crediting Lord Erskine appeared in “The British Quarterly Review” of London:9
. . . when Lord Erskine was reproached for punning, because it was the lowest kind of wit, he answered—‘True, and therefore it is the foundation of all wit.’
In 1912 the “Santa Fe Employes’ Magazine” printed a version with the phrase “foundation of all humor” instead of “foundation of all wit”:10
She: “A pun is the lowest form of wit.”
He: “Therefore the foundation of all humor.”
She: “Yes, but it takes a bore to sink it to its proper level.”
In 1978 “The Comic Encyclopedia” by Evan Esar printed an instance crediting Henry Erskine:11
Henry Erskine, 1746-1817, lord advocate of Scotland, was one of the wittiest orators at the Scottish bar. . . .
It seems that on one occasion he had got off a clever verbalism but an anti-punster present retorted that punning was the lowest form of wit. “Of course it is,” reparteed Erskine, “but that’s because it is the foundation of all wit.”
In 2000 “Bartlett’s Book of Anecdotes” printed a version crediting Thomas Erskine instead of Henry Erskine:12
ERSKINE, Thomas, 1st Baron (1750-1823), British politician who became lord chancellor (1806-07).
Erskine, who was fond of puns, was told that such word-play was the lowest form of wit. “That’s very true,” he replied, “and therefore it is the foundation of all wit.”
In conclusion, the earliest match found by QI occurred in 1787. The two dialog participants were anonymous. The pun hater was reportedly well known in Bath, England. The respondent was simply called a punster. In 1808 Henry Erskine received credit for the retort, and in 1821 Tom Sheridan received credit. This delay in attribution suggests that the true creator remains anonymous.
Image Note: Illustration of a stack of carefully balanced stones from Mathieu Turle at Unsplash. The image has been cropped.
Acknowledgement: Great thanks to Eli Burnstein who inquired about a different quotation concerning puns. QI expanded the research topic which led to the formulation and exploration of this question.
- 1787 August, The County Magazine, Volume 1, Number 20, Scraps: Of Puns, Quote Page 317, Column 2, Printed for B. C. Collins and S. Crowder, London. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1672, Title: The Conquest of Granada by the Spaniards In Two Parts: Acted at the Theatre-Royall, Author: John Dryden, Section: Defence of the EPILOGUE. Or, An Essay on the Dramatique Poetry of the Last Age, Start Page 160, Quote Page 170 and 171, Publication: Printed by T.N. for Henry Herringman In the Savoy, London. (ProQuest) ↩︎
- 1808 January, The Sporting Magazine: Or, Monthly Calendar of the Transactions of The Turf, The Chase, Volume 31, Feast of Wit, Quote Page 199, Column 1, Printed for J. Wheble, London. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1810, Yorick’s Budget; Or, Repository of Wit, Humour, and Sentiment, Quote Page 81, Published by Vernor, Hood, and Sharpe; R. Scholey; and T. Tegg, London. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1820, Scrapiana, Or, Elegant Extracts of Wit, Third Edition, Joke 398: Foundation of Wit, Quote Page 148 and 149, Printed for T. and J. Allman, London. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1821 May 26, The Gossip: A Series of Original Essays and Letters, Literary, Historical and Critical, Number 13, Start Page 97, Quote Page 104, J. Bennett, Kentish Town, London, England. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1835, The London Joke-Book: Or New Bon-Mot Miscellany by Paul Pry, Section: Pun upon Pun, John Weston, London. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1857 May, The Harvard Magazine, Volume 3, Number 4, Puns, Start Page 170, Quote Page 173, John Bartlett, Cambridge, Massachusetts. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1872 July, The British Quarterly Review, Article 2: Wit and Humour, Start Page 22, Quote Page 30, The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, New York. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1912 January, Santa Fe Employes’ Magazine, Volume 6, Number 2, Some Santa Fe Smiles, After He Sprang a Daffy by D.C.D., Quote Page 85, Column 2, Chicago Illinois. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1978, The Comic Encyclopedia: A Library of the Literature and History of Humor Containing Thousands of Gags, Sayings, and Stories by Evan Esar, Topic: Lowest Form of Wit, Quote Page 460 and 461, Doubleday & Company, Garden City, New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 2000, Bartlett’s Book of Anecdotes, Edited by Clifton Fadiman and André Bernard, Revised Edition, Person: Thomas Erskine, Quote Page 194, Little, Brown and Company, Boston, Massachusetts. (Verified with scans) ↩︎