Quid vetat?
In the popular conundrum which has been attributed to Burke, ‘What is (m)ajest(y), when deprived of its externals, but a jest?’ this effect may be observed, as well as in many of Hood’s puns.
In the literary history of all nations, we find languages affected by various peculiarities. Of these several, more or less connected with punning, have, at different periods, prevailed in English, viz. Alliteration, Rhyme, Euphuism, &c. Alliteration was the principle on which the Anglo-Saxon poets founded their versification. This has been called ‘head-rhyme,’ as distinguished from end-rhyme, which is a more modern practice. The lines were arranged in couplets grouped, not according to the sense, but to the alliteration, which required that two accented syllables in the first, and one in the second line, should begin with the same letter when a consonant; and a different, if possible, when a vowel. These three initial letters were called ‘rhyming letters,’ the one in the second line being the chief letter, according to which the two in the first line of the couplet must be regulated. These two, though they come first, are therefore called ‘sub-letters.’ In a couplet, there should not be more than three accented syllables beginning with this letter; and the chief letter must begin the first accented syllable or word of the second line.
Finally: in very short verse, especially when the rhyming letters are double, such as sc, st, sw, &c., there need be but one sub-letter. This is the general doctrine of alliteration, invariably adopted in Saxon poetry.
The following specimen of alliteration, extracted from Rask’s Anglo-Saxon Grammar, may serve to illustrate this explanation:—
| In Caines cynne | In Cain’s kin |
| Þone cwealm gewrǽc | The murder avenged |
| Éce Drihten | The Eternal Lord |
| Þaes þe he Abel slóg | Because he slew Abel |
| Ne gefeah he þære faehde | He got no joy from his hatred |
| Ac he hine feor forwráec | But he (the Creator) drove him |
| Metod for þý máne | For that misdeed |
| Mancynne fram | Far from the human race |
But though no longer considered as an essential element in English verse, alliteration was often employed by all our poets from Chaucer to Spenser, though not according to the strict rules above laid down. Spenser used it, in some cases, with much effect, as shown in the following lines from the ‘Faëry Queen’:—
In wilderness and wasteful deserts strayed.
Through woods and wasteness wild him daily sought.