The World's Wit and Humor (Volume 12); An Encyclopedia of the Classic Wit and Humor of All Ages and Nations (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1906. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... Karl Julius Weber Satire in the Middle Ages The Middle Ages brought forth a great quantity of satirical writings in Latin, which have sunk into dead obscurity. Generous matter was afforded by the canting, puffed-up clerics, waddling behind their fat paunches, blunt to all human sympathy and open to every vice; after them, the courts and courtiers, the pedants, and the women were taken in turn. Satire was then as rough as the language of a day when, instead of saying, " Pray, pardon me," or "With your kind permission," you boxed a man's ears--in compliance with those good old German maxims: "An et cetera calls for a slap in the face," and "A slap in the face calls fpr a dagger." Freedom and rudeness are always faithful cousins; ribaldry and filth count for wit in unpolished times, as is proved even by Boccaccio, Rabelais, and Luther--a shining example of the Middle Ages. A learned jurist made an inquiry into the subject of faceslapping, employing the precise classification of slaps complete and incomplete, faint and resounding, jocular and severe, punitive and praising. He set up the questions: Can a hand without fingers administer a box on the ear? May a father box the ears of a son older than twelve, or a husband his wife's, without incurring a suit for divorce? (This last he answers in the affirmative, on the ground that the biblical "one flesh" is only meant figuratively.) Is it allowed to box people's ears by prearrangement, or to follow out the popular saying, "A slap in the face for a lie "? If a girl declines to dance at a -ball when challenged by the master of ceremonies, or if a man refuses to answer a pledge in drinking, may a box on the ear be applied? When a right worshipful magistrate imposes a fine of ten Thaler for boxing a man's ears, is one, by ...