The childish bandying of words in _Truc._ 858 ff. is egregiously tiresome
in the reading, but in action could have been made to produce a modicum of
amusement if presented in the broad burlesque spirit that we believe was
almost invariably employed. This gives us a clue to the next topic.
B. _Devices absurd and inexplicable unless interpreted in a broad farcical
spirit._
This includes peculiarities that have usually been commented on as
weaknesses or conventions, or else been given up as hopeless
incongruities, but which we hope to prove also yield their quota of
amusement if clownishly performed. The foremost of these is the famous