Of all the species of wit, punning was one which Dr. Parr disliked,
and in which he seldom indulged; and yet some instances of it have
been related. Reaching a book from a high shelf in his library, two
other books came tumbling down; of which one, a critical work of
Lambert Bos, fell upon the other, which was a volume of Hume. "See!"
said he, "what has happened--_procumbit humi bos_." On another
occasion, sitting in his room, suffering under the effects of a slight
cold, when too strong a current was let in upon him, he cried out,
"Stop, stop, that is too much. I am at present only _par levibus
ventis_." At another time, a gentleman having asked him to subscribe
to Dr. Busby's translation of Lucretius, he declined to do so,
saying it would cost too much money; it would indeed be "Lucretius
_carus_."--_Field's Memoirs_.
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