“Blethering.”

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXIII, Issue XVII, 22 October 1904, Page 8

“Blethering.”

The fine art of “Blethering” is the subject of a paper in “Scribner’s Magazine.” To blether, we are told, is to “enlarge the spirit under the cramping influence of adversity or the crass monotony of toil, by entering temporarily into league with the imps of inconsequence.” Among famous bletherers there are mentioned such names as Lamb, Whistler, Shakespeare, Thackeray and George Meredith. From the examples given, it is clear that blethering is a tonic and a virtue. Goldsmith met Johnson’s ponderous solemnities with admirable blethering. Swift was a dry bletherer, rather too fond of logic. Burke, on the other hand, never blethered, which was a failing. A bull, if Irish, is supreme blethering, for it is not a mere stupid blunder, but a witty, inconsequential, upside-down statement of truth. In the following passage the writer gives an instance of physical as distinct from mental blethering: “Among our personal acquaintances we probably could find numerous less illustrious but equally authentic examples of the blethering spirit. I know a man of honourable years and literary profession who went upon a solemn occasion to deliver an address before his Alma Mater. The address was eloquent, and moved his hearers. Later they discussed its noble imagery, unaware that its author was then rolling down the green sward of a hill at the back of tlie college buildings, enjoying a blether such as the mind of youth could in nowise conceive.”