AN EXPENSIVE PUN.

Don Miguel de Unamuno, the Spanish writer who was banished by General Primo de Rivera, is the victim of his political ideas which are opposed to those of the ruling dictator.

It is claimed that his punishment was mainly determined by a joke which put the general into tremendous fury.

Unamuno, writing to his friends, compared the military dictator to his illustrious Italian predecessor, Mr. Mussolini, and the comparison, it seems. was not to his advantage.

When pronounced in Spanish, the name of the leader of the black shirts gives: “Moussolini”, which leads to an easy pun: moussolini, muslin. By analogy, Unamuno had baptized Primo de Rivera: Percalini. Muslin? either! Percale? It was too much ! And Unamuno was sent to the islands.