English Jests and Anecdotes, Collected from Various SourcesVarious
General
English Jests and Anecdotes, Collected from Various Sources
Various
Anecdotes -- England; English wit and humor
A tailor, who was dangerously ill, had a remarkable dream. He saw,
fluttering in the air, a piece of cloth of prodigious length, composed
of all the cabbage he had made, of a variety of colours. The Angel of
Death held this piece of patchwork in one of his hands, and with the
other gave the tailor several strokes with a piece of iron. The tailor,
awakening in a fright, made a vow, that, if he recovered, he would
cabbage no more. He soon recovered. As he was diffident in himself, he
ordered one of his apprentices to put him in mind of his dream whenever
he cut out a suit of clothes. The tailor was for some time obedient to
the intimations given him by his apprentice; but a nobleman having sent
for him to make a coat out of a very rich stuff, his virtue could not
resist the temptation. His apprentice put him in mind of his dream, but
to no purpose. “I am tired with your talk about the dream,” says the
tailor; “there was nothing like this in the whole piece of patchwork I
saw in my dream.”
DISABILITY FROM STAMMERING.
A soldier, about to be sent on an expedition, said to the officer
directing the drafts, “Sir, I cannot go, because I--I--stutter.”
“Stutter!” says the officer, “you don’t go to talk, but to fight.” “Ay,
but they’ll p-p-put me on g-g-guard, and a man may go ha-ha-half a mile
before I can say, Wh-wh-who goes there?” “Oh, that is no objection,
for there will be another sentry placed along with you, and he can
challenge if you can fire.” “Well, b-b-but I may be taken and run
through the g-g-guts before I can cry Qu-qu-quarter!”
KINDNESS OF A CARPENTER.
A carpenter having neglected to make a gibbet (which was ordered by
the executioner), on the ground that he had not been paid for the last
that he had erected, gave so much offence, that the next time the
judge came to the circuit he was sent for. “Fellow (said the judge,
in a stern tone), how came you to neglect making the gibbet that was
ordered on my account?” “I humbly beg your pardon,” said the carpenter,
“had I known it had been for your lordship, it should have been done
immediately.”
ONE AT A TIME, GENTLEMEN.
One Sunday evening, when the weather was extremely hot, the windows of
a parish church in the diocese of Gloucester were set open to admit
more air, while the congregation was assembled for divine service.
Just as the clergyman was beginning his weekly discourse (who, by the
by, was not much celebrated for his oratorical powers), a jack-ass,
which had been grazing in the church-yard, popped his head in at the
window, and began braying with all his might, as if in opposition to
the reverend preacher. On this a wag present immediately got up from
his seat, and with great gravity of countenance exclaimed,--“One at a
time, gentlemen, if you please!” The whole congregation set up a loud
laugh, when the jack-ass took fright, and gave up the contest, though,
from the clergyman’s chagrin and confusion, he would probably not have
been the worst orator.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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