Liverpool a few years since: by an old stagerAspinall, James
History
Liverpool a few years since: by an old stager
Aspinall, James
Liverpool (England) -- Biography; Liverpool (England) -- History
Our readers must recollect Mr. William Wallace Currie. He was not
himself a man of jokes, and he was about the last man in the world to
joke with. Well, he had an office for his business, upon the door of
which was inscribed, in the usual way, “WILLIAM WALLACE CURRIE.” One
morning, upon his arrival, he was utterly horrified to find into what the
men of taste had transmuted or translated him. The introduction of a
comma and the addition of a single letter astonished him with this new
reading of his name and profession, “WILLIAM WALLACE, CURRIER.” He
joined in the laugh, and there was an end of it. Nor is this the only
play upon Mr. Currie’s name which we have to record. The late Egerton
Smith, to whom be all honour and respect as the father of the Liberal
press in this district, and for the honesty and independence and goodness
of character which distinguished his long career, once made an admirable
hit upon it, which, although it has been in print before, will bear
repeating, and is worth preserving. When Mr. John Bourne, as worthy a
man as ever lived, was Mayor under the old Corporation, Mr. Currie was
one of his bailiffs; and Egerton, being asked on some occasion for a
toast or sentiment, following the Lancashire pronunciation of their
names, electrified the company by proposing, “_Burn_ the Mayor, and
_Curry_ the bailiff.”
And now for one more witticism from Daltera, of whom we have already
related so much. It was at the expense of the same Mr. Fogg, whose
impalement by Richmond, in an electioneering song, we have immortalised
in a former chapter. At a dinner given at Ormskirk by the mess of a
regiment of volunteers, or local militia, in which Fogg was a subaltern,
Daltera was among the guests. When the cloth was removed, Poor Joe, as
was “his custom of an afternoon,” became very lively and exhilarated,
and, fancying that the other was somewhat dull, suddenly turned to him,
and slapping him on the back, exclaimed, “Come, _Fogg_, _clear up_!”
amidst roars of laughter from the party. A veteran officer of the
Guards, who happened to be one of the company, still tells this story
with the greatest glee and pleasure, and looks back upon the day in
question as one of the merriest and most amusing he ever spent.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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