Another and distinct section of jest-books consists of what may be treated as the pioneers of the English Ana--collections made by editors from other books and from hearsay among their friends or in company; and of these I shall content myself with adducing as specimens-- 1. _Wits, Fits, and Fancies_, by Anthony Copley, 1595. 2. _Certain Conceits and Jests_, 1614. 3. _Wit and Mirth_, by John Taylor the Water Poet, 1629. 4. _Conceits, Clinches, Flashes, and Whimzies_, by Robert Chamberlain, 1639. 5. JOE MILLER’S _Jest-Book_, 1739. A century and ten years elapsed between the publications of Taylor and Miller; but the earliest edition of the latter was barely more than a pamphlet, and would not be at first sight recognised by those who are only familiar with the more recent issues, in which the original text has been amplified and overlaid, till the slender proportions of the shilling book of 1739 are completely effaced. The copious title of Taylor’s performance speaks for itself: “Wit and Mirth, chargeably collected out of Taverns, Ordinaries, Inns, Bowling Greens and Alleys, Alehouses, Tobacco-shops, Highways, and Water-passages, made up and fashioned into Clinches, Bulls, Quirks, Yerks, Quips, and Jerks.” The arrangement closely follows that of _Tarlton’s Jests_ and the _Conceits and Jests_; but the plan is widely dissimilar, since Taylor has comparatively little to say about himself, and the work, such as it is, is his own; whereas Tarlton stood to the book which carries his name merely in the relation of sponsor, and the whole is devoted by the actual editor to him and his real or putative extravagances. The self-evident truth is, that Master Taylor jotted down every smart saying or racy passage which fell in his way by road or river, or wherever his professional and private engagements happened to take him. He was rather indiscriminate and not very squeamish; and his budget exhibits wares of all sorts as well as of all shades of quality and every variety of character, new and old, original and borrowed, prose and verse. Yet, taken as a whole, the farrago has very great general merit; and we must be content to set what is dull and dirty, clumsy sophistications or inferior variants, against the moderate residue of valuable permanent matter, where we get unique touches of contemporary persons or little insights into the thought and habits of the age. The whole, if the author is to be believed, underwent at his ingenious and experienced hands a sort of churning process; and, altogether, it is a book which we lay down, as we do all others of the kind, with an uncertain and dissatisfied sensation. If I transcribe three samples from the _Wit and Mirth_, it must be with the proviso that no one shall blame me if, on resorting to the work, they do not meet with much more of equal excellence:--