The Choice Humorous Works, Ludicrous Adventures, Bons Mots, Puns, and Hoaxes of Theodore HookHook, Theodore Edward
General
The Choice Humorous Works, Ludicrous Adventures, Bons Mots, Puns, and Hoaxes of Theodore Hook
Hook, Theodore Edward
English wit and humor
"It was quite curious to see the doctor fleabottomize the patient,
which he did without any accident, although it blew a perfect harrico
at the time. I noticed two little children, who came out of the boat,
with hardly any clothes on them, speaking French like anything--a
proof of the superior education given to the poor in France, to that
which they get in England from Dr. Bell of Lancaster.
"When we landed at Callous, we were extremely well received, and I
should have enjoyed the sight very much, but Mr. Fulmer, and another
gentleman in the batto, kept talking of nothing but how turkey and
grease disagreed with each other, which, in the then state of my
stomach, was far from agreeable.
"We saw the print of the foot of Louis Desweet, the French King,
where he first stopped when he returned to his country--he must be a
prodigious heavy man to have left such a deep mark in the stone--we
were surrounded by Commissioners, who were so hospitable as to press
us to go to their houses without any ceremony. Mr. Fulmer showed our
pass-ports to a poor old man, with a bit of red ribband tied to his
button-hole, and we went before the Mayor, who is no more like a
Mayor than my foot-boy.
"Here they took a subscription of our persons, and one of the men
said that Lavinia had a jolly manton, at which the clerks laughed,
and several of them said she was a jolly feel, which I afterwards
understood meant a pretty girl--I misunderstood it for fee, which,
being in a public office, was a very natural mistake.
"We went then to a place they call the Do-Anne, where they took away
the pole of my baruch--I was very angry at this, but they told me we
were to travel in Lemonade with a biddy, which I did not understand,
but Mr. Fulmer was kind enough to explain it to me as we went to
the hotel, which is in a narrow street, and contains a garden and
court-yard.
"I left it to Mr. Fulmer to order dinner, for I felt extremely
piquant, as the French call it, and a very nice dinner it was--we had
a purey, which tasted very like soup--one of the men said it was made
from leather, at least so I understood, but it had quite the flavour
of hare; I think it right here to caution travellers against the fish
at this place, which looks very good, but which I have reason to
believe is very unwholesome, for one of the waiters called it poison
while speaking to the other--the fish was called marine salmon, but
it looked like veal cutlets.
"They are so fond of Buonaparte still that they call the table-cloths
Naps, in compliment to him--this I remarked to myself, but said
nothing about it to anybody else, for fear of consequences.
"One of the waiters, who spoke English, asked me if I would have a
little Bergami, which surprised me, till Mr. Fulmer said it was the
wine he was handing about, when I refused it, preferring to take a
glass of Bucephalus.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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