Produced by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier, Christine D. and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net THE JEST BOOK [Illustration] UNIVERSITY PRESS: WELCH, BIGELOW, & CO. [Illustration] THE JEST BOOK THE CHOICEST ANECDOTES AND SAYINGS SELECTED AND ARRANGED BY MARK LEMON [Illustration] CAMBRIDGE SEVER AND FRANCIS 1865 [Illustration] PREFACE. The Compiler of this new JEST BOOK is desirous to make known that it is composed mainly of old jokes,--some older than Joe Miller himself,--with a liberal sprinkling of new jests gathered from books and hearsay. In the course of his researches he has been surprised to find how many Jests, Impromptus, and Repartees have passed current, century after century, until their original utterer is lost in the "mist of ages"; a Good Joke being transferred from one reputed Wit to another, thus resembling certain rare Wines which are continually being rebottled but are never consumed. Dr. Darwin and Sir Charles Lyell, when they have satisfied themselves as to the _Origin of Species_ and the _Antiquity of Man_, could not better employ their speculative minds than in determining the origin and antiquity of the venerable "joes" which have been in circulation beyond the remembrance of that mythical personage, "the Oldest Inhabitant." A true Briton loves a good joke, and regards it like "a thing of beauty," "a joy forever," therefore we may opine that Yorick's "flashes of merriment, which were wont to set the table in a roar," when Hamlet was king in Denmark, were transported hither by our Danish invaders, and descended to Wamba, Will Somers, Killigrew, and other accredited jesters, until Mr. Joseph Miller reiterated many of them over his pipe and tankard, when seated with his delighted auditory at the _Black Jack_ in Clare Market.