The Jest Book: The Choicest Anecdotes and SayingsLemon, Mark
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The Jest Book: The Choicest Anecdotes and Sayings
Lemon, Mark
Anecdotes -- Great Britain; English wit and humor
JUDGE CLAYTON was an honest man, but not a profound lawyer. Soon after
he was raised to the Irish bench, he happened to dine in company with
Counsellor Harwood, celebrated for his fine brogue, his humor, and his
legal knowledge. Clayton began to make some observations on the Laws of
Ireland. "In my country" (England), said he, "the laws are numerous, but
then one is always found to be a key to the other. In Ireland it is just
the contrary; your laws so perpetually clash with one another, and are
so very contradictory, that I protest _I don't understand
them_."--"True, my lord," cried Harwood, "_that is what we all say_."
MDXXIX.--A MICHAELMAS MEETING.
SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE was so bad a horseman, that when mounted he
generally attracted unfavorable notice. On a certain occasion he was
riding along a turnpike road, in the county of Durham, when he was met
by a wag, who, mistaking his man, thought the rider a good subject for
sport. "I say, young man," cried the rustic, "did you see a _tailor_ on
the road?"--"Yes, I did; and he told me that, if I went a little
further, I should meet a _goose_."
MDXXX.--A TYPOGRAPHICAL TRANSFER.
THE editor of the _Evangelical Observer_, in reference to a certain
person, took occasion to write that he was _rectus in ecclesia_, _i.e._,
in good standing in the church. The compositor, in the editor's absence,
converted it into _rectus in culina_, which although not very bad Latin,
altered the sense very materially, giving the reverend gentleman _a good
standing in the kitchen_.
MDXXXI.--EPIGRAM.
(Upon the trustworthiness of ---- ----.)
HE'LL keep a secret well, or I'm deceived,
For what he says will never be believed.
MDXXXII.--GOING TO EXTREMES.
WHEN ladies wore their dresses very low and very short, a wit observed
that "they began too late and ended too soon."
MDXXXIII.--SILENT APPRECIATION.
A GENTLEMAN gave a friend some first-rate wine, which he tasted and
drank, making no remark upon it. The owner, disgusted at his guest's
want of appreciation, next offered some strong but inferior wine, which
the guest had no sooner tasted than he exclaimed that it was excellent
wine. "But you said nothing of _the first_" remarked his host "O,"
replied the other, "the first required nothing being said of it. _It
spoke for itself._ I thought the second wanted a _trumpeter_."
MDXXXIV.--JUSTICE MIDAS.
A JUDGE, joking a young barrister, said, "If you and I were turned into
a horse and an ass, which would you prefer to be?"--"The ass, to be
sure," replied the barrister. "I've heard of an ass being made a judge,
but a horse never."
MDXXXV.--A SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE.
AT an hotel at Brighton, Douglas Jerrold was dining with two friends,
one of whom, after dinner, ordered "a bottle of _old_ port."--"Waiter,"
added Jerrold, with a significant twinkle of his eye, "mind now; a
bottle of your _old_ port, not your _elder_ port."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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