The Jest Book: The Choicest Anecdotes and SayingsLemon, Mark
General
The Jest Book: The Choicest Anecdotes and Sayings
Lemon, Mark
Anecdotes -- Great Britain; English wit and humor
A CASE of some great offence was tried before Lord Hermand (who was a
great toper), and the counsel pleaded extenuation for his client in that
he was _drunk_ when he committed the offence. "Drunk!" exclaimed Lord
Hermand, in great indignation; "if he could do such a thing when he was
drunk, what might he not have done when he was _sober_?" evidently
implying that the normal condition of human nature and its most hopeful
one, was a condition of intoxication.
DLV.--ON MR. HUSBAND'S MARRIAGE.
THIS case is the strangest we've known in our life,
The husband's a husband, and so is the wife.
DLVI.--CONFIDENCE.
THE first time Jerrold saw a celebrated song-writer, the latter said to
him:--
"Youngster, have you sufficient confidence in me to lend me a guinea?"
_Jerrold._--"O yes; I've all the confidence, but I have n't the guinea."
DLVII.--LADY ANNE.
AT Portsmouth, during the representation of _Richard the Third_, on
Richard exclaiming, "O, take more pity in thine eyes, and see him here,"
Miss White, who was in Lady Anne, indignantly exclaimed, "Would they
were _battle-axes_ (basilisks) to strike _thee dead_."
DLVIII.--NICE LANGUAGE.
A MAN being tried for sheep-stealing, evidence was given that he had
been seen washing tripe. The counsel for the Crown, in examining the
witness, observed with ill-timed indelicacy, "He was washing
_bowels_?"--"Yes, sir."--"The bowels of an animal, I suppose?"--"Yes,
sir." The counsel sits down. Justice Maule: "Pray, was it _a wren's_
stomach?"
DLIX.--UNPOETICAL REPLY.
A HARDY seaman, who had escaped one of the recent shipwrecks upon our
coast, was asked by a good lady how he felt when the waves broke over
him. He replied, "_Wet_, ma'am,--_very wet_."
DLX.--IMITATION OF A COW.
MR. JAMES BOSWELL, the friend and biographer of Dr. Johnson, when a
youth, went to the pit of Covent Garden Theatre in company with Dr.
Blair, and, in a frolic, imitated the lowing of a cow; and the universal
cry in the galleries was, "Encore the cow! Encore the cow!" This was
complied with, and, in the pride of success, Mr. Boswell attempted to
imitate some other animals, but with less success. Dr. Blair, anxious
for the fame of his friend, addressed him thus: "My dear sir, I would
confine myself to _the cow_."
DLXI.--TAKING HIS MEASURE.
A CONCEITED packman called at a farm-house in the west of Scotland, in
order to dispose of some of his wares. The goodwife was startled by his
southern accent, and his high talk about York, London, and other big
places. "An' whaur come ye frae yersel?" was the question of the gude
wife. "Ou! I am from the Border!"--"The Border. Oh! I thocht that; for
we aye think the _selvidge_ is the wakest bit o' the wab!"
DLXII.--THURLOW AND PITT.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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