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
Jerrold said, darting past the inquirer, "I am!"
DCCXXIV.--SNORING.
A CERTAIN deacon being accustomed to snore while asleep in church, he
received the following polite note: "Deacon ---- is requested not to
commence snoring to-morrow until the sermon is begun, as some persons in
the neighborhood of his pew would like to hear the _text_."
DCCXXV.--TWO MAKE A PAIR.
SOON after the attack of Margaret Nicholson on the life of George III.,
the following bill was stuck up in the window of an obscure alehouse:
"Here is to be seen the _fork_ belonging to the _knife_ with which
Margaret Nicholson attempted to stab the King."
DCCXXVI.--ALMANAC-MAKERS.
TWO women scolding each other, one said, "Thou liest like a thief and a
witch." The other replies, "But thou liest like an _almanac-maker_; for
thou liest every day and all the year long."
DCCXXVII.--A BLACK JOKE.
A GENTLEMAN at Limehouse observed the laborers at work in a tier of
colliers, and wanting to learn the price of coals, hailed one of the men
with, "Well, Paddy, how are coals?"--"_Black as ever_," was the reply.
DCCXXVIII.--EPIGRAM.
"HE that will never look upon an ass,
Must lock his door and break his looking-glass."
DCCXXIX.--EXAGGERATION.
A MAN was boasting before a companion of his very strong sight. "I can
discern from here a mouse on the top of that very high tower."--"I don't
see it," answered, his comrade; "but I hear it _running_."
DCCXXX.--WINNING A LOSS.
A SWELL clerk from London, who was spending an evening in a country inn
full of company, and feeling secure in the possession of most money,
made the following offer. "I will drop money into a hat with any man in
the room. The man who holds out the longest to have the whole and treat
the company."--"I'll do it," said a farmer. The swell dropped in half a
sovereign. The countryman followed with a sixpence. "Go on," said the
swell. "I won't," said the farmer; "take the whole, and _treat_ the
company."
DCCXXXI.--ADVICE GRATIS.
ON the trial of a cause in the Court of Common Pleas, Mr. Serjeant
Vaughan having asked a witness a question rather of _law_ than of
_fact_, Lord Chief Justice Eldon observed, "Brother Vaughan, this is not
quite fair; you wish the witness to give you, _for nothing_, what you
would not give him under _two guineas_."
DCCXXXII.--SHORT COMMONS.
AT a shop-window in the Strand there appeared the following notice:
"Wanted, _two_ apprentices, who will be treated as _one_ of the family."
CCXXXIII.--LICENSED TO KILL.
WHEN an inferior actor at the Haymarket once took off David Garrick,
Foote limped from the boxes to the green-room, and severely rated him
for his impudence. "Why, sir," said the fellow, "you take him off every
day, and why may not I?"--"Because," replied the satirist, "_you are not
qualified to kill game, and I am_."
CXXXIV.--WILKES AND LIBERTY.
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