The Southern Literary Messenger, Vol. II., No. 1, December, 1835Various
General
The Southern Literary Messenger, Vol. II., No. 1, December, 1835
Various
American literature -- 19th century -- Periodicals
Although this little volume is obviously intended for no other eyes
than those of the 'Oxford and Cambridge scholar,' and although it is
absolutely impossible for any American to enter fully into the spirit
of its most inestimable quizzes, oddities and eccentricities, still we
have no intention of quarrelling with Carey & Hart, for republishing
the work on this side of the Atlantic. Never was there a better thing
for whiling away a few loose or unappropriated half hours--that is to
say in the hands of a reader who is, even in a moderate degree, imbued
with a love of classical whimsicalities. We can assure our
friends--all of them who expect to find in these excellent 'Nuts to
Crack' a mere _rifacimento_ of stale jests--that there are not more
than two or three anecdotes in the book positively entitled to the
appellation of antique. Some things, however, have surprised us. In
the first place what is the meaning of _Anecdote_ and _Facete_? In the
second what are we to think of such blunders, as "one of honest Vere's
classical _jeu d'esprit_," (the _jeu d'esprit_ printed too in Long
Primer Capitals) in a volume professing to be _Anecdote_ and _Facete_
(oh!--too bad) of Oxford and Cambridge _scholars_? And thirdly is it
possible that he who wrote the _Facetiæ Cantabrigienses_ is not aware
that the "cutting retort attributed to the celebrated Lord
Chesterfield, when a student of Trinity Hall, Cambridge" may be found
among the Facetiæ of Hierocles--not to mention innumerable editions of
Joe Miller?
We have already said enough of the _Nuts to Crack_, but cannot, for
our lives, refrain from selecting one of its good things for the
benefit of our own especial readers.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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