Joe Miller's Jests, with Copious Additions

John Stuart Mill · en

JOE MILLER’S JESTS,

  WITH COPIOUS ADDITIONS.

  EDITED BY
  FRANK BELLEW.


  COPY OF THE TITLE-PAGE TO THE ORIGINAL EDITION.

JOE MILLER’S JESTS; OR, THE WIT’S VADE-MECUM: being a collection of the
most brilliant Jests; the politest _Repartees_; the most elegant _Bon
mots_, and most pleasant short Stories in the _English_ language. First
carefully collected in the company, and many of them transcribed from
the mouth of the Facetious _Gentleman_, whose name they bear; and now
set forth and published by his lamentable friend and former companion,
Elijah Jenkins, Esq. Most humbly inscribed to those Choice Spirits of
the Age, Captain Bodens, Mr. Alexander Pope, Mr. Professor Lacy, Mr.
Orator Henley, and Job Baker, the Kettle-Drummer. London: Printed and
sold by T. Read, in Dogwell Court, White’s Fryars, Fleet Street.
MDCCXXXIX.

  PUBLISHED AT THE
  OFFICE OF THE NORTHERN MAGAZINE,
  39 PARK ROW, NEW-YORK.

  1865.


Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1865, by

A. BELLEW,

In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the
Southern District of New-York.




PREFACE.


A few years ago, at a dinner party in England, a very good story was
told by one of the company, who represented the hero of the anecdote as
a well-known nobleman then living. This story was immediately pronounced
to be an “old Joe.” On this, a warm discussion took place, when it came
out incidentally, that not one of those present had ever seen the book
so familiarly referred to. This discovery aroused the curiosity of one
of the party, who immediately resolved to procure a copy of the work―a
most difficult and costly matter. Having procured the book, he decided
to republish it for the benefit of his benighted fellow-countrymen, and
the following volume is the result.

A singular fact connected with this work is, that every body presumes
that he himself, and every other person, is perfectly familiar with its
contents; and yet, if the reader will ask his friends, it will appear
that not one in a thousand ever set eyes on a copy; indeed, we doubt
much whether there are a dozen persons in the United States who have
ever seen the work.