1056. A gentleman, travelling on a journey, having a light guinea which
he could not pass, gave it to his Irish servant, and desired him to pass
it upon the road. At night he asked him if he had passed the guinea.
Yes, sir, replied Teague, but I was forced to be very sly; the people
refused it at breakfast and at dinner; so, at a turnpike, where I had
fourpence to pay, I whipped it in between two halfpence, and the man put
it into his pocket, and never saw it.
1057. A little boy having been much praised for his quickness of reply,
a gentleman present observed, that when children were keen in their
youth, they were generally stupid and dull when they advanced in years,
and _vice versâ_. What a very sensible boy, sir, must you have been!
returned the child.
1058. At an examination for the degree of B.A. in the Senate House,
Cambridge, under an examiner whose name was Payne, one of the moral
questions was, Give a definition of happiness. To which one of the
candidates returned the following laconic answer, An exemption from
Payne.
1059. A student of St. John’s College, who was remarkable for his larks
and eccentricities, during the time he was dining in hall, called to a
_bon vivant_, at another table, to say, that he had got a fine fox in
his rooms, for him. This being overheard by the marker, who was a kind
of mongrel fetch-and-carry to a certain dean, and who understood the
student in a literal sense, he informed the dean of the circumstance.
The student was very soon summoned before the master and seniors, for
what he knew not; however, on entering, he was informed, they had
learned he kept a fox in his rooms, a thing not to be tolerated by the
college. It is very true, replied the accused; I have a bust of Charles
James Fox, at your service.
1060. When the celebrated Beau Nash was ill, Dr. Cheyne wrote a
prescription for him. The next day, the doctor coming to see his
patient, inquired if he had followed his prescription? No, truly,
doctor, replied Nash, if I had I should have broken my neck, for I threw
it out of a two pair of stairs window.
1061. The son of a fond father, when going to war, promised to bring
home the head of one of the enemy. His parent replied, I should be glad
to see you come home without a head, provided you come safe.
1062. Dr. Cheyne, of Bath, and a Mr. Santly, were deemed the two fattest
men in Somersetshire. When they were once sitting together after dinner,
Cheyne asked the other what made him look so melancholy? Faith, replied
he, I was thinking how it will be possible for the people to get either
you or me to the grave after we die. Why, as to me, replied Cheyne, six
or eight stout fellows will do the business, but you must be taken at
twice.