“Yes, sah; dey wuz bofe uv ’em drunk, sah.”
Humble Pie.—The humble pie of former times was a pie made out of the “umbles” or entrails of the deer; a dish of the second table, inferior, of course, to the venison pastry which smoked upon the dais, and therefore not inexpressive of that humiliation which the term “eating humble pie” now painfully describes. The “umbles” of the deer are usually the perquisites of the gamekeeper.
Increase of Insanity.—Insanity in England is rapidly increasing. In 1861, when the population was 19,860,701, there were 36,702 lunatics, being nineteen in every ten thousand persons. In 1871, with a population of 22,704,108, there were 56,735 lunatics, or twenty-five out of every ten thousand persons. Of these lunatics 6,110 were private patients.
Error of Diagnosis.—“Doctor,” said a hard-looking, brandy-faced customer a few days ago to a physician! “Doctor, I’m troubled with an oppression and uneasiness about the breast. What do you suppose the matter is?”
“All very easily accounted for,” said the physician; “you have water on the chest.”
“Water! Come, that’ll do very well for a joke; but how could I get water on my chest when I haven’t touched a drop in twenty years? If you had said brandy, you might have hit it.”