“Will you have a little tongue?” asked a lady of a gentleman one day at the dinner-table. “I will, ma’am, if it is cured,” was the answer. Alas! tongue will be at immense discount in the world if it is not received until it is “cured.” One must be content to take it as near “cured” as it can be obtained. Not only must there be mutual efforts to cure one another’s, but each must try to cure his own.
And now, reader, the author asks you to peruse his book, and to make the best use you can of it; and he suggests, when you have done this, be careful that you do not so talk about it as to illustrate some one or more of the characters within it.
J. B.
November, 1877.
CONTENTS.
| page | |||
| [I.] | THE MONOPOLIST | [1] | |
| [II.] | THE FALSE HUMOURIST | [18] | |
| [III.] | THE FLATTERER | [22] | |
| [IV.] | THE BRAWLER | [35] | |
| [V.] | THE MISCHIEF-MAKER | [38] | |
| [VI.] | THE PLEONAST | [55] | |
| [VII.] | THE SELF-DISPARAGER | [62] | |
| [VIII.] | THE COMMON SWEARER | [71] | |
| [IX.] | THE AFFECTED | [85] | |
| [X.] | THE STULTILOQUIST | [94] | |
| [XI.] | THE SLANDERER | [101] | |
| [XII.] | THE VALETUDINARIAN | [111] | |
| [XIII.] | THE WHISPERER | [119] | |
| [XIV.] | THE HYPERBOLIST | [124] | |
| [XV.] | THE INQUISITIVE | [133] | |
| [XVI.] | THE PEDANT | [142] | |
| [XVII.] | THE DETRACTOR | [154] | |
| [XVIII.] | THE GRUMBLER | [164] | |
| [XIX.] | THE EGOTIST | [174] | |
| [XX.] | THE TALE-BEARER | [189] | |
| [XXI.] | THE ASSENTER | [203] | |
| [XXII.] | THE LIAR | [208] | |
| [XXIII.] | THE CENSORIOUS | [227] | |
| [XXIV.] | THE DOGMATIST | [236] | |
| [XXV.] | THE ALTILOQUENT | [244] | |
| [XXVI.] | THE DOUBLE-TONGUED | [253] | |
| [XXVII.] | THE DUBIOUS | [262] | |
| [XXVIII.] | THE SUSPICIOUS | [266] | |
| [XXIX.] | THE POETIC | [273] | |
| [XXX.] | “YES” AND “NO” | [279] | |
| [XXXI.] | A GROUP OF TALKERS | [286] | |
| 1. The Misanthrope, | p. [286]. | ||
| 2. The Story-Teller, | p. [287]. | ||
| 3. The Careless, | p. [290]. | ||
| 4. The Equivocator, | p. [292]. | ||
| 5. The Absent-Minded, | p. [294]. | ||
| 6. The Bustling, | p. [296]. | ||
| 7. The Contradictory, | p. [298]. | ||
| 8. The Technicalist, | p. [300]. | ||
| 9. The Liliputian, | p. [301]. | ||
| 10. The Envious, | p. [302]. | ||
| 11. The Secret-Teller, | p. [302]. | ||
| 12. The Snubber, | p. [303]. | ||
| 13. The Argumentative, | p. [306]. | ||
| 14. The Religious, | p. [310]. | ||
| 15. The Prejudiced, | p. [312]. | ||
| 16. The Boaster, | p. [314]. | ||
| 17. The Quarrelsome, | p. [316]. | ||
| 18. The Profound, | p. [317]. | ||
| 19. The Wonderer, | p. [320]. | ||
| 20. The Termagant, | p. [325]. | ||
| [XXXII.] | A MODEL TALKER | [328] |