MDCV.—A MERRY THOUGHT.
They cannot be complete in aught
Who are not humorously prone;
A man without a merry thought
Can hardly have a funny bone.
MDCVI.—AN IMPUDENT WIT.
Hook one day walking in the Strand with a friend, had his attention directed to a very pompous gentleman, who strutted along as if the street were his own. Instantly leaving his companion, Hook went up to the stranger and said, "I beg your pardon sir, but pray may I ask,—are you anybody in particular?" Before the astonished magnifico could collect himself so as to reply practically or otherwise to the query, Hook had passed on.
MDCVII.—WEARING AWAY.
A schoolmaster said of himself: "I am like a hone, I sharpen a number of blades, but I wear myself in doing it."
MDCVIII.—A PERTINENT QUESTION.
Judge Jeffreys, of notorious memory (pointing with his cane to a man who was about to be tried), said, "There is a great rogue at the end of my cane." The man pointed at, inquired, "At which end, my lord?"
MDCIX.—A BASE JOKE.
A gentleman one day observed to Henry Erskine, that punning was the lowest of wit. "It is," answered Erskine, "and therefore the foundation of all wit."