And his honey was turned to an acid.
“Sir Richard was very rough and harsh in manner. He said to a patient, to whom he had been very rude, ‘Sir, it is my way.’ ‘Then,’ replied the patient, pointing to the door, ‘I beg you will make that your way.’ Sir Richard was not very nice in his mode of expression, and would frequently astonish a patient with a volley of oaths. Nothing used to make him swear more than the eternal question, ‘What may I eat?—Pray, Sir Richard, may I eat a muffin?’ ‘Yes, Madam, the best thing you can take.’ ‘O dear! I am glad of that. But, Sir Richard, you told me the other day, that it was the worst thing I could eat!’ ‘What would be proper for me to eat to-day?’ says another lady. ‘Boiled turnips.’ ‘Boiled turnips! you forget, Sir Richard, I told you I could not bear boiled turnips.’ ‘Then, Madam, you must have a d—— d vitiated appetite.’”
We cannot help bringing before our readers the following well-known “characters” of their day, and should have indulged in more ample quotations from these amusing “Epitaphs,” were we not afraid of the imputation of “inappropriateness.”
“On a most venerable and highly venerated Surgeon, lately deceased.
‘Multis ille bonis flebilis occidit,
Nulli flebilior quam mihi.’—HOR.
“Of manners gentle, and in soul sincere,
Removed beyond this sublunary sphere,
Here lies an honest man!
Endued with caution, yet devoid of fear,