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Article ANECDOTES. ← Page 2 of 3 →
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Anecdotes.
a bargain of it ; for , considering that I . daily expose myself for the value of six-pence , I thought I might with much more reason venture it for twelve crowns .
OF THE LATE LORD CHESTERFIELD . IN a party who piqued themselves upon being men of wit and genius , one of them , who , however , was nothing more than a pretender , after many ineffectual attempts , at length set the table in a roar , by a most execrable pun ; he joined in the laugh , and fancied he had now been very successfulwhen a gentlemanturning to Lord
, , Chesterfield , asked his Lordship , what was his opinion of pwinin < r in general ? ' To which his Lordship replied , " I conceive punnino- has a doublefold advantage in company ; for a very good pun makes one laugh , and a very bad one makes one laugh still more , as was the case just nozv ; but , " said he , " an indifferent pun is the most indifferent of all indifferent things ; having neither salt enoug h to make one
smile , or stupidity enough to excite the risible muscles at the author ; and may therefore be stiled the dregs of wit , the sediment of humour , and the caput mortuttm of common sense . " OF MR . WHISTON . WHEN I was once talking ( says Whiston ) with the Lord Chief
Justice King , one brought up among the Dissenters at Exeter , under a most reli gious , Christian , and learned education , we fell into a debate about signing articles which we did not believe , for preferment ; which he openly justified , and pleaded for it , that we must not Jose our usefulness for scruples . I replied , that I was sorry to hear his Lordship say so ; and desired to know whetherin their courts they
allowed of such prevarication or not ? He answered , They did not allow it . Which produced this rejoinder from me , " Suppose God Almighty should be as just in the next world , as my Lord Chief Justice is in this , where are we thetir "' > To which-lie made no answer . And to which the late Queen Caroline added , when I told her the story , " Mr . Whiston , No answer was to be made to it . "
THE late Mr . Wilbraham used frequentl y to sa ) ' , he wished to continue at the bar only till he acquired one hundred thousand pounds , and then he would retire into the country : he obtained the sum he wished for , and afterwards built Road Hall , " a very magnificent seat in Cheshire , where he retired . One day , as the great lawyer , but unlearned sportsman , was with a party of friends a coursing '
he discovered a hare sitting at a small distance : the unskilful hunter , being better accustomed to the rules of Westminster-hall than the diversions of the field , immediately uncoupled the dogs to start them at the heels of Mrs . Puss . A farmer passing by , observing the unfairness of the hunter , exclaimed aloud , " Master , master , give law , give law ! " " No , no , my friend , " replied the lawyer , " if 1 had given law , I had never built Road Hall . " E z
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Anecdotes.
a bargain of it ; for , considering that I . daily expose myself for the value of six-pence , I thought I might with much more reason venture it for twelve crowns .
OF THE LATE LORD CHESTERFIELD . IN a party who piqued themselves upon being men of wit and genius , one of them , who , however , was nothing more than a pretender , after many ineffectual attempts , at length set the table in a roar , by a most execrable pun ; he joined in the laugh , and fancied he had now been very successfulwhen a gentlemanturning to Lord
, , Chesterfield , asked his Lordship , what was his opinion of pwinin < r in general ? ' To which his Lordship replied , " I conceive punnino- has a doublefold advantage in company ; for a very good pun makes one laugh , and a very bad one makes one laugh still more , as was the case just nozv ; but , " said he , " an indifferent pun is the most indifferent of all indifferent things ; having neither salt enoug h to make one
smile , or stupidity enough to excite the risible muscles at the author ; and may therefore be stiled the dregs of wit , the sediment of humour , and the caput mortuttm of common sense . " OF MR . WHISTON . WHEN I was once talking ( says Whiston ) with the Lord Chief
Justice King , one brought up among the Dissenters at Exeter , under a most reli gious , Christian , and learned education , we fell into a debate about signing articles which we did not believe , for preferment ; which he openly justified , and pleaded for it , that we must not Jose our usefulness for scruples . I replied , that I was sorry to hear his Lordship say so ; and desired to know whetherin their courts they
allowed of such prevarication or not ? He answered , They did not allow it . Which produced this rejoinder from me , " Suppose God Almighty should be as just in the next world , as my Lord Chief Justice is in this , where are we thetir "' > To which-lie made no answer . And to which the late Queen Caroline added , when I told her the story , " Mr . Whiston , No answer was to be made to it . "
THE late Mr . Wilbraham used frequentl y to sa ) ' , he wished to continue at the bar only till he acquired one hundred thousand pounds , and then he would retire into the country : he obtained the sum he wished for , and afterwards built Road Hall , " a very magnificent seat in Cheshire , where he retired . One day , as the great lawyer , but unlearned sportsman , was with a party of friends a coursing '
he discovered a hare sitting at a small distance : the unskilful hunter , being better accustomed to the rules of Westminster-hall than the diversions of the field , immediately uncoupled the dogs to start them at the heels of Mrs . Puss . A farmer passing by , observing the unfairness of the hunter , exclaimed aloud , " Master , master , give law , give law ! " " No , no , my friend , " replied the lawyer , " if 1 had given law , I had never built Road Hall . " E z