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Saturday Advertiser, Volume III, Issue 122, 10 November 1877, Page 19

Theodore Hook. —At a certain ..printingoffice, where a work of the celebrated humorist, Theodore Hook, was being printed, there was an old compositor who went by the nick-name of “ Twaddle.” In completing a sheet of one of Hook’s novels, the copy was given out in small “ takes ” or portions, to each one of which the compositor s name was as usual appended. When the proof was sent out to the author, there appeared a line drawn down the margin of a certain page, with the word “ Twaddle ”at the side. Mr Hook received his proof, read it, and brought it back to the office with the remark that though he was not above criticism, he did not think the reader was quite the man to make it. - . .x-. I ...

A Clerical Joke. —An anecdote is told of Parson Shute, the first minister settled at South Hingham, which, for ready wit, ought not to pass unrecorded. It appears that the reverend gentleman was very fond oE pudding, so that at a ministerial meeting one day, the hostess, in order to gratify the taste of her guest, had pudding for dinner. Unfortunately it came very near the fire while it was cooking, so that when it was served it was extremely hot. The parson, without allowing it time to cool, placed a piece in his mouth, and then followed the usual contortions incident to such an occasion, but all to no purpose. The pudding would not go, so the parson, who was a polite gentleman, quietly slipped it out of his mouth and into his coat pocket, all of which was observed by his brother ministers, who', for the purpose of a joke, said, "So you are putting the pudding into your pocket, are you P” “ Oh, yes,” said the parson, all unmoved, “ I put a little piece in there merely to light my pipe with after dinner.” De Quincey at College. —A volume on “ Lancashire Worthies,” just published, contains a queer story of De Quincey. Speaking of his college life, the writer says : —He was not dissipated or extravagant, but throughout life he was the worst of economists, and if left to himself, careless in his dress, infinitely preferring books to clothes when he had spare cash to spend on either. At last the shabbiness of his habiliments became so conspicuous that an “ official pei’son ” of his college sent him “ a message of courteous remonstrance,” by which he resolved to profit. He kept his resolution so badly, however, that one day he went to dine in the hall without a waistcoat, a deficiency he tried to conceal by buttoning his coat up to the neck and pulling his academic gown closely round him. The absence of the waistcoat was none the less discovered,' and poor De Quincey was doomed to hear an ironical dialogue proceed between two of his neighbours, one of whom gravely asked the other if he had seen the last Gazette, as it was understood it contained an interdict on waistcoats. The reply was in the affirmative, and added the expression of a hope that there would be a similar interdict on breeches, as they were still more difficult to pay for. ; ■’ : ’ > : r ' ' u ’*•