VARIOUS SHADINGS OF WIT.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 1960, 16 April 1875, Page 4

VARIOUS SHADINGS OF WIT.

Foote Lad. a vis eoniica qf .his.own, which being; even as he was himself, utterly brutal, came upon friend and foejike the kick of a dray-horse. Such for satapie, was his truculent reply to the inoffensive little man who mildly remarked thatrhs had come, up from Essex—" The devil' you .hare ? Who drove you ! " Sheridan's wit combined with the flash of the gem its solidity, too, and was invariably free from gratuitous rancour. It was " more nearly allied to good nature^'* than wit always. Dean .^wift'lKwit whs usually like forked lightning, scathing and blasting what it touched; but it was at times as mild ais the moonbeams./, It hap.-s pened one day that his cook, whom lie invariably called " Sweatheart," had greatly ever-roasted the only joint he had for dinner. " Sweetheart," said the OD.epn-j in the blandest possible tones, "this leg of mutton is overdone. Take it back into the kitchen and do it less." The cook replied that the thing was impossible. "But," said the Dean, if it had been underdone you could have done it more." Tho cook assented. ".Well, theii, Sweetheart," rejoined the master, let it bo a lesson to you. .If you needs mu?t ommit a fault, at least take care that ifc is one that will admit of a remedy." The mingled wit and wisdom of this admonition are delightful. The vis comica of Sydney Smith was magnificent. It .must have been glorious in his conversation, for apart frofn the enchant^ ment of delivery, it is glorious in his writings. It foams and flashes through his graphic page like an exulting river through a picturesque landscape. It now and then occarred ...that, he fell in with* a:'djillarcl who faded, to perceive at'a glance the aim and purport of the Canon's humour. This is a '' damper " to most men, but Sydney. Smith" always turned it to good. account. : ,How. very, funny is this :" "A joke' goes a great way in the^cpuntry., rl have known one last 'pretty we'll/for seven years. I remember making a joke after a meeting of the clergy in Yorkshire, where there was a Eev. Mr Buckle, who never spoke when I proposed his health. ,1 said that he was a buckle without a tongue. Most persons on hearing laughed, but my next neighbour sat ; unmoved, and sunk in thought. At last;' a quarter of, an hour after we had all done," he suddenly nudged me, exclaiming, «I see now what you meant, Mr;Smith;,;you;meant a joke/ *Yes/ I said, 'sir, I believe I did.' Upon w,hich he began laughing so heartily that I thought he would choke, and was obliged to pat him on the back.'' -