transmission. It has been said that the time is one-half of the merit, and
the manner the other; thus leaving nothing for the wit. But the fact is,
that the wit so often depends upon both, as to leave the best _bon-mot_
comparatively flat in the recital. With this palliative we may proceed.
Walpole, remarking to Selwyn one day, at a time of considerable popular
discontent, that the measures of government were as feeble and confused as
in the reign of the first Georges, and saying, "There is nothing new under
the sun." "No," replied Selwyn, "nor under the grandson."

Selwyn one day observing Wilkes, who was constantly verging on libel,
listening attentively to the king's speech, said to him, "May Heaven
preserve the ears you lend!" an allusion to the lines of the _Dunciad_--

"Yet, oh, my sons, a father's words attend;
So may the fates preserve the ears you lend."

The next is better. A man named Charles Fox having been executed, the
celebrated Charles asked Selwyn whether he had been present at the
execution as usual. "No," was the keen reply, "I make a point of never
attending rehearsals."

Fox and General Fitzpatrick at one time lodged in the house of Mackay, an
oilman in Piccadilly, a singular residence for two men of the first
fashion. Somebody, probably in allusion to their debts, observed that such
lodgers would be the ruin of Mackay. "No," said Selwyn, "it will make his
fortune. He may boast of having the first pickles in London."

_Nonchalant_ manners were the tone of the time; and to cut one's country
acquaintance (a habit learned among the French _noblesse_) was high
breeding. An old haunter of the pump-room in Bath, who had frequently
conversed with Selwyn in his visits there, meeting him one day in St
James's Street, attempted to approach him with his usual familiarity.
Selwyn passed him as if he had never seen him before. His old acquaintance
followed him, and said, "Sir, you knew me very well in Bath." "Well, sir,"
replied Selwyn, "in Bath I may possibly know you again," and walked on.

When _High Life Below Stairs_ was announced, Selwyn expressed a wish to be
present at its first night. "I shall go," said he, "because I am tired of
low life above stairs."

One of the waiters at Arthur's had committed a felony, and was sent to
jail. "I am shocked at the committal," said Selwyn; "what a horrid idea
the fellow will give of us to the people in Newgate."

Bruce's Abyssinian stories were for a long