MDCVI.--AN IMPUDENT WIT.

HOOK one day walking in the Strand with a friend, had his attention
directed to a very pompous gentleman, who strutted along as if the
street were his own. Instantly leaving his companion, Hook went up to
the stranger and said, "I beg your pardon sir, but pray may I ask,--_are
you anybody in particular_?" Before the astonished magnifico could
collect himself so as to reply practically or otherwise to the query,
Hook had passed on.

MDCVII.--WEARING AWAY.

A SCHOOLMASTER said of himself: "I am like a _hone_, I sharpen a number
of _blades_, but I wear myself in doing it."

MDCVIII.--A PERTINENT QUESTION.

JUDGE JEFFREYS, of notorious memory (pointing with his cane to a man who
was about to be tried), said, "There is a great rogue at the end of my
cane." The man pointed at, inquired, "_At which end_, my lord?"

MDCIX.--A BASE JOKE.

A GENTLEMAN one day observed to Henry Erskine, that punning was the
_lowest_ of wit. "It is," answered Erskine, "and therefore the
_foundation_ of all wit."

MDCX.--A WIDE-AWAKE MINISTER.

LORD NORTH'S good humor and readiness were of admirable service to him
when the invectives of his opponents would have discomforted a graver
minister. He frequently indulged in a real or seeming slumber. On one
occasion, an opposition debater, supposing him to be napping, exclaimed,
"Even now, in these perils, the noble lord is asleep!"--"I wish _I
was_," suddenly interposed the weary minister.

MDCXI.--ON CARDINAL WOLSEY.

BEGOT by butchers, but by bishops bred,
How high his honor holds his haughty head!

MDCXII.--NOT FINDING HIMSELF.

"HOW do you find yourself to-day," said an old friend to Jack Reeve, as
he met him going in dinner costume to the city. "Thank you," he
replied, "the Lord Mayor _finds me_ to-day."

MDCXIII.--A WITTY PROPOSITION.

SHERIDAN, being on a parliamentary committee, one day entered the room
as all the members were seated and ready to commence business.
Perceiving no empty seat, he bowed, and looking round the table with a
droll expression of countenance, said: "Will any gentleman _move_ that I
may take the _chair_?"

MDCXIV.--A WARM MAN.

A MAN with a scolding wife, being asked what his occupation was, replied
that he kept a _hot-house_.

MDCXV.--LONG AGO.

A LADY, who was very submissive and modest before marriage, was observed
by a f