ccosted by an elderly gentleman, who has forgotten the name
of a street to which he wants to go, and who informs him precisely that
it is an out-of-the-way name.

'Perhaps, sir, you mean John Street?' says Sherry, all innocence.

'No, an unusual name.'

'It can't be Charles Street?'

Impatience on the part of the old gentleman.

'King Street?' suggests the cruel wit.

'I tell you, sir, it is a street with a very odd name!'

'Bless me, is it Queen Street?'

Irritation on the part of the old gentleman.

'It must be Oxford Street?' cries Sheridan as if inspired.

'Sir, I repeat,' very testily, 'that it is a very odd name. Every one
knows Oxford Street!'

Sheridan appears to be thinking.

'An odd name! Oh! ah! just so; Piccadilly, of course?'

Old gentleman bounces away in disgust.

'Well, sir,' Sheridan calls after him, 'I envy you your admirable
memory!'

His wit was said to have been prepared, like his speeches, and he is
even reported to have carried his book of _mots_ in his pocket, as a
young lady of the middle class _might_, but seldom does, carry her book
of etiquette into a party. But some of his wit was no doubt extempore.

When arrested for non-attendance to a call in the House, soon after the
change of ministry, he exclaimed, 'How hard to be no sooner out of
office than into custody!'

He was not an inveterate talker, like Macaulay, Sydney Smith, or
Jeffrey: he seems rather to have aimed at a striking effect in all that
he said. When found tripping he had a clever knack of getting out of the
difficulty. In the Hastings speech he complimented Gibbon as a
'luminous' writer; questioned on this, he replied archly, 'I said
_vo_-luminous.'

I cannot afford to be voluminous on Sheridan, and so I quit him.

BEAU BRUMMELL

Two popular Sciences.--'Buck Brummell' at Eton.--Investing his Capital.--
Young Cornet Brummell.--The Beau's Studio.--The Toilet.--'Creasing
Down.'--Devotion to Dress.--A Great Gentleman.--Anecdotes of Brummell.--
'Don't forget, Brum: Goose at Four!'--Offers of Intimacy resented.--Never
in love.--Brummell out Hunting.--Anecdote of Sheridan and Brummell.--The
Beau's Poetical Efforts.--The Value of a Crooked Sixpence.--The Breach
with the Prince of Wales.--'Who's your Fat Friend?'--The Climax is
reached.--The Black-mail of Calais.--George the Greater and George the
Less.--An Extraordinary Step.--Down the Hill of Life.--A Miserable Old
Age.--In the Hospice Du Bon Sauveur.--