Odds And Ends Of Wit And Humour.

John Dennis , the critic , Avho ran a muck at the literary men of his day , thus sarcastically describes Steele : "He is a gentleman born—witness himself—of very honourable family , for his ancestors flourished in Tipperary long before the English ever set foot in Ireland . God has

marked him more abundantly than he did Cain , ancl stamped his native country on his face , his understanding , his writings , his actions , his passions , and aboA'e all his vanity . 2 'he Hibernian brogue is still upon cdl tliesethough long habit and length of

, days have worn it off his tongue . " Steele replied to his cross-grained old critic : — " Thy Avorks are libels upon others and satires upon thyself , and while they bark at men of sense call him knave and fool that Avrote them . Thou hast a great

antipathy to thy own species , and hatest the sight of a fool but in thy glass . " See how these Christians love one another ! Literary men don't write of each other quite so pungently now-a-days . Do they love one another any better than in Steele ' s time , I

wonder ? But you know one might go on ad infinitum giving you sketches from the life ancl extracts from the writings of the humourists of the day . Of Dickens himself I have found myself unable to say anything . His writings are before you

, abounding with wit and humour , tenderness , pathos . What can he more inimitably humourous than the trial scene from Pickwick . Avhat more satirical than some

of the Sketches by Boz ? I should have liked to give , had time and space permitted , one extract from the Sketches . Another great Avit I had nearly passed over Avith the mere mention of his name—I mean Sidney Smith . HOAV laconic was his remark on social changesancl yet how

, true ! " There is not one single source of human happiness against Avhich there have not been uttered the most lugubrious predictions : —turnpike roads , navigable canals , inoculation , hops , tobacco , the Reformation , the Revolution . There are

always a set of worthy ancl moderatel y g ifted men who bawl out death and ruin upon every valuable change , which the varying aspect of human affairs absolutel y and imperiously requires . It Avould be extremely useful to make a collection of the hatred and abuse that all those changes have experienced Avhich aro now admitted 2 N 2

to be marked improvements . In our condition such an history might make foll y a little more modest ancl suspicious of its OAVU decisions . " Sir Edwin Landseer , the animal painter , Avas so delighted with Sidney Smith , that

he asked him to sit for his portrait ; to which proposition he replied : "Is thy servant a dog that he should do this thing ?" On the departure of Bishop Selwyn ( now Bishop of Lichfield ) to New Zealand , Sidney Smith Avhen taking his leave of

him , said— " Good bye , my clear Selwyn , I hope you will not disagree with the man Avho eats you . " Once Avhen he was ill , his physician advised him to Avalk upon an empty stomach , " Upon Avhose ? " said he . Sidney Smith once said"I remember

, entering a room with glass all round it , at the French Embassy , and saw myself reflected on every side , I took it for a meeting of the clergy , and Avas deli ghted , of course . "

I have ineidently mentioned Charles Lamb , there is a good story told of him . One afternoon in returning from a dinner party he took his seat in a crowded omnibus , when a stout gentleman subsequently looked in and politely asked ,

" All full inside ? " <• I don't know how it may be , sir , with the other p-p-passengers , " answered Lamb , with his usual stammer , " but that last jiiece of oyster pie did the business for me . " His reply to the heavy agriculturist who asked him his opinion of the prospect of turnips , " Won't it depend a good deal on the boiled legs of mutton , " is droll like the man .

Another stamp of Avriters of humourous books seems to have sprung up of late , and their Avorks , describing a loAver strata in life , than their predecessors , appeal to the classes they are intended to describe , and , in so far as they abound in drollery

andare quite free from impropriety . Though their humour may be Avhat is called in stage parlance , low comedy , I think that their tendency is good , inasmuch as they create a sympathy between different classes of society , and teach us " the gowd is but the guinea stamp , a man ' s a man for a' that . "

Of such a class , are the authors of " Mrs . Brown , " "Mr . Sprouts , the Costermonger , " ancl " Giles ' s Trip to Loudon . " " Mrs . Brown " constantly delights British audi-