Essays; on conversation, and on quackery / [Anon. by P.B. Duncan].

  • Duncan, Philip Bury, 1772-1863.
Date:
1836
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Essays; on conversation, and on quackery / [Anon. by P.B. Duncan]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ’Tis the most asinine employ on earth, To hear them tell of parentage and birth, And echo conversation dull and dry, Embellished with—He said,—and, So said I! At every interview, their route the same, The repetition makes attention lame; We hustle up with unsuccessful speed, And in the saddest part cry, 4 Droll indeed! ’ Many wits have been known to prime themselves with stories for the party they were going to join. A gentleman called on Wilkes, and not finding him at home, sat down to wait his return, and, to amuse himself in the interim, took up a French book of anecdotes, many of which he observed were marked. Mr. Wilkes did not come back, as was expected, and the gentleman went away. He met Wilkes, however, with some common friends at dinner, and, to his great amusement, heard all the anecdotes, which he observed marked in the book, most ingeniously introduced in the course of the evening. Ars artiurn est celare artem. This rule is par- ticularly applicable to our subject. Swift says of Stella— Her hearers are amazed from whence Proceeds that fund of wit and sense,