Bon - Hots of the Eighteenth Century. Edited by Walter Jerrold. (Dent
and Co.)—It has been said with great truth that specimens of wit and humour "afford under the happiest conditions but melancholy reading." The conditions in the present instance are favourable, for this little volume is daintily printed, and illus- trated with grotesques by Miss Alice Woodward; but despite these advantages, Canon Ainger's estimate of books of this character is not to be gainsaid. The flavour of a bon-mot is lost when severed from the context, and of course much of its effect was due originally to the glance and voice of the speaker. Several of the sayings collected by Mr. Jerrold have, we believe, more than one father, and some are not quite accurately recorded. Dr. Johnson's reply to Boswell on his admission that he had come from Scotland loses its point in this new version, and so does Boswell'e apology. It was Joseph Warton, not Wharton—the name is also misprinted on another page—who replied so aptly to Johnson when he said he was not used to being contradicted. "Better for yourself and your friends, Sir, if you were." The brief sermon on the text, "He that giveth to the poor lendeth to the Lord "—" If you like your security, down with the cash "— has been generally attributed to Rowland Hill. We greatly doubt if it was Swift's. Slight errors, however, are to be expected in a selection like this, and if it affords half an hour's amusement the editor's purpose will probably be answered.
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