* * * * *
LAUGHTER.
"Laugh and grow fat," is an old adage; and Sterne tells us, that every
time a man laughs, he adds something to his life. An eccentric
philosopher, of the last century, used to say, that he liked not only to
laugh himself, but to see laughter, and hear laughter. "Laughter, Sir,
laughter is good for health; it is a provocative to the appetite, and a
friend to digestion. Dr. Sydenham, Sir, said the arrival of a
merry-andrew in a town was more beneficial to the health of the
inhabitants than twenty asses loaded with medicine." Mr. Pott used to
say that he never saw the "Tailor riding to Brentford," without feeling
better for a week afterwards.
* * * * *
LEGAL PEARL-DIVERS.
Every barrister can "shake his head," and too often, like Sheridan's
Lord Burleigh, it is the only proof he vouchsafes of his wisdom. Curran
used to call these fellows "legal pearl-divers."--"You may observe
them," he would say, "their heads barely under water--their eyes shut,
and an index floating behind them, displaying the precise degree of
their purity and their depth."
* * * * *
GRAMMATICAL LEARNING.
An author left a comedy with Foote for perusal; and on the next visit
asked for his judgment on it, with rather an ignorant degree of
assurance.
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