The comic English grammar [electronic resource]: a new and facetious introduction to the English tongue . g to keep one another incountenance. The way in which we imitate foreign manners andcustoms is very amusing. Savages stick fish-bones throughtheir noses; our fair countrywomen have hoops of metalpoked through their ears. The Caribs flatten the fore-head ; the Chinese compress the foot; and we possess PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. similar contrivances for reducing the figure of a younglady to a resemblance to an hour-glass or a devil-on-twosticks. There being no other assignable motive for these a
The comic English grammar [electronic resource]: a new and facetious introduction to the English tongue . g to keep one another incountenance. The way in which we imitate foreign manners andcustoms is very amusing. Savages stick fish-bones throughtheir noses; our fair countrywomen have hoops of metalpoked through their ears. The Caribs flatten the fore-head ; the Chinese compress the foot; and we possess PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. similar contrivances for reducing the figure of a younglady to a resemblance to an hour-glass or a devil-on-twosticks. There being no other assignable motive for these andthe like proceedings, it is reasonable to suppose that theyare adopted, as schoolboys say, for fun. We could go on, were it necessary, adducing facts to analmost unlimited extent; but we consider that enough hasnow been said in proof of the comic character of the nationalmind. And in conclusion, if any foreign author can beproduced, equal in point of wit, humour, and drollery, toSwift, Sterne, or Butler, we hereby engage to eat him;albeit we have no pretensions to the character of a PRELIMINARY 7 seriously. The names we allude to are names of places—and pretty places they are too; as, Mount Pleasant, Paradise Row, Golden Lane. Then there a great many whimsical things that wedo:— When a man cannot pay his debts, and has no prospectof being able to do so except by working, we shut him upin gaol, and humorously describe his condition as that ofbeing in Quod. We will not allow a man to give an old woman a doseof rhubarb if he have not acquired at least half a dozensciences : but we permit a quack to sell as much poison ashe pleases, with no other diploma than what he gets fromthe College of Health. When a thief pleads Guilty to an indictment, he isadvised by the Judge to recall his plea; as if a trial werea matter of sport, and the culprit, like a fox, gave noamusement unless regularly run down. This perhaps isthe reason why allowing an animal to
Size: 1184px × 2111px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., book, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1850, booksubjectenglishlanguage
