Page:Everybody's Book of English wit and humour (1880).djvu/32

 and a Mr Sparrow. A clergyman of the Established Church, a warm supporter of the patriotic candidates, one Sunday morning during the heat of the election, took for his text that passage from St Matthew's Gospel, in which the question is proposed by our Lord to His disciples: "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing?" Whence this encouragement to their perseverance and their fate is deduced: "Fear ye not, therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows." [11]

The late Sir Robert Peel was strongly impressed with Hook's conversational powers and the genuine readiness of his wit; in illustration of this, he used to relate, among others, the following anecdote:—One morning, at Drayton Manor, where Hook was staying as a guest, some one after breakfast happened to read out from the newspaper a paragraph, in which a well-known coroner was charged with having had a corpse unnecessarily disinterred. The ladies were very severe in condemnation of such unfeeling conduct; a gallant captain, however, who was present, took up the cudgels in behalf of the accused, maintaining that he was a very kind-hearted man, and incapable of doing anything without strong reasons, calculated to annoy the friends of the deceased. The contest waxed warm.

"Come," said Captain, at length turning to Hook, who was poring over the Times in a corner of the room, and who had taken no part in the discussion, "you know W, what do you think of him? Is he not a good-tempered, good-natured fellow?"

"Indeed he is," replied Hook, laying aside his paper, "I should say he was the very man to give a body a lift." [28]

Daniel Purcell, who was a non-juror, was telling a friend that when King George the First landed at Greenwich, he had a full view of him.

"Then," said his friend, "you know him by sight." "Yes," replied Daniel, "I think I know him, but I can't swear to him." Douglas Jerrold never learned to talk with common patience of the translator's office; and he regarded the adaptor as somebody who managed to cozen a reputation for originality from the