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FAMILIAUITIES. 

 Now I. 



Jest Books. 



Few books have been more generally read, and none less rightfully 

 characterized, than those that are known to the risible muscles of 

 mankind under the denomination of Jest Books. The wise (whose wis- 

 dom is at best but a morbid ignorance of folly) excommunicate them as 

 the unsightly missals of the fool ; the grave as scions of prophane 

 merriment : the dull revile, because in them they can perceive no 

 particle of their own nature ; and intellect itself confesses only to a 

 tingle in the ear, and an electric acknowledgment on the lip. Yet, 

 from the musty cell of the monk to the perfumed presence of majesty 

 — from the camp to the pulpit — from the thriving mart to the meagre 

 hovel — the Jester's natural right of passport is secretly admitted. It has 

 even been found in ladies' reticules, pressing between its sympathizing 

 leaves the torn and rumpled billets-doux of passion, and might reason- 

 ably serve as a thing to swear upon, in some courts of law and equity. 

 I trust, therefore, I am not compromising the aristoci'atic dignity of 

 human affections, in confessing a compassionate veneration for these 

 outcasts of literature — these old and wandering books, which, like 

 Isaac of York in the romance of " Ivanhoe," are spurned by Saxon and 

 by Norman, by Christian, Turk and Infidel, and are doomed to leave a 

 portion of their wealth in whatever hand may be stretched out to 

 demand it. Nay, I have knowm many a princely wit whose sole revenue 

 has been wrung from this persecuted race — many a fat volume whichj 

 properly bound and gilt, has passed for an alderman in a common- 

 council of readers, that has fed purely from the crumbs that fall from 

 these itinerant banquets. And why, because its name be humble, should 

 man debar himself of the companionship of a jest-book ? For who, on 

 finding gold, " good substantial gold" — who would fling it down again, be- 

 cause contained in the skin of a despised animal? Since the soul of Py- 

 thagoras was supposed to have once animated a kidney-bean — may not 

 the subtle spirits of wit also inhabit places, too obscure for dullness to find 

 out, and too humble for taxation (which is another name for criticism) 

 when discovered ? Let us follow them in their gipsy freaks, and wan- 

 derings, and disguisings, and we shall find a bright track of merriment 

 wheresoever they have been. If there are two or three more ragged and 

 mischievous than the rest, they are but as a bad verse in poetry, which 

 makes the surrounding feet travel more harmoniously. What virtue is 

 in your true jest ! What love of music and of mirth ! What holiday-making 

 for the heart, sides, cheeks, lips and ears ! (to sum up in the monosyllabic 

 conciseness of Dr. Francis Moore.) I have known many a stagnant com- 

 pany set in sparkling motion by a stray joke skimming over its surface, like 

 the " duck and drake" of a rambling school-boy, or the scudding wing of 

 a swallow that brings its summer along with it. I have seen many a 

 Christmas block refuse to burn, till the warmth of a meteoric jest has 

 set it suddenly alight, and it has kindled and glowed with animation. 

 And many a kindly and familiar tongue has hung in torpid sullenness, 

 like the clapper of St. Paul's bell (if it has one), till the stirring breath 

 of one adventurous jest has made it quick and susceptible as an 

 aspen-leaf. 



