Horace Walpole. 1717-1797.
Harry Vane, Pulteney's toad-eater,
Letter to Sir Horace Mann, 1742.
The world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those who feel.
Letter to Sir Horace Mann, 1770.
A careless song, with a little nonsense in it now and then, does not misbecome a monarch.[389:2]
Letter to Sir Horace Mann, 1774.
The whole [Scotch] nation hitherto has been void of wit and humour, and even incapable of relishing it.[389:3]
Letter to Sir Horace Mann, 1778.
Footnotes
[389:2]
A little nonsense now and then
Is relished by the wisest men.
Anonymous.
[389:3] It requires a surgical operation to get a joke well into a Scotch understanding.—Sydney Smith: Lady Holland's Memoir, vol i. p. 15.