Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1890-04-25

FAMOUS REPARTEEs.
wen Whose Wit Formed Part n,
Their Greatness.


Their Greatness
a friend Of Socrates once bada III,
s Nv ms nature full play and be himself
oh' yes, replied the sage, land. when
ever show my face out of doors. have
~ ene urchins Of Athens at INV heels
slouting' 'Yonder goes the biggest
"4acKguard IN Greece unhungr"
Apelles. the greatest Of Great r.;n.
orS, used to hide himself behind his
pictures to hear what folks would saw
y them IN his absence And, far from
aespisln9 the criticism Of "outsiders ,,
ne rather invited It; indeed, cordially
welcomed it so long as he felt sure tbat
Hhey knew what they were TALKING
aoout, mus on one occasion, he gladly
accepted the structures Of shoemaker
VINO found fault with the painting Of a
sandal in one Of his pictures. But when
tne man Of leather began to criticjse the
ieg, Apelies promptly shut him np by
saying 'Cobbler. stick TO the shoe.'
II rs an open secre. that the poet Pope
possessed but smattering of Greek
hence, when he undertook to translate
the "lliad, he often found Il useful to
consult the friends whom he was won,
70 meet at his favorite haunt, Buttons
conee-hou5e. On one OF these occasions
however, a certain passage proved more
man match for all the assembled pun
dlts- While they were vainly cudgel-
ing their brains, young guardsman.
who happened TO be present, yentured
70 suggest that note Of Interrogation
ludiciously supplied, would remove the
difficulty. Now every school-bov knows
that IN Greek the note of interrogation
IS represented by semicolon. But
Pope, eager to show his knowledge of
that tongue, and at the same tine to
take the shine out of the young officer
who had presumed to teach him his
trade, rashly assumed him to be ignor-
ant OF that eleme ntary rule OF punctua-
ton So, thinking he had the guards
man fairly OF the hip, the poet-who.
besides being sarfully deforned, stood
barely four feet six in mis- stockings
sneeringly inquired, pray, sir, are you
scholar enough to inform the company
what Greek note of Interrogation is?1
Yes, sir said the son Of Mars with
frightful glance at Pope's puny and
misshapen figure; II am perfectly well
aware that It's crooked little thing
which sometimes asks most impertinent
questions"
In one of Dryden's unequal dramas. in
which sense and nonsense seem contend
ing for the mastery and It's hard TO say
which wins, ranting lover is n ade to
eXclaim. My wound is great because it
is so small" Immediately on hearing
this bit of fustian, the witty duke Of
buckingham capped it with the strictly
logical and rhyming conclusion: Then
tWOuld be greater we're It none at all!'"
A nobleman. notorious for his un-
punctuality, having kept George ".
waiting for him for upwards of three
quarters OF an hour. came busting into
the royal presence. exclaiming with sim
pering smile, 'Ah. sire, better late than
never,' Nay replied the king. a
think the words of that proyerb should
be transposed. better never than late"
At hotly contested election for the
borough OF Cambridge, one of the mob
flung rotten egg, which found and
made it, mark-in the face OF Thomas
Darlington Macauley, then an under
graduate Il humbly beg your pardon,
sir" pleaded the offender. Didn't mean
20 hit YOU. Aimed at someone else!
SO be it calmly replied the future
historian. only. the next time you
throw ! shall be better pleased BY your
aiming at me and hitting someone else!'
whats going on?' asked an intoler-
able bore, button-holing Theodore Hook
As he met aim in the street. Quoth the
celebrated wit shaking himself free, Il
IN" and on he went.-B0ys Own Paper.