"A thousand different shapes wit wears,
Comely in thousand shapes appears;
'Tis not a tale, 'tis not a jest,
Admired with laughter at a feast;
Nor florid talk, which can this title gain,--
The proofs of wit for ever must remain."

CDXLIV.--A VAIN SEARCH.

SIR FRANCIS BLAKE DELAVAL'S death had such an effect on Foote that he
burst into tears, retired to his room, and saw no company for two days;
the third day, Jewel, his treasurer, calling in upon him, he asked him,
with swollen eyes, what time would the burial be? "Not till next week,
sir," replied the other, "as I hear the surgeons are first to dissect
his head." This last word restored Foote's fancy, and, repeating it with
some surprise, he asked, "And what will they get there? I am sure I have
known poor Frank these five-and-twenty years, and I never could find
anything in it."

CDXLV.--A BAD CUSTOMER.

"WE don't sell spirits," said a law-evading beer-seller; "we will give
you a glass; and then, if you want a biscuit, we'll sell it to you for
three ha'pence." The "good creature" was handed down, a stiff glass
swallowed, and the landlord handed his customer a biscuit. "Well, no, I
think not," said the customer; "you sell 'em too dear. I can get lots of
'em _five or six_ for a penny anywhere else."

CDXLVI.--A REFLECTION.

AN overbearing barrister, endeavoring to brow-beat a witness, told him
he could plainly see a _rogue_ in his face. "I never knew till now,"
said the witness, "that my _face_ was a _looking-glass_."

CDXLVII.--FOOTE.

AN artist named Forfeit, having some job to do for Foote, got into a
foolish scrape about _the antiquity of family_ with another artist, who
gave him such a drubbing as confined him to his bed for a considerable
time. "Forfeit! Forfeit!" said Foote, "why, surely you have the best of
the argument; your family is not only _several thousand years old_, but
at the same time _the most numerous_ of any on the face of the globe, on
the authority of Shakespeare:--

"All the souls that are, were _Forfeit_ once."

CDXLVIII.--INQUEST EXTRAORDINARY.

DIED from fatigue, three laundresses together all,
Verdict,--had tried to wash a shirt marked Wetherall.[A]

[A] Sir Charles Wetherall was noted for want of cleanliness.

CDXLIX.--A BASE ONE.

A FRIEND was one day reading to Jerrold an account of a case in which a
person named Ure was reproache