" He had not sufficient foundation
for humour of the highest kind; but in form and diction he was
unrivalled. Perhaps this was why Thackeray said "he was a great jester,
not a great humorist." But he had a dashing style, and the quick
succession of ideas necessary for a successful author. Not only was he
master of writing, but of the kindred art of rhetoric. He makes a
correction in the accentuation of Corporal Trim, who begins to read a
sermon with the text,--
"_For we trust we have a good conscience._ Heb. xiii., 8.
'TRUST! Trust we have a good conscience!!' 'Certainly,'
Trim, quoth my father, interrupting him, 'you give that sentence a
very improper accent, for you curl up your nose, man, and read it
with such a sneering tone, as if the parson was going to abuse the
apostle.'"
The same kind of discrimination is shown in the following--
"'And how did Garrick speak the soliloquy last night?' 'Oh, against
all rule, my lord--most ungrammatically. Betwixt the substantive
and the adjective, which should agree together in number, case, and
gender, he made a breach thus, stopping, as if the point wanted
settling; and betwixt the nominative case, which your lordship
knows should govern the verb, he suspended his voice in the
epilogue a dozen times, three seconds and three-fifths by a stop
watch, my lord, each time.
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