"
In a "Man made of Money," we have something original--a dialogue between
two fleas, as they stand on the brow of Mr. Jericho--
"'My son,' says the elder, 'true it is, man feeds for us. Man is
the labouring chemist for the fleas; for them he turns the richest
meats and spiciest drinks to flea wine. Nevertheless, and I say it
with much pain, man is not what he was. He adulterates our tipple
most wickedly.'
"'I felt it with the last lodgers,' says the younger flea. 'They
drank vile spirits, their blood was turpentine with, I fear, a dash
of vitriol. How they lived at all, I know not. I always had the
headache in the morning. Here however,' and the juvenile looked
steadfastly down upon the plain of flesh, the wide champaign
beneath him--'here we have promise of better fare.'"
But Douglas Jerrold's best humour is usually rather in the narrative
and general issue than in any sudden hits or surprises. His "Sketches of
The English" are humorous and admirably drawn, but it would be difficult
to produce a single striking passage out of them. One of the most
amusing stories in his collection of "Cakes and Ale" is called "The
Genteel Pigeons."--A newly married couple return home before the end of
the honeymoon, but wish to keep their arrival secret.
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