Note 42 — REBEL PORTRAITS.
Reading edition
I cannot omit introducing here one of his puns, because he ran a great risk of being shot for making it. A gentleman of the bar, married to a lady who had lost all her front teeth, and squinted so curiously that she appeared nearly blind, happened to be speaking of another lady who had run away from her husband. “Well,” said Harvey, “you have some comfort as to your wife.”
“What do you mean, sir?” said the barrister.
“I mean that if once you should lose Mrs. ——, you will never be able to i-dent-ify her.”
If Mr. —— had cared a farthing for his wife, it would have been impossible to reconcile this joke to him.
The above was an inferior pun, but it was to the point, and created great merriment.