![]() | As good as a comedy, or, The Tennesseean's
story | ![]() |
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In good faith, I very sincerely hope that the title
which this little volume bears upon its face will take
nobody in. Now that it is written out, I am not sure
that there is anything comic in its pages. I am certain
that I have made no effort to make them so; and
if merriment should be the result, I shall certainly
congratulate myself upon the possession of an involuntary
endowment, which takes its owner quite as much
by surprise as anybody else. But no; even if there be
comedy in the narrative that follows, it will be none of
mine—I were a Pagan to lay claim to it. These, in
fact, are but jottings down from the lips of another;
and I don't know that I was greatly beguiled, when I
heard them, into that happy humor which makes one
cry out in defiance, “Sessa! let the world pass!” Were
I to confess honestly, I should rather admit myself of
that graver order of monkhood which never tells its
beads on the face of a tankard. I don't see a jest readily
at any time, and, knowing my infirmity, I very
frequently suffer it to escape me by keeping too closely
on the watch for it. It so happens, accordingly, that,
being very amiable and anxious to please, I blunder
after the fashion of Dr. Johnson's butcher, who was
procured to help bolster up Goldsmith's first comedy,
![Click to Enlarge Page vi](https://iiif.lib.virginia.edu/iiif/uva-lib:450238/full/!200,200/0/default.jpg)
the mirth has fairly subsided from the muscles of my
neighbors. This makes me modest of judgment in all
matters that affect the humorous, and hardly a proper
person, therefore, to recount that which is so. But,
indeed, I propose nothing of the kind. The title chosen
for this volume is in some degree in compliance with
necessity: it can scarcely be said to have been a matter
of choice. This will be explained by our Introduction,
to which I shall hasten with due speed, promising to
make it as short as possible, since I have no hope to
make it funny.
![]() | As good as a comedy, or, The Tennesseean's
story | ![]() |